Maine Eastern Railroad (MERR) Discussion

Watchman318 wrote:

gokeefe wrote:I keep wondering if MERR is going to offer some kind of "Dock & Rail" version of BIW's "Dock & Ride".

I haven't heard of that before. (And "no joy" with Google.) Could you enlighten me?
Or do you mean Rail & Sail packages?

BIW runs "Dock & Rides" throughout Central and Coastal Maine that serve as parking lots for people to drive in and then get on a shuttle bus to "The Yard". The one I've seen most recently is off the Lewiston exit of the Maine Turnpike in Auburn. There's also one in Woolwich which as memory serves was at the "Taste of Maine" restaurant parking lot just across the river.

If you look at Google Streetview on the Alfred Plourde Parkway right at Exit 80 on the Maine Turnpike you can just make out one of the signs but if you don't know what you're looking at you can't tell what it is.

gokeefe wrote:BIW runs "Dock & Rides" throughout Central and Coastal Maine that serve as parking lots for people to drive in and then get on a shuttle bus to "The Yard". The one I've seen most recently is off the Lewiston exit of the Maine Turnpike in Auburn. There's also one in Woolwich which as memory serves was at the "Taste of Maine" restaurant parking lot just across the river.

Oh, yeah; I don't think I ever heard it called that before. The one at the Taste of Maine is very active. Good business for Bo-Mar Transportation, providing the buses.
With two BIW facilities right on the Rockland Branch, and another on the Brunswick Branch (Church Road/Marriner St., 04011), it might help get some cars off US Route 1.

Watchman318 wrote:

gokeefe wrote:BIW runs "Dock & Rides" throughout Central and Coastal Maine that serve as parking lots for people to drive in and then get on a shuttle bus to "The Yard". The one I've seen most recently is off the Lewiston exit of the Maine Turnpike in Auburn. There's also one in Woolwich which as memory serves was at the "Taste of Maine" restaurant parking lot just across the river.

Oh, yeah; I don't think I ever heard it called that before. The one at the Taste of Maine is very active. Good business for Bo-Mar Transportation, providing the buses.
With two BIW facilities right on the Rockland Branch, and another on the Brunswick Branch (Church Road/Marriner St., 04011), it might help get some cars off US Route 1.

Those exact points, in addition to the treacherous nature of Route 1 in the winter time, especially for first shift workers coming in for a 6:00a start time (meaning traveling on the road as early as 4:30a-5:00a in some cases), were among some of the reasons I couldn't help but wonder what was going on when the Comet car was brought on the property. MDOT and the towns sometimes doesn't start plowing until 5:00a in order to clear the road for school buses at 6:00a, meaning that by the time the roads are clear first shift at BIW is already at work. It isn't always done this way but for big storms sometimes MDOT and the towns will just let it go sometime after 9 or 10 at night meaning those traveling in for work early can often face particularly horrible conditions.

If BIW could be convinced to split some of the cost of operating the train with their workers they would likely save significant amounts of money and get a more reliable work force in bad weather as well.

From the Portland Press Herald:

Portland Press Herald wrote:Police say a Waldoboro man who road 45 miles atop a Maine Eastern Railroad train told them he climbed onto the train while drinking and fell asleep.

Read more at: http://www.pressherald.com/news/Maine-m ... iles-.html

MEC407 wrote:From the Portland Press Herald:

Portland Press Herald wrote:Police say a Waldoboro man who road 45 miles atop a Maine Eastern Railroad train told them he climbed onto the train while drinking and fell asleep.

Read more at: http://www.pressherald.com/news/Maine-m ... iles-.html

Hey, the Maine Eastern now operates mixed trains! Not that's old time railroading.

And in other Maine Eastern-related news:

Bangor Daily News wrote:New England Travel Magazine has named Maine Eastern Railroad winner of Best of New England Travel 2011 – Attraction — Way to Beat Summer Traffic in its recent publication, “ The Best of New England Travel 2011,” according to a news release Tuesday from Maine Eastern Railroad.

The publication is described as the top-to-bottom guide to the region’s premiere offerings and is published annually. The 128-page book from the editors of Boston Magazine is filled with the top places to eat, shop, stay and play in all six New England states.

Only three other Maine attractions were winners, including Owls Head Transportation Museum, which coincidentally is featured by Maine Eastern Railroad as one of its many excursion packages.

