Lewiston Industrial Track/Lewiston Lower Rd/Branch status

soday wrote:Hey all - the info was good and I booked out of the Freeport Library in time to catch the pair of Grey Gs heading south through Freeport.

My bad for selling us short!

soday wrote:The sun even peeked out at the right time too. Many of the townsfolks looked somewhat suprised to see something moving on the line.

I'll bet they were! I'm sure there are plenty of people in Freeport to this day who do not realize that "Amtrak in Brunswick" means Amtrak in Freeport too! Somehow I think this might also apply to folks in Boston too.

Hopefully someone will be there to catch the jaws dropping on video when Amtrak's 40th Anniversary train pulls in on 13-14 August. Hopefully that event will help finally get the word out that, "Yes, passenger rail service is indeed returning to Freeport in 2012!"

Personally, I'm hoping that event helps to serve as a catalyst for people in Freeport to really start thinking about something more than just a platform. Funny you should mention the Maine Coast because as of right now that's about how seriously people in Freeport seem to be taking the possibility of having Amtrak service in their town.

soday wrote:PS do a search on my name in NERAIL to find some vintage Maine Coast shots in Brunswick from a decade ago - hard to beleive I have been visiting up here that long and only caught a handful of the G's trains.

I'm certainly not the best about getting out an actually riding the trains but I will say this, you're probably one of the few that a) took pictures of the Maine Coast (and has made them publicly available) and b) actually rode it as well, not to mention c) remembers it. I have just the faintest memories of catching glimpses of the trains working through Farmingdale in the late 1990s when I was working as a camp counselor.

The eight scrap cars that came out of Grimmel's last week showed up in Portsmouth on DO-1sometime Tuesday. As of this afternoon there are 12 loaded scrap cars in the yard and 2 out at the pier. One is already unloaded and the other half unloaded. The 2 empties that were there are now gone so I'm guessing they are headed east back to Rigby and then Grimmel's. Nice to see freight cars sitting in a freight yard for a change the yard has been empty for a long time.

MEC

soday wrote:Hey all - the info was good and I booked out of the Freeport Library in time to catch the pair of Grey Gs heading south through Freeport. The sun even peeked out at the right time too. Many of the townsfolks looked somewhat suprised to see something moving on the line. I will upload the video next week upon my return home but I think the train had three cement hoppers, three BNSF.SF covered hoppers, and eight scrap hoppers - pretty nice load... Has there been any steel flat cars lately for the Bath Iron Works?

PS do a search on my name in NERAIL to find some vintage Maine Coast shots in Brunswick from a decade ago - hard to beleive I have been visiting up here that long and only caught a handful of the G's trains. But as I said before I like to check out and map the ROW and the trains are bonus if they are running. Last year I trekked all the way up to the ' Keag and was quite impressed with all of the vintage MEC stuff along the ROW - it looked like the only changed was the height of the trees and the lack of local industries.


thanks for the running tip!

shawn

Hi Shawn,
Sorry I didn't see your post earlier. There have not been loads of steel to the BIW since about last winter, not sure when they will use rail again. Saturday has been the "schedule" lately for Brunswick runs lately, but as always that could change at any time. When you were in Brunswick last Saturday the train most likely had not arrived yet or was switching out Grimmel's. It arrived around 13:30, and after coming back from Grimmel's did not leave westbound until Monday.

Rumford Branch trains can be hard to catch also, good to have a scanner. Some good mainline areas are Rigby Yard in South Portland (Evenings can be good), and Danville and Leeds Junctions. From Leeds Junction you can follow the Rumford Branch east (but geographically west) and look for traffic.

Enjoy your stay in Maine!

MECFAN wrote:The eight scrap cars that came out of Grimmel's last week showed up in Portsmouth on DO-1sometime Tuesday. As of this afternoon there are 12 loaded scrap cars in the yard and 2 out at the pier. One is already unloaded and the other half unloaded. The 2 empties that were there are now gone so I'm guessing they are headed east back to Rigby and then Grimmel's. Nice to see freight cars sitting in a freight yard for a change the yard has been empty for a long time.

MEC

Thanks for the updates MECFAN! I used to live near Portsmouth years ago and noticed how nowadays it is almost always empty! Also good to know where the Grimmel's cars are going.

Coming in late to the party again . . .

Re track patrols: As I understand it, those should be once a week in freight territory, twice a week (48 hours apart, I think) if the line hosts passenger trains.
I think "heat patrols" are required for the CWR if the temperature gets above a certain limit. (Not applicable to the LIT, but would apply to the Brunswick Branch now.)

The BN/ATSF cars at Brunswick go to (loads)/come from the Chemrock plant in Thomaston: perlite.
Come to think of it, the last "Hardings" cars I saw were sitting by the east leg of the wye near Cedar St., covered with snow.

