B&M Eastern Route ROW Question

I was reading an article recently in regards to restoring commuter rail service to Portsmouth, NH, and the article mentioned at one point that the southern section of the Maine Turnpike had been built on an old railroad ROW. Is this accurate? I know that some small parts of the old Eastern Line were used for roads, but I always though those were secondary roads. I have never heard of the Maine Turnpike using any B&M ROWs.

Thanks!

Maine Route 236 is built on part of the old Portland, Saco & Portsmouth from just north of Kittery to Jewett. From Jewett it went through Agamenticus, crossed today's Downeaster route at North Berwick and proceeded to Biddeford, Saco, and Portland. Maps 1 and 2 of the DeLorme Maine Atlas show the route as a dotted line. There are two places where this route involves the Maine Turnpike. 1) About a half mile of the connection from the northern end of the Sarah Mildred Long (vertical lift) bridge to 236 was obliterated by Maine Turnpike construction. 2) The PS&P route crosses the Turnpike immediately north of the Kennebunk rest area on a new pedestrian bridge that is part of the Eastern Trail project. Portions of Maine Route 202 were built on the Portland & Rochester ROW, and there are doubtless other cases, but I know of none involving the Maine Turnpike.

-John

The route from Newburyport to Portsmouth is entirely landbanked and free from encroachment, with exception of the mile or so of leased-out rail trail in downtown Newburyport that would have to be reconfigured as rail-with-trail (not a big problem because there's probably no need for double tracking north of the current Newburyport end-of-track). And there'd obviously have to be an all-new movable span across the Merrimack. But otherwise the entire route to Portsmouth Yard is landbanked and entirely protected, with no encroachment. Helps that so much of it is in the middle of woods or marsh. Reactivation would not be hard, not face a lot of opposition, and fetch the MBTA's immediate interest (due to the bridge being the only non-negligible capital expense in MA) if the money and political ever were there in NH.

It's of course Maine from Kittery to North Berwick where pieces of it are obliterated. But that's because it was a much earlier abandonment before the landbanking statute and state ownership of ROW's existed. Commuter rail would never have a need to extend beyond Portsmouth. The MBTA is unlikely to be interested in crossing the new Sarah Long Bridge to Kittery, either, since subsidies for out-of-state running are bureaucratically so much easier limiting it to one partner only or a pre-existing partner (which NHDOT will be the second they get token state-line stops at Plaistow and/or Nashua). The only motivation I could see for reconnection in Maine is making the Downeaster a real HSR route of 125 MPH+ and side-stepping all the freight congestion, which the Eastern Route's very tangent track and near-total lack of freight traffic allows. But that requires the North-South Link to get built in Boston, amongst other things that need to get built out well beforehand. Check back in 2050 because those things are all well beyond the furthest scope of pediction today.

As bridgework goes, it would not be complicated or terribly expensive to restore the ERR RoW under I95 in Kittery and deal with the construction firm that is using the US 1 underpass for storage. But coming to an accommodation with all the frontage landowners on ME 236 would be a nightmare.

Further south, Salisbury has a trail too, from the Merrimack to the former Mudnock Rd. overpass over the Eastern. I haven't understood why they don't connect that segment with their 'Ghost Train Trail" on the former Amesbury Branch, but Salisbury politics are muddy at best. More trail proposals exist, covering all the Eastern from Hampton to Emery (Manchester & Portsmouth junction between US 1 and NH 33). The segment through Seabrook to Hampton Falls will be quite difficult for trail or rail as long as the nuke is in operation.

jbvb wrote:As bridgework goes, it would not be complicated or terribly expensive to restore the ERR RoW under I95 in Kittery and deal with the construction firm that is using the US 1 underpass for storage. But coming to an accommodation with all the frontage landowners on ME 236 would be a nightmare.

Further south, Salisbury has a trail too, from the Merrimack to the former Mudnock Rd. overpass over the Eastern. I haven't understood why they don't connect that segment with their 'Ghost Train Trail" on the former Amesbury Branch, but Salisbury politics are muddy at best. More trail proposals exist, covering all the Eastern from Hampton to Emery (Manchester & Portsmouth junction between US 1 and NH 33). The segment through Seabrook to Hampton Falls will be quite difficult for trail or rail as long as the nuke is in operation.

The good thing about trails on the north-of-Newburyport portion of the Eastern is that there's so much open space a rail-with-trail is eminently feasible here. I don't think there'd be very much pushback to a reactivation with the accommodation that's possible. It's just New Hampshire is so long-term messed up a state government that there's not a lot of hope there'll ever be movement on this in the next 20+ years. The T's game for it if they are, but Concord's got to snap out of a deep rut of transportation planning dysfunction. Hell...there are idiot Seacoast legislators who proposed build a freaking road on the ROW as Route 1 relief, to the stunned stares of their constituents who only saw more sprawl horror in that idea. They're not even in the same universe as the other 5 New England states on "getting it" on basic Transit 101 principles.

When I used to go to my family's cottage in Waterboro, I used to see the Sanford & Eastern's (old Eastern ROW) on Rt 202 and on Rt 5 in East Waterboro. Shaker Pond (IIRC) in Alfred (The pond on the left hand side of 202 going north) had driveways through the ROW for the cottages.