Read more at: http://bangordailynews.com/2011/08/23/n ... ref=latest

MEC407 wrote:And in other Maine Eastern-related news:

Bangor Daily News wrote:New England Travel Magazine has named Maine Eastern Railroad winner of Best of New England Travel 2011 – Attraction — Way to Beat Summer Traffic in its recent publication, “ The Best of New England Travel 2011,” according to a news release Tuesday from Maine Eastern Railroad.

The publication is described as the top-to-bottom guide to the region’s premiere offerings and is published annually. The 128-page book from the editors of Boston Magazine is filled with the top places to eat, shop, stay and play in all six New England states.

Only three other Maine attractions were winners, including Owls Head Transportation Museum, which coincidentally is featured by Maine Eastern Railroad as one of its many excursion packages.

Read more at: http://bangordailynews.com/2011/08/23/n ... ref=latest

Right now ME is an "isolated" service, if you will. It's a nice attraction "Somwhe'ah up the'ah". If people really are trying to beat the traffic you have to wonder if they'll see the Downeaster connection as a lot more meaningful than just, "oh, and there's a nice train you can ride to Rockland." In short, are we on the cusp of ME being seen as not merely an excursion service but as transportation?

Others and I have speculated in the past on ME ridership. The BDN article provides a clue:

"This year marks the eighth consecutive season of service for the railroad, which operates with fully restored vintage passenger equipment from the art-deco era. According to company statistics, the excursion service has accumulated nearly 6 million passenger miles from 2004 through 2010."

I thought they started up in 2004... regardless, whether you divide pax-miles by six years or seven, this indicates stagnant ridership. ME hauled about 9,000 passengers in 2005. Doing the math on the stat above, they have averaged 8-9,000 passengers per year* from start-up through 2010. On a per-train basis, that's about 50-55 passengers. Annual ticket revenue and fuel cost I'd estimate between $250-350,000, and ~$75-90k, respectively.

*This assumes most (but not all) rode the entire line round-trip between Rockland and Brunswick.

Cowford wrote:Others and I have speculated in the past on ME ridership. The BDN article provides a clue:

This year marks the eighth consecutive season of service for the railroad, which operates with fully restored vintage passenger equipment from the art-deco era. According to company statistics, the excursion service has accumulated nearly 6 million passenger miles from 2004 through 2010.

I thought they started up in 2004... regardless, whether you divide pax-miles by six years or seven, this indicates stagnant ridership. ME hauled about 9,000 passengers in 2005. Doing the math on the stat above, they have averaged 8-9,000 passengers per year* from start-up through 2010. On a per-train basis, that's about 50-55 passengers. Annual ticket revenue and fuel cost I'd estimate between $250-350,000, and ~$75-90k, respectively.

*This assumes most (but not all) rode the entire line round-trip between Rockland and Brunswick.

So the $64,000 question remains, "Will they experience an increase in ridership because of the Downeaster?" I am entirely open to the possibility that they won't. Really, it could happen. Everyone gets off in Brunswick and doesn't think twice about travel to Rockland.

On the other hand there seem to be at least some fundamentals in place which might support ridership to Rockland starting with drive time competitive travel (especially if you count delays on Route 1 through Wiscasset in the summer), good service reputation and a pleasant ride.

Looking at Bing maps, I notice there is an industry in Brunswick, just east of Cook's Corners, on the north side. Looks like some sort of lumber or wood-based business. Anyone know what this is and how frequently it gets serviced (if at all)?

JBlaisdell wrote:Looking at Bing maps, I notice there is an industry in Brunswick, just east of Cook's Corners, on the north side. Looks like some sort of lumber or wood-based business. Anyone know what this is and how frequently it gets serviced (if at all)?

Could you get a link for the exact location off Bing maps from the share envelope in the top right corner?

Railside Industry

It's on Bath Rd, betwen the rails and US 1, just west of the New Meadows River.

JBlaisdell wrote:Railside Industry

It's on Bath Rd, betwen the rails and US 1, just west of the New Meadows River.

That's not lumber its steel. You're looking at the Harding's plant of Bath Iron Works. They are an active rail customer for steel shipments.

Ah! Thanks. What looked like telephone poles to me is (now) obviously steel beams.

While taking another look, this time under the Arial views, I found a loco sitting on the runaround outside the plant: Loco