Maine Seasonal Passenger Service

Here's a picture of an MEC Mallet coming through the Gateway with semaphores in view. http://www.flickr.com/photos/conwayscenic/4306654701/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Other side of the gateway: http://www.flickr.com/photos/conwayscen ... otostream/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

These signals seemed to be triggered similarly to the North Conway signal, such that they detected the train passing bye, but I don't think they were remotely operated.

I would guess these were protecting the Yard Limits at Crawford Notch.

Apparently...the Gateway specifically: http://www.flickr.com/photos/conwayscen ... otostream/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Btw....what a nice online album....Thanks to CSRR....Ed Putnam and Arthur Carter.

Passenger service on the Mountain Subdivision was discontinued in 1958. Signals on the Mountain in the Notch were for train
spacing on the grades and were for eastward trains only from Crawfords to Bartlett and for westward trains only from Crawfords
to Fabyans. I've got copies of the bulletin orders taking them out of service in 1955 if I recall correctly but I'm out of state until
the weekend so I can't put my hands on them until then. Up until at least 1986 ABS started at PT Limit in Westbrook with an
eastward signal just west of Pierce St. I was by there a few weeks ago and I thought I could see a leaning signal mast still there.
CTC started at an eastward controlled signal at Larrabee Rd.

Coming home from New Hampshire today I passed mile after mile of backed up traffic headed southbound on I-95 in New Hampshire and the Maine Turnpike. Although the usual NH tolls to Kittery tolls backup was in effect due to a major vehicle accident during the peak afternoon travel period there was also an additional backup which extended just north from the Kittery tolls all the way through almost to Old Orchard Beach and Saco. All told that was roughly 30 miles of slow or stop and go traffic north of Kittery with the addition of the balance of the mileage between the New Hampshire tolls and the Kittery tolls which I believe means another 10-20 miles.

That being said I could not help but wonder how well new seasonal service to and from Maine would do especially if the seasonal service terminated at points further south and further north beyond those already served by the Downeaster. While I certainly won't argue that congestion relief would necessarily be achieved in any meaningful sense by such a train if the operation could pay for itself my question is then, "Why not?" Based on the volumes I saw today and have seen in the past I would have to imagine there are people of sufficient means who would be willing to pay a fare that had no subsidy of any kind in order to avoid traffic of the extent that I saw today.

Where should such a new service begin and end?

• NYP seems an obvious choice
• Rockland seems like the obvious option in Maine, especially given the traffic on U.S. Route 1

Obviously this is shades of East Wind all over again but that seems sensible enough especially given all the development on the Coast in the past 50+ years since East Wind last ran.

I think it would be advantageous to know where the traffic originates in Maine. I'm sure a lot of it is along the coast where there is already service, but I'm not so sure where one would get off the Downeaster to get to the Yorks, for example. Is there a connecting service available to arrive at the beach from Wells? Would anyone know if hotels/ motels would transfer passengers from the station to their properties?

One reality that seems to be in effect is that people like to be mobile when they get to their destination, especially if they are going to be there on vacation for a week or so. Having a car does that; the train does not allow it. Nor does the train allow one to travel to the Sebago Lake or Rangely Lake area, unfortunately.

It seems in the short term that using the current Downeaster service would satisfy the needs of some people. Extending it to Rockland in the summer time would be an idea to consider, certainly, but the current travel time between Brunswick and Rockland is fairly unacceptable. I'd think it's worth a try with a northbound extension on Friday from Boston, returning Sunday, but then the equipment gets tied up in Rockland for the weekend in that scenario. And we know that equipment is already short in supply.

I'm not trying to knock down the idea; just curious if people are, in fact, using the current service to meet their summer weekend/vacation needs. If so, great! If not, why not? The answer to the latter question would give us some clues about the success of seasonal service to Maine.

Rockingham Racer wrote:I'm sure a lot of it is along the coast where there is already service, but I'm not so sure where one would get off the Downeaster to get to the Yorks, for example. Is there a connecting service available to arrive at the beach from Wells? Would anyone know if hotels/ motels would transfer passengers from the station to their properties?

Many of the hotels/motels in Wells and Ogunquit do offer free pick-up/drop-off at the Wells station. I'm not sure about York, though. There is public "trolley" (bus) service from the Wells station to Wells Beach, Sanford, and connecting to "trolleys" in Ogunquit, Kennebunk, and Kennebunkport.

