Amtrak Downeaster Discussion Thread

[sicariis]

On Monday, Laurie will close the doors one last time, before Gerry’s temporarily closes for a sprucing up by its new owners. It’s been purchased by KC Cargill, who owns the Lexie’s restaurants with his wife Alexis “Lexie” Wile. The decision to sell was difficult for Laurie, and KC’s desire to both keep it as a store, and retain longtime staff, helped her know it was right.

“I’m so thankful that the new owner wants to keep all of the staff here,” she said. “Some new young energy coming in will be good for the store, for the street.”

The Cargill family’s first home in Exeter was just around the corner from Gerry’s. When the opportunity came up to buy the landmark spot, they wanted to make it happen.

“Lexie and I moved here with our family four years ago now and just immediately fell in love with Exeter,” Cargill said. “As for the store, we’re pretty much going to run it as is. We love the building. Our family wants to invest in Exeter.”

https://www.seacoastonline.com/news/201 ... ies-owners

[gokeefe]

“We are trying to determine with factors at hand if relocation is even feasible,” Patricia Quinn, executive director of the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, said April 12 about a possible new station.
...
“There are no places under consideration, (but) we want to be on the main line,” Quinn added. “We’d want a location with good vehicular access, pedestrian access, and proximity to downtown.”

Astonishing stuff ... I don't know what happened with the wye. If that project is truly dead then it would make a lot of sense that NNEPRA is ready to bail on the PTC.

As much as I believe in the intermodal connection a permanent backup move is simply intolerable, especially for future growth. 10 trains a day can be managed. 14-16+ would be impossible, even with a double track lead at Mountain Junction.

[trains18]

I saw a NPCU Cabbage 90224 trailing behind a P42 on tonight's 448

[MEC407]

There's got to be a land speculator that wants PTC gone for redevelopment pushing this move.

Maybe, maybe not. Keeping the station there qualifies it as Transit-Oriented Development and opens up extra TIF opportunities, which tend to be very enticing to developers.

Am I misremembering or was that one of the big points in favor of redeveloping Thompson's Point in the first place?

I suppose they could still call it TOD as long as the METRO bus continues to serve the property. Seems kind of lame though.

[gokeefe]

Am I misremembering or was that one of the big points in favor of redeveloping Thompson's Point in the first place?

It most definitely was. Very nearly considered a prime justification.

[gokeefe]

Six car "School Vacation Week" trainset on 688.

[markhb]

The thing about Thompson's Point is that the project has changed greatly from its inception. The original plan called for a major redevelopment of the property, with most of the older brick buildings being torn down, and a combination of a new arena for the Red Claws, a parking garage that the PTC and the Point would share, and a major office development. But the office development fell through, the Red Claws pulled out, and the project was sold and became the more "creative" concept it is today. It's now 8 years since NNEPRA did their station siting evaluation, and there isn't a single truly new building down there (they are building on Riverside Street, the replacement home for Suburban Propane).

[gokeefe]

In my estimation some of the sudden movement on this project may be a result of the change in administration in Augusta.

I would agree with Mark as well with regards to the huge shifts in planned construction. The reduction in development at the site really changes the arguments in favor of retaining the PTC as the preferred site.

Those two factors may be sufficient at this point to support reconsideration of the station location. Throw in problems with the wye leg and you have a pretty compelling case to move.

On the other hand there are still many good reasons to stay. The bus connection is a serious consideration along with availability of parking.

[gokeefe]

My first look through Portland leads me to conclude that Deering Junction represents the best available option at this point.

In this case I think South Portland should probably be considered for a station as well. Best site appears to be at the north end of Rigby on the west side of the yard.

Seems absurd to have two stops. Perhaps the answer would be for Old Orchard to be open year round in that case.

[charlesriverbranch]

I have a question about the Dover, NH station. Is the current station on the site of the old Boston and Maine Dover station?

Across the parking lot is the beginning of a bike trail which crosses the river on what looks like a former railroad bridge. I understand that this is the right of way of a branch that used to connect Dover with Portsmouth. That suggests that the current Dover station parking lot used to be a yard, which makes it unlikely that the Boston and Maine trains used a station on the current site.
I also know there was once a branch that diverged from the main line at this site and ran upstream along the river bank toward Rochester. There are two wooden buildings across the track from the current station that look like they might be ex-B&M.

I've seen some photographs of the old Dover station, but nothing in them gives me any context to judge where it might have been.

[Cowford]

Deering Junction... 2.6 miles from I-95 and 3 miles from Monument Square... and Morrills Corner would turn into a complete cluster. I bet a creative designer could shoehorn in a facility where the Mercy Hospital parking lot currently resides... which would require garages built for both Mercy and a new station. You probably can't do anything with that wetland, but you should be able to extend parking on the other side of the Veteran's bridge (which looks useless for anything else). Disclaimer: I'm not advocating such a waste of money (and it would be in the tens of millions), but if parking (and the bus company) can both be accommodated, seems like it would have essentially equal access by drivers/equal distance to downtown, can be placed on tangent track, etc.

[gokeefe]

Ok, I'm sold on the Mercy hospital site. Build a garage at the hospital, then build a garage at the satellite site along with a station. Excellent connections all around.

[Backshophoss]

PAR may OBJECT to the station being resited on the Mainline,unless it includes a passing track they can use as "parking spot" for "dead on law"freight train!

[njtmnrrbuff]

The present location of the Amtrak Station in Portland isn't the best but at the same time, it's not terrible. It's not the best in the way that it's not within walking distance of the downtown area. For the sake of travel time, trains that are continuing north from Portland to Brunswick have to make a reverse move and then proceed north and this adds like 10 minutes, I think. If the present Thompson Point station wants to stay, then there should be a wye track from where the station is that connects north to the track that continues to Brunswick and beyond. What I do like about the Thompson point location is that it's very close to I-295 as well as the airport. Even though the station might not be within walking distance of downtown, it isn't terribly far away-2 miles. There are buses that run between Downtown Portland and the transportation center.

[gokeefe]

PAR may OBJECT to the station being resited on the Mainline,unless it includes a passing track they can use as "parking spot" for "dead on law"freight train!

"Object" probably isn't how I would characterize it. More like "negotiate".