Official Maine Eastern Railroad Thread (ME)

mwhite wrote:This is not a State project, although I believe the State did provide some grant money to the Town. Also this is not just a project to build a depot, but a multi-use development which includes commercial and residential space as well as a hotel development. The depot is in actuality a multi-modal transportation center for trains, buses and taxis. Lastly, Brunswick has passenger service, albeit seasonal, provided by Maine Eastern, so a depot would be useful with or without Amtrak.

That is true... those points did slip my mind.

Just out of curiosity, was ME ever a candidate for running trains from Portland north to Brunswick/Rockland directly? Guess that solution would work best if ME got the rights to the freight service on the line. But we're still dealing with PanAm, so.... point moot.

I'm not sure that Pan Am would have any interest in allowing Maine Eastern to operate on their lines, unless there was something in it for Pan Am (e.g. lots of money). The only reason they allow Amtrak to operate on their lines is because the federal law says they have no choice in the matter.

That would work really well for both railroads. Pan Am could save a crew and power and the M&E could interchange whenever they want instead of having to wait for Pan Am to deliver "whenever". However, this does present a large problem to Pan Am. If the M&E had trackage rights into Rigby, they would have direct interchange with the SLR at Yarmouth Junction. Pan Am definitely does not want this. A few years back, Safe Handleing (Ran the line prior to M&E) wanted to interchange with the SLR via the lewiston lower to Auburn but Pan Am (Then Guilford) stepped in and prevented it form happening. Pan Am doesn't want to lose its monopoly over the M&E.

Great article from the Brunswick Times-Record about the Maine Street Station ground-breaking ceremony. More information about Bowdoin College tenancy than I had seen in other coverage. Looks like the project is doing very well.

Brunswick Times Record Article:

http://www.timesrecord.com/website/main ... endocument

Any new goings-on?

Not really news but a happy event for me anyway. I've been coming to Maine periodically for vacation and to visit relatives for the better part of 50 years. Today for the first time sitting at the light at Cook's Corner, the gates came down and 764 came through headed north with 7 or 8 cement cars, a flat of steel for BIW and a couple of other things. Nice to see them out and about in the snow. First time I've actually seen a train come through there. Unfortunately wasn't in a position to take a picture.

Merry Christmas all.

Andy

A good place to catch them is by the Shaw's driveway. Nice shot coming through the 'cut" if the light is right.

Is the 489 headed to New Jersey or to Maine?

Today while sitting on MBCR # 318 (11:15 AM) at the Lowell MBTA station, NMED passed by with the 319w,310e, Maine Eastern 489w heading towards District 3 and North Chelsmford. It was spotted passing the Shirley MBTA Station at 14:10.

It is headed to New Jersey. I believe it is due for a rebuild similar to what #488 received last winter.

I spotted it as well... but lost it when at Gardner. It must have stopped somewhere to let MOAY pass. Also, I think unit 310 was giving them trouble (suprised?)

JD

Nope, on the 26th I had a interesting spot to watch AY-1 try and move around with 3 dead units. The engineer was in the middle unit (345) and the conductor was telling him what was ahead, as he couldn't see a thing!

Your right, nothing surprises me anymore!

Happy New Year! See the "Official Maine Eastern Railroad Thread (ME) 2009" thread for more info...