Rockland Branch Discussion

No idea what went west today, but RB-2 returned east with 3 hoppers.

3 hoppers back west this morning.

2308 ran light WB yesterday, picked up 2 empties at ASA, dropped them at Brunswick, and returned EB light before CSX showed up. Sounds like they're running back WB today.

[Edited at 14:16]

Looks like they returned east with a single scrap gondola; they brought 3 east on 11/2 as well.

Sounds like the loads that went west on 11/2 were Dragon's last cars. The 4 scrap gondolas on property will be used to haul away the remains of the retired whale belly cars.

Today's MBRRE trip has been canceled due to mechanical issues... the hits just keep coming.

Ah well, technical failures happen. Hopefully they can reschedule it.

A small aside, but I follow an engineer for Midcoast on LinkedIn and he posted some track gangs in Rockland’s yard with the caption of how there’ll be some changes and “exciting developments come our way”. Shows people working on the abandoned roundhouse lead and marking some other segments.

Sounds more like a big aside actually

Only calling it small because I have absolutely no idea what they’re up to. I doubt they’re rebuilding the second turntable lead since there’s literally no reason to, but I also wouldn’t call simple removal of the track an “exciting development”. Part of me wants to think they’re putting a transload there, but there’s a million better spots in Rockland/Thomaston for one of those.

The webpage for the trip was last updated October 23. Did they know about the mechanical problems then, or was it really a lack of sales at $169 per ticket?

Depends. Also doesn't help that Brunswick is a bit "out there" especially if you're from central-southern New England.
I also saw on the Coastliner website that public excursions are being pushed aside for now to "assure timely track completion of track-surfacing improvements in progress". Not really related to the MBRRE trip, but glad to see they're working on the rails still.

They also could have just had mechanical problems.

Kind of odd that MeDot would make that post almost 13 months after the first load was spotted there.

Some news from around the web that I’ve seen

* The RDC did, in fact, suffer a mechanical problem. There’s an article out by the Courier-Gazette that corroborates this (it’s a very downer-sounding article, but I gotta commend the owners for the optimism that seeps through their wording)
* The engineer I follow on LinkedIn posted two images recently: one of the scrap gons traveling along the line to the cement plant, another of track work in Bath. Much like the owners’ statements, his commentary is filled with cautious optimism. Must be nice to work for a company where everyone’s able to keep their spirits up like that.

The world is full of uncertainty. It's sort of up in the air, but at the very least Midcoast is trying their hardest, with marketing to potential customers and track work across the Rockland branch. Management of the railroad has stated that there is combined private/government interest to keep the line in operation, so we'll just have to see what the new year brings.