Lewiston Industrial Track/Lewiston Lower Rd/Branch status

The SLR owns or controls some od the yard tracks at Danville. There are tracks at Danville you may not have seen, west of
the old diamond, probably buried in the snow. Not used much but available. They also have yard tracks at Lewiston Jct and
Mech Falls.

The PAR job from Brunswick would be headed for Rigby. Nothing is interchanged at Yarmouth Jct, and unless there were a
hot load to go west on the SLR, PAR would not run to Royal, then up the back road to Danville.

The track layout at Danville has eliminated the diamond. The old PAR turnout. wharf track and track 237 are now the PAR
main line. The old main is now the turnout. The SLR now comes across where the Station Rd used to be and joins the PAR
turnout (old main) the wends down through the yard and out onto their main line at the other end. PAR main threads thru
the yard tracks and out the long crossover.

Many thanks! Certainly worth exploring in the Spring!

The SLR owns or controls some od the yard tracks at Danville. There are tracks at Danville you may not have seen, west of
the old diamond, probably buried in the snow. Not used much but available. They also have yard tracks at Lewiston Jct and
Mech Falls.

They also have yard tracks in South Paris.

Hey Guys,

My wife said that she believes she heard "a train blowing it's horn at the crossing" during the day on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week while I was away at work. Does anyone know if there was some traffic on the L.I.T. this past week? If so, it is the first rail traffic to Grimmel's in a VERY long time (Since last September maybe?)

Hmmm. MEC 515 is currently sitting in Brunswick with a Work Extra facing west. Switches are set for the wye. It arrived yesterday afternoon but I am not sure what happened from there.

I don't know if this is helpful or not but when I went through Brunswick on the 9th the train that was on the siding did not appear to have any Grimmel's hoppers on it. Looking like normal interchange traffic from Maine Eastern. I did note the presence of several Dragon Cement carrier cars (which led me to believe the whole cut was from/to ME).

Yes, I believe it was a false alarm from my wife.
Looking at the crossing I could see that the winter's worth of sand that has filled the flange slot is still undisturbed meaning nothing has traveled through the crossing. I wonder what is up with rail shipments from the Grimmel facility? Stuff surely is traveling into and out of the facility by truck, but not by rail since late last summer as I recall.

Since this business came back to rail it has been very apparent even though it is scrap it is very spotty and they will only get cars when they have buyers. they went all last winter without shipping too ifI remember correctly.

FWIW, there was a fire last night at the fmr. Knight-Celotex plant in Lisbon. From a conversation I had with a cop at the scene, it sounds like a salvage company is working on demolishing the plant (that's probably what triggered the fire). So much for a rebirth of rail traffic. I'd like a chance to document the facilities before they're destroyed - if there's anyone out there with contacts who could get me access, please drop me a line.

"Knight-Celotex Plant Closing" (2009)

http://dailyitem.com/0100_news/x6913220 ... is-closing

"Blaze breaks out at abandoned Lisbon Plant"

http://www.firefightingnews.com/article ... eID=103818

Article states that the salvage company owns the plant.

I have been wondering for some time...

Did the "Lewiston Lower Road" ever connect to the Back Road in Lewiston? Or did it always end at what is now known as Lincoln Park?

Thanks.

No, Gokeefe. There is an elevation difference of 30 to 50 feet or so. The rails did come to within a few hundred feet of each other, but separated by the elevation.

miketrainnut wrote:There is an elevation difference of 30 to 50 feet or so.

Indeed. I was certainly aware of this but wondering if perhaps there was some really early 1870's-1890's RoW going through the city (street running?) that had disappeared. Apparently not....

George,
At one time, Lewiston Lower did connect with the back road. At a location about 5 miles back down LL, at a location called Crowley's Junction, the line went from there and connected at Leed's Junction. This went away sometime in the '30's. They did leave the wye there and may still be there.
Leverett Fernald

Found it. The intact Crowley's Junction is visible on this map (accessed here), and the current state can be seen here.

Was the GT Lewiston Branch ever connected directly to the MEC, either on the island in the vicinity of the two stations or back on the other side of the river where it crosses over the Back Road (or vice-versa, I forget which) near Washington Street and the (now) footbridge?