Amtrak Downeaster Discussion Thread

I will be interested to see if we build up to 57K+ in August. So far the seasonal traffic in Maine seems to be quite solid.

Sounds like the downeaster will be traveling the western route all the way to Boston due to track work between Anderson and Wilmington this weekend. MBTA will be running a bus bridge between Wilmington and Anderson (train bus train) for their service.

BandM4266 wrote:Sounds like the downeaster will be traveling the western route all the way to Boston due to track work between Anderson and Wilmington this weekend. MBTA will be running a bus bridge between Wilmington and Anderson (train bus train) for their service.

If by that you mean the Downeasters are skipping Woburn this weekend, you are correct.

Does the Western route gothru Reading and Wakefield? ( i.e., east of the Woburn Loop)?

mr. mick wrote:Does the Western route gothru Reading and Wakefield? ( i.e., east of the Woburn Loop)?

Yes.

The three "routes" (I believe the nomenclature dates to the B&M) are:

• The "New Hampshire route," roughly today's MBTA Lowell line with its continuance to Nashua, ManchVegas and Concord.
• The "Western Route," today's Haverhill line and PAR Freight Main Line to Rigby, and
• The "Eastern Route," today's Newburyport line, which was originally the Eastern Railroad.

I've actually heard Patricia Quinn use the "Western Route" name on at least one occasion. For today's Downeaster, the train from Portland follows the Western Route through Haverhill, and then takes the Wildcat Branch in Wilmington to the New Hampshire Route to allow the Woburn stop, and thence to Boston.

From today's Portland Press Herald, regarding the proposed development at Thompson's Point in Portland (location of the Portland Transportation Center):

The Portland Press Herald wrote:Developers are scaling back an ambitious $100 million project on Thompson's Point, trading Class A office space for the preservation of an old brick building and delaying plans for a sports arena.
. . .
The changes approved last week would allow the developers to reuse a brick building, rather than replacing it with a 120,000-square-foot office building.

The developers say they decided to keep the nearly 33,000-square-foot brick building in response to the wishes of a potential tenant.
. . .
The city is working to relocate Suburban Propane from its rail-side location on Thompson's Point to a city-owned parcel on Riverside Street. It's unclear how the relocation would affect the overall development plan.

The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which operates the Amtrak Downeaster train, has identified that parcel as one of two potential sites for a new transportation center that would include train and bus operations. The authority has also drafted plans to build the center on the other side of the tracks.

Executive Director Patricia Quinn said no final decision on the location has been made, but the authority wants better connections from Thompson's Point to other areas of Portland, including the Old Port and waterfront.

Read more at: http://www.pressherald.com/news/thompso ... 06-25.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My Notes By Location page includes a scan of a 1961 B&M system map and scans of track diagrams & station mileages from an 1977 ETT:

http://www.faracresfarm.com/jbvb/rr/bmrr/layout.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I haven't done all the branches, but I have got everything that gets discussed here except the Stony Brook & Worcester lines.

Per Mr. Brian Gilleran of GuilfordRailSightings, today's 685 out of Boston is packed, and one of the cars has no air conditioning. Ouch!

(It's 94°F in South Portland as I type this...)

Full train, speed restriction, one particularly hot car... I predict the café crew will be VERY busy!

This was from last week, but local emergency responders (FD/EMS) in Saco and Biddeford, Maine had an opportunity to partake in Railroad Safety for the Emergency Responder training at the Saco Industrial Track. Amtrak's Downeaster sent the 3 car spare set with a P42 and Cabbage along with Guilford Rail System sending the MEC 509, one empty tank car and box car.

Story here: http://www.journaltribune.com/articles/ ... 053611.txt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The real RARE opportunity was catching the Amtrak Downeaster crossing the roads near the industrial track. Although not carrying passengers, I was told it was the first time a passenger train had used those rails since the 1950's!

GP40MC 1116 wrote:This was from last week, but local emergency responders (FD/EMS) in Saco and Biddeford, Maine had an opportunity to partake in Railroad