The Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division

Skagway is pretty unique. Short shuttle bus service to the train station would be necessary and easy in Portland. Fall foliage rail excursions to North Conway and through the Notch would probably be very successful with the cruise ship crowd.

I wouldn’t doubt it. All this hopefully holds weight when the bill reaches the legislature. I think it’d be a no-brainer for the tourism industry.

I’m curious as to the freight potential they see, besides some smaller shippers and movement of aggregates. They did mention it in their presentation so it was definitely considered.

Sadly, Standish to Fryeburg track to be taken up:

https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/ ... nh-border/

I made mention of this in the Conway Scenic Railroad thread but figure that I’ll mention it here as well.

Yes, the Maine house and senate passed LD 404, allowing the preliminary planning stages of track removal to go forwards. That being said, Conway Scenic Railroad’s expressed interest in operating the line (to my knowledge) hasn’t gone away. A few other things remain outstanding in the passage of the bill that could delay any further action.

Many people, myself included, intend on meeting with CSRR (they’ve been meeting with rail advocates over the past few months already) to discuss things further. Like I said in the other thread, though, until I actually attend one of these meetings I don’t want to say anything further that would give anyone hope or despair.

Did anyone from Conway Scenic testify at any of the hearings for the bill, or submit anything in writing?

Yessir. Dave Swirk himself (pretty sure it was him, I wasn’t present and read it secondhand) was present and testified during a workshop back in May, and his presentation was submitted on the Maine legislature website in documents relating to LD 404.

Good to know. Thanks.

I found Swirk's PowerPoint presentation here:

http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/b ... ?id=179034

What does a Bottling plant closing in Mass have to do with running freight on the Mountain Division? 34 slides that promote himself and the Scenic operation, and a single paragraph that has already been posted here, with no further elaboration by David himself.

It's barebones enough that it makes me wish I was actually in the room to hear what he said. Not a very good way to write presentations if you're trying to convey information to those not present, but minimalism can be effective if you anticipate your words to matter more. If/when I get the opportunity to meet, I'll ask more about the actual proposal.

It's barebones enough that it makes me wish I was actually in the room to hear what he said

It's definitely a presentation designed to accompany a voice-over or in-person discussion.

What does a Bottling plant closing in Mass have to do with running freight on the Mountain Division?

Without being there to actually hear the discussion, it's hard to tell. That said, based on the slides highlighting missing rail access at the Northampton facility, and such a plant's need for clean water, I'm guessing that his case was that rail access plus Maine's natural resources can bring jobs and money to the area potentially served by the Mountain Division.


In any case, it's certainly nothing definite and probably not worth spending $$$ on without firm commits and/or contributions from shippers. I see trail use as inevitable and the real battle should be how to build this as a rail-with-trail since the odds of a trail being removed to replace rail are probably less than winning the lottery.

FatNoah wrote: ↑ Without being there to actually hear the discussion, it's hard to tell. That said, based on the slides highlighting missing rail access at the Northampton facility, and such a plant's need for clean water, I'm guessing that his case was that rail access plus Maine's natural resources can bring jobs and money to the area potentially served by the Mountain Division.

I don't remember which thread it was in, a handful of years ago the idea of Poland Springs coming to Fryeburg was suggested. They even had trackside access. That got shot down in a real hurry.

Poland Spring was trucking water out of the area to the bottling plant in Hollis- I think the wells are
actually in Denmark or Brownfield. I haven't heard that this has stopped although a proposed
expansion several years ago ran up against significant opposition.

I believe it was about constructing a new facility, which still hasn't happened up in Lincoln either.

Is the Mountain Division OOS track (south of Redstone?) off limits to snowmobiles, atvs, etc? I noticed in Baldwin where it crosses Route 17 there are "Keep Out" signs. Seems incongruous with the hiking trail in fryeburg.