Back to the LIT:
@DRC: Have they been up to Grimmel's twice this month?

Yes, they have been to Grimmel's twice this month. 2 empties were set off in Brunswick today, possibly the ones that MECFAN saw leave Portsmouth? DO-1 had 344e-354w and just left Brunswick about 20 min. ago with 11 cars.

A pic or 2 to NERAIL soon.

Watchman318 wrote:Re track patrols: As I understand it, those should be once a week in freight territory, twice a week (48 hours apart, I think) if the line hosts passenger trains.

Track patrols depend on track class.

FRA Track Class Fact Sheet

I would guess that they might be able to argue that the "Lewiston Lower" is not a "mainline" (as it has no overhead traffic), meaning that the inspection regime would only be monthly.

DO-1 344 was in this afternoon. (7/29)
Set off three cars for Maine Eastern and picked up several from them westbound. GDJX #100001 and #40 remain on the siding.

Hello and good day - I uploaded the DO-1 that I caught in Freeport on July 18th, 2011 - big thznks to drcrf93 for tipping me on the SB run outta Brunswick - I took some stills as well as the three early teens placed coins on the tracks - They totally respected the fact that I was photoing the train. Anyhoo here is a link to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R7K5aspcAo

enjoy

ps Rumford trip up next...

soday wrote:Hello and good day - I uploaded the DO-1 that I caught in Freeport on July 18th, 2011 - big thznks to drcrf93 for tipping me on the SB run outta Brunswick - I took some stills as well as the three early teens placed coins on the tracks - They totally respected the fact that I was photoing the train. Anyhoo here is a link to the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9R7K5aspcAo

enjoy

ps Rumford trip up next...

That may have been an even better catch than you realized.

1. Both units were still in GRS livery (not rare yet but not nearly as common anymore with all of the painting going on up in Waterville).

2. Both units were lettered for "Guilford Rail System" (as opposed to occasional random engines still lettered for "Boston & Maine" or "Maine Central" or "Springfield Terminal")

3. Both units were "MEC" on the books and also were on former MEC tracks.

4. Units were back to back as opposed to "elephant". Probably normal for DO-1 but also not necessarily the usual.

5. Dragon Cement cars in the consist.

6. Crossing in Freeport with mechanical bell (likely to be taken out of service next year).

7. Track speed still @ 5-10 MPH (likely to rise to 30-40 MPH next year).

8. No crossing gates in the middle of Freeport. -"Old era" look from GRS period, quiet crossing with very little use, hence no gates and the spectators marveling when a train comes through.-

Definitely the end of an era. I'm sure this job will run a few more times but the lighting and weather conditions might not be so cooperative in the future. I would guess out of everything listed above the mechanical bell is the most endangered with the GRS paint jobs a close second.

Speaking from a historical perspective you're looking for one of the last times at a piece of the MEC that is still operating in a virtually unchanged state from when it was sold to GTI. To be fair there is plenty of mileage to the north that is still in use in much the same state of not so good repair, but I would posit that the "Brunswick Branch" is probably the most untouched of all of these. That track has probably received less maintenance than anywhere else on the former MEC that is still in semi-regular operation by GRS. It is a dinosaur of old worn out jointed rail, solid state electronics controlling crossings, weathered ties and crossing signals and shallow ballasted track that by this time next year will be gone forever.

Just out of curiosity, how common (in general, not in Maine) are cars that retain ATSF reporting marks? It looked like the first two were ATSF while the third was BNSF.

The track itself is CWR now, though, isn't it? I thought the new ribbon rail had been completely laid from Mtn. Junction to wherever they stopped in Rockland.

markhb wrote:Just out of curiosity, how common (in general, not in Maine) are cars that retain ATSF reporting marks? It looked like the first two were ATSF while the third was BNSF.

The track itself is CWR now, though, isn't it? I thought the new ribbon rail had been completely laid from Mtn. Junction to wherever they stopped in Rockland.

Laid yes, installed not so sure. I thought I could see CWR laying trackside uninstalled. Anyone?

CWR was everywhere in Freeport except at the crossings. At the crossings were huge pieces of snap track.

The ATSF cars are Perlite from out west - Arizona is what I was was able to gather from the Thomaston website I found several years ago.

ATSF cars are fairly abundant like any other carrier that was absorbed into another railroad ie Conrail, B&M, MEC, SOU, NW, etc.

newpylong wrote:ATSF cars are fairly abundant like any other carrier that was absorbed into another railroad ie Conrail, B&M, MEC, SOU, NW, etc.

newpylong (or anyone else who might know...),

Just exactly how common are Dragon Cement shipments? I was under the impression that it was fairly unusual for them to ship via PAR and that they mostly just transhipped to barge via Rockland with MERR handling the moves from Thomaston.

Although I know they've done it in the past it's definitely the first time I've ever actually seen Dragon cement cars being handled by PAR.