With all due respect, FL, I'm afraid you're confusing two rail branches. The Sanford and Eastern was originally the northerly end of the Worcester, Nashua and Portland Division of the B&M. It originated at Deering Junction in Portland and ran through Gorham, Waterboro, Alfred, etc., to Sanford. The Eastern RR, part of the B&M's Portland Division, originated at Boston and went up through Ipswich, Newburyport, Portsmouth, Kittery, Eliot, North Berwick, Saco, and Biddeford to South Portland (actually to Portland itself in its early years). The two lines were separated in Maine by about 15 miles or so for most of their respective distances.

F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:

jbvb wrote:As bridgework goes, it would not be complicated or terribly expensive to restore the ERR RoW under I95 in Kittery and deal with the construction firm that is using the US 1 underpass for storage. But coming to an accommodation with all the frontage landowners on ME 236 would be a nightmare.

Further south, Salisbury has a trail too, from the Merrimack to the former Mudnock Rd. overpass over the Eastern. I haven't understood why they don't connect that segment with their 'Ghost Train Trail" on the former Amesbury Branch, but Salisbury politics are muddy at best. More trail proposals exist, covering all the Eastern from Hampton to Emery (Manchester & Portsmouth junction between US 1 and NH 33). The segment through Seabrook to Hampton Falls will be quite difficult for trail or rail as long as the nuke is in operation.

The good thing about trails on the north-of-Newburyport portion of the Eastern is that there's so much open space a rail-with-trail is eminently feasible here. I don't think there'd be very much pushback to a reactivation with the accommodation that's possible. It's just New Hampshire is so long-term messed up a state government that there's not a lot of hope there'll ever be movement on this in the next 20+ years. The T's game for it if they are, but Concord's got to snap out of a deep rut of transportation planning dysfunction. Hell...there are idiot Seacoast legislators who proposed build a freaking road on the ROW as Route 1 relief, to the stunned stares of their constituents who only saw more sprawl horror in that idea. They're not even in the same universe as the other 5 New England states on "getting it" on basic Transit 101 principles.

The establishment of commuter service on the Eastern between Portsmouth and Boston would be a dream come true for a lot of coastal folk who work in Boston. I look at those weed-covered rails lying there, as well as the similarly dormant rails of the Central Mass. between Waltham and Hudson, and think, "Why isn't anything happening?"

Speaking of Waltham,when I was 10,I would sit at the crossing on Bacon Street and watch the local switcher switch out the Artisan Metals plant(my father worked there) after they were done I would walk down to to the Penny Pool for the afternoon,walk back to Artisan and ride home with Dad.

trainsinmaine wrote:The establishment of commuter service on the Eastern between Portsmouth and Boston would be a dream come true for a lot of coastal folk who work in Boston. I look at those weed-covered rails lying there, as well as the similarly dormant rails of the Central Mass. between Waltham and Hudson, and think, "Why isn't anything happening?"

I don't know how long it's been since anyone did a study of the cost to rebuild the route from Newburyport eastward, or what the most recent estimate was, but I'll bet it was at least eight figures. One big expense would be the replacement of the Merrimack River bridge between Newburyport and Salisbury. Since the adjacent U.S. Rt. 1 bridge is a drawbridge, I'm assuming any new railroad bridge would also require a movable span. A new design with the trusses above the water might allow it to be opened less often, but the approaches might still have to be raised somewhat. I just discovered with Street View that the Newburyport end of it was removed completely. I wouldn't even want to guess what it would cost to replace other missing bridges along the route, most of which I think are on the MA side of the state line.

Add in possible resistance to any "rail trails" losing their exclusive use of the line (i.e., becoming "rail-with-trail"), and I'd be greatly surprised if it happened. Yes, I'd be pleasantly surprised, but I'm not expecting to see it during my lifetime.
Maybe if they actually built something instead of throwing away money on a study every 10-12 years, there'd be some sense to it. But like the man said above, "idiot Seacoast legislators." That, and as Robert Heinlein wrote, "The answer to any question starting, 'Why don't they-' is almost always, 'Money'."

Then again, while we always hoped that someday the Eastern Route would get past Ipswich again, maybe we didn't quite think that would happen, either. "Never say never," I guess.

Any objective study of passenger ridership
between Newburyport and Portsmouth would
quickly find that there was no justificaton
for such reinstatement of passenger service,
and the cost to do so.

Including the cost of a new draw or swing
bridge at Newburyport, the cost will be a
minimum of $200 million and counting.

With the exception of Portsmouth, none
of the other communities on the line would
be a major departure or arrival point. All
the beach/shore locations are far away from
the ROW. There is also the question of the
ROW running right through the property of
the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant.

NH has been "talking" about getting MBTA
service to South Nashua from Lowell for
many years, a distance of about 12 miles,
with essentially no success, other than
studies, etc. I have not seen any recent
cost estimates, but I will throw out $25
million, including track and signal upgrades,
stations and parking facilities. Add another
$15 million for a new trainset for the MBTA
and you are up to $40 million. Don't hold
your breath or bet the farm..