More info: http://www.shorelineexplorer.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

There is a York "trolley" as well, but it doesn't connect with the Ogunquit "trolley". That's probably at least partially due to the fact that York Beach and Ogunquit Beach are such fierce competitors for tourists


(sorry for all the quotation marks but I have a hard time calling those dressed-up buses "trolleys" while maintaining a straight face. )

I know the trolleys you're talking about, but I wouldn't call them an acceptable conveyance for intercity passengers with baggage going on vacation to the
beach for a week! I think it might be worth it to the Ogunquit, York, and Wells businesses to COOPERATE with each other in establishing a service whereby a motorcoach--bus--with luggage-carrying capability meets train 683 at Wells on Fridays during the summer to get to these places. I say 683 and not 681 because of motel check-in times. Do the reverse on summer Sundays to get people to 694 to head south. Then again, if establishments are going to pick up passengers on their own, that's even a better option, because it offers station-to-front door transport, which a bus wouldn't do--and could happen any day of the week. A little advertising by the respective Chambers of Commerce wouldn't hurt, either, to let potential train customers know the possibilities.
Has the ocean become swimmable yet up there?! My recollection is that Hampton Beach wasn't until about August 1!

I dipped my toes in the water at Old Orchard Beach around 9pm a few days ago (figured the water might have had a chance to warm up during the 95°day), but it was quite chilly, to say the least. Mostly I was too busy trying not to step on broken beer bottles, smoldering cigar butts, couples fondling each other, etc. Now I remember why I always preferred to go to OOB AFTER Labor Day. /rant

I did get to see 697 roar through town as I was walking back to my vehicle, so at least the visit to OOB wasn't a total loss.

Rockingham Racer wrote:I know the trolleys you're talking about, but I wouldn't call them an acceptable conveyance for intercity passengers with baggage going on vacation to the
beach for a week! I think it might be worth it to the Ogunquit, York, and Wells businesses to COOPERATE with each other in establishing a service whereby a motorcoach--bus--with luggage-carrying capability meets train 683 at Wells on Fridays during the summer to get to these places. I say 683 and not 681 because of motel check-in times. Do the reverse on summer Sundays to get people to 694 to head south. Then again, if establishments are going to pick up passengers on their own, that's even a better option, because it offers station-to-front door transport, which a bus wouldn't do--and could happen any day of the week. A little advertising by the respective Chambers of Commerce wouldn't hurt, either, to let potential train customers know the possibilities.

Despite being within 0.2 miles the Hilton Garden Inn in Freeport regularly sends a shuttle van to pickup passengers arriving on the Downeaster. I'm sure the same could be done by the hotels in the southern beach towns.

gokeefe wrote:Coming home from New Hampshire today I passed mile after mile of backed up traffic headed southbound on I-95 in New Hampshire and the Maine Turnpike. Although the usual NH tolls to Kittery tolls backup was in effect due to a major vehicle accident during the peak afternoon travel period there was also an additional backup which extended just north from the Kittery tolls all the way through almost to Old Orchard Beach and Saco. All told that was roughly 30 miles of slow or stop and go traffic north of Kittery with the addition of the balance of the mileage between the New Hampshire tolls and the Kittery tolls which I believe means another 10-20 miles.

I drove past that same traffic on Sunday 7/7 heading for Mount Desert Island. Coming up from the south, traffic was heavy all the way from the I-290/I-495 merge in Marlborough, Mass-- heavy enough that I remember thinking "we're doing 75 without a problem right now, but one fender-bender and this is going to seize up like glue for miles." Sure got me thinking there might be a market for an alternative...

Ridgefielder wrote:I drove past that same traffic on Sunday 7/7 heading for Mount Desert Island. Coming up from the south, traffic was heavy all the way from the I-290/I-495 merge in Marlborough, Mass-- heavy enough that I remember thinking "we're doing 75 without a problem right now, but one fender-bender and this is going to seize up like glue for miles." Sure got me thinking there might be a market for an alternative...

That's really where I was too. As we have seen over the past few years when traffic congestion is combined with population densities (which in certain parts of Maine in the summer are very high) along with movement then we have an opportunity for rail to at least be considered. Ironically more often than not rail may not only serve as a relief but also brings even more people to a destination! In places like Bar Harbor that's probably just fine and in fact quite beneficial during the high season. But unless we start talking about high speed and high frequency it still doesn't necessarily provide the fundamental answer we are looking for to traffic congestion into and out of Maine at the high points of the season. The alternative of course might be "high capacity" which "back in the day" is exactly what they did by running 20 car trains or even several "sections" of the same train. Might not be a bad idea to bring back (if the rolling stock is out there to support it.) Even if we can't have the Bar Harbor Express back running two sections of 25 cars each then having one 10-15 car train running to Rockland might help a lot with congestion on Route 1.

For a summer seasonal service on the Rockland line, I'd recommend building a platform in Newcastle, perhaps at the old station on Academy Hill Street, so "pickup and delivery" traffic from the Boothbay Harbor, Damariscotta, South Bristol and New Harbor areas doesn't have to tangle with the bumper to bumper backup in Wiscasset. There would likely be a large weekend commuter crowd, who travel from points south to summer homes along the coast. Not so different from what is being experienced on the new CapeFlyer. It's an eyeopener that the more than 2300 passengers used the CapeFlyer over the long fourth of July weekend to Cape Cod!