Belfast & Moosehead Lake RR back from the dead

Article in today's Bangor Daily News:

http://tinyurl.com/num7x

I'm glad to hear it's back . Kind of sad though... Belfast made a big deal about the railroad not paying there bills and where quick to remove the rail yard only to put a Marina and Boat storage on the spot that once was a rail yard .

Is my impression of the whole deal. Sounds like Belfast was looking for choice waterfront property and needed a "reasonable" excuse. Those responsible should be brought to task, or at least strung up from the highest ball signal.

Perhaps I'm wrong, though.

More importantly, were any of the original rail artifacts saved (turntable, etc.)?

Not knowing a whole lot about the original railroad, it sounds odd that the town worked so hard at ridding themselves of them, and now the RR is back so easily. I thought all their track was torn up!

What am I missing that makes this "new" version plausible?

Nells; better have a Maine map to understand this. Yes,the "beautiful people" in Belfast have "ridden" themsleves of that grubbly railroad property on their waterfront,an obstacle in their egocentric/elitist minds to making Belfast an example of "yuppiedom".

So trains WON'T run to Belfast. The B&ML has made Unity,roughly at the mid point of the line,for several years now. Trains will run NORTH from Unity to the end of the line at Burnham Jct.,where the B&ML connects with the Guilford Freight Mainline. There is a wye there.

This ride is NOT as scenic as near the coast,and I hope they do well. Unity has the restored station,enlarged,with a visitors center/museum,as well as the engine house etc.

Haven't been "up there" from my home in S. Maine in about 3 years,but there are "a few" derelict cars, bldgs. etc. But these are mostly SOUTH of Unity,at Thorndike,once the site of a huge feedmill,that brought the B&ML its last prosperous freight days,hauling many thousand feed hoppers,for the now defunct chicken industry in Waldo County.

Haven't heard if they will run their Swedish steam engine this summer,or use a 70 ton G.E.

I know they have a website.

Hope this helps.

Bud

As mentioned in the above newspaper article, their web site is:

www.unitytrainmuseum.org

And yes, even though they no longer operate within Belfast city limits, the rest of the line still exists. They'll be focusing on the Unity-to-Burnham Junction portion of the line.

I see... so the whole railroad wasn't pulled up?

NellsChoo wrote:I see... so the whole railroad wasn't pulled up?

Nope!

I have not been up to Belfast since the Mass. Bay RRE trip in September 2004. As I understand it, the track in Belfast was removed from the yard and as far as the old cannery (by the old Rt. 1 bridge). The turntable is gone, but I am not sure about the engine house or the freight house. The irony of it all is that while the City of Belfast considered the railroad an eyesore, the had no problem with the municipal sewer plant located right across the street.

There is a single stall engine house in Thorndike. The station in Brooks still exists and there is also a small collection of railroad equipment at City Point in Belfast.

The freight house and engine house still exist. The Belfast Maskers have occupied all of it ( the freight house)since 1999 when the BML lost the bulk of the yard. The enginehouse I believe is rented to a yacht company. The only tracks left in the yard is the one referred to as the "coal shed track" which ran from the edge of Stinson's property to the freight house and the "back track" which ran from the freight house to Consumer Fuel on the waterfront. I don't know how much longer these tracks will remain. The tracks from Burnham Jct. to Waldo are owned by MDOT and are leased to the BML. The tracks from Waldo to Belfast are owned by Unity Foundation and their disposition is unknown at this time. The collection of railroad equipment at City Point is privately owned.

More on the B&ML revival from the Morning Sentinel:

UNITY -- All aboard! Starting Father's Day weekend, passengers will once again be able to ride the rails from Unity to Burnham, taking in panoramic views of Lake Winnecook and the Sebasticook River on board a train powered by a 1913 coal-fired steam locomotive.

Read the full article at:

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/n ... 1587.shtml

Since the town of Belfast went out of it's way to remove the railroad from it's limits, the railroad should return the favor by removing the name of Belfast from it's title. It should be up to the new the new tenants of the former railroad property to incoporate the town's name into their title. It must be that they will draw far more tourism dollars into Belfast than the railroad did! Right? "Unity and Moosehead Lake" has a very AUTHENTIC ring to it. Wouldn't you agree?

New Haven 1 wrote:Since the town of Belfast went out of it's way to remove the railroad from it's limits, the railroad should return the favor by removing the name of Belfast from it's title. ... "Unity and Moosehead Lake" has a very AUTHENTIC ring to it. Wouldn't you agree?

Not a bad idea... especially considering that the town of Unity has been a lot more supportive/appreciative of the railroad than Belfast has.

In terms of accuracy, if they're going to change the name, they should probably remove the Moosehead Lake part as well, since the railroad does not, and never has, come anywhere near Moosehead Lake. "Burnham & Waldo Railroad" would be geographically accurate, if perhaps not quite as pleasing to the ear.

If I were them, despite the political motivations I wouldn't mess with the name. First of all, it's among the very oldest names still running in the RR business. Secondly, from the railfan/historian perspective, it has significance. Third, from the pure perspective of tourist draw, one couldn't come up with a more pleasant, adventurous, "Maine" sounding name if they tried. Perhaps "Unity & Moosehead Lake" is a good compromise, but I woiuld think that from both a historical and attraction standpoint they'd want to take advantage of everything they've got. Right now, a great sounding, historically significant, "familiar to railfans" name is a big ticket item on their "got it" list.

oibu wrote:Right now, a great sounding, historically significant, "familiar to railfans" name is a big ticket item on their "got it" list.

Agreed. And I'm sure they've got about 500 other more important things to worry about at this point.