ARTICLE: Operator of Maine Branchline Pushes Forward After Largest Customer Calls it Quits (Midcoast

Railfan.com

A week after learning that its largest freight customer was calling it quits, the president of Maine’s Midcoast Railservice said the company is forging ahead to try and find new traffic on the scenic Rockland Branch and establish a connecting passenger service with Amtrak.

That effort will determine the future of the former Maine Central branch between Brunswick and Rockland; Midcoast has the contract to operate the line through 2025, although it has the opportunity to pull out early if its parent company, Finger Lakes Railway, doesn’t believe it can turn a profit. But Mike Smith, president of Finger Lakes, said he isn’t thinking about leaving the operation yet.

“We’re going to continue our program of finding new business and we’ll see how it goes,” he said.

On September 6, the largest freight customer on the branch, Dragon Products Company, announced that it would shutter its cement plant at Thomaston. The plant there has been open for more than a century and this year is on track to send out more than 1,300 carloads. In a press release, the company cited increasing costs as the reason for closing. The closing process is expected to begin at the end of this year and be complete by 2025.
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When I got this news I rushed to RR.Net for answers. From what I've been told, and I quote " Dragon cement is shutting down due to 'a wrench in things' ". What does this mean for Midcoast railservice? obviously the 'coastliner' will be around to make money, but what about their freight side of things? what will they haul? where will the freight units go? I am going to be up in November so i hope to catch the last runs of midcoast railservice...

its so sad dragon is closing. I wonder if midcoast will shift to full passenger lines or get a different supplier for what to haul? like steel which they had a car of a while back. or if they'll pull the B boats OOS to re gear and get cars to haul passengers in if they want to do push pull, probably not, it'll probably just be the RDC's. if they do go to full passenger service they could rename to "Midcoast Passenger Lines". As in: "The Midcoast Passenger lines Coastliner to Rockland boarding on track 1 Brunswick"

Midcoasts’s current focus is exploring other freight opportunities on the branch wherever they can find it. Besides American Steel and Aluminum they shipped lobster bait to Rockland during the warmer months this year, and had the idea of shipping bags of salt to Rockland as well. RDC passenger service has shown to be relatively successful but it’s not really what they’re aiming for.

ok so to sum it up:

they have plans on what to ship

and the coastliner should stick around

Maybe “plans” isn’t the word, more like “a rough idea”. They knew that relying on Dragon Cement was a bad idea as soon as they took on the Rockland Branch, so they sort of saw this coming. I have no idea what’s going on behind the scenes with potential customers so we’ll just have to see.

And yes, it seems like the Coastliner will be sticking around.

Plenty of discussion regarding this topic in the Rockland Branch thread.

yeah i saw it

alright then. i pray that the freight sticks around as the B boats are some of, if not the last of the last on the coast. along with the ones in ny

also anyone who knows: what times does MR (midcoast railservice) get thru waldoboro (abt 30 minutes from rockland by rail). I was told that they get to wiscasset (farther down the line, about half hour from waldoboro) at 9:30-10:30 am and 2:00-5:00 pm. can anyone help?

thanks!

Glad they are being stubborn and sticking around rather than cutting bait. Wait, they ship cuts of bait

lol. Midcoast railservice for the win. Midcoast bait service!!

A reefer or two a month, if that, isn't going to cover costs...

yeah. midcoast steel service.