Maine Eastern Railroad F40 unveiling

Today the M&E shop in New Jersey unveiled the new colors for Maine Eastern RR in F40 291. great job to guys painting and designing the scheme.
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=69642

Glad you like it...The matched pair and rolling stock make a smart looking train! They were handed off to NS on 7/16...should be on their way north. ARS

I would just like to offer a great note of thanks to the officers and management of the M&E for having the skills and determination to bring this passenger project to fruition with help from the State of Maine. Having lived in Freeport for 3 years, I look forward to one day seeing passenger trains rolling through Freeport on their way to a connection with the M&E in Brunswick. Garnering the cooperation of Guilford is no easy feat, even with Gov. Baladacci involved. Best of Luck and I am hoping to catch the Lobster Train in action when I am in Maine during the 1st week of August!

Brooks

Will the freight engines look the same or will they have a varation of some sort?

I like how the colors of the MEC were blended into the scheme. Next to a full blown copy of the harvest gold scheme I think that's the next best thing.

Let me tell you folks up north, these engines are perfect, the paint is perfect, and the engine's sound great. I stopped in Morristown after work the other day, and let me tell you Maine railfans, you have a lot of great photos coming up soon!

Have fun!
~Your New Jersey neigbhor

The F40s definitely look nice, and are certainly unique compared to anything else I've seen.

Does anybody else detect a slight resemblance to the old Southern Rwy "green and cream" paint scheme?

They do look a little like the old Southern passenger scheme. I think the folks at M&E really did a sharp job applying paint. I think the only thing I would have done different was put the Maine Eastern logo in line with the lettering, instead of above it....

http://www.merail.com/maine_eastern_rr.htm

-otto-

Are these passenger trains going to be "turned" or run in Push-Pull mode? The F40 looks real nice, but will the cars be painted to match?

Hope that these specials will lead to regular service sometime soon. If ever there was a tourist area, the Maine coastal region is it!

Steam wrote:Are these passenger trains going to be "turned" or run in Push-Pull mode? The F40 looks real nice, but will the cars be painted to match?

There is a turntable in Rockland, and I think there is a wye in Brunswick... so it is probably possible for the train to be turned. But I'm not sure if that's what they plan on doing. They may just put one locomotive on each end and run push-pull.

The cars are painted in a Maine Eastern paint scheme. It doesn't exactly "match" the locomotives per se, but the colors are similar. Here are some photos:

Maine Eastern (ex-Acadian) Budd coach: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=69824

Maine Eastern (ex-BCRail) diner car: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=69812

http://photos.nerail.org/photos/200407222102416958.jpg

Here are the F40's on Guilford MOPO

I saw the F-40's and the dining car pass through East Fitchburg this afternoon, just by chance. Wow! class act! To bad M&E can't take over the "Downeaster" operation!

Here are my pics of both the ME #265 and #291 in Tyngsborough, Mass. on Thursday on Guilford MOPO:

http://massroads.com/?go=go&word=Maine+Eastern+F40PH

Glad to see that some Amtrak F40s are being recycled for this type of train. Yeah it would be nice if the M & E could take over Downeaster service and perhaps even extend it to Canada.

Just because they can paint a train does not mean they can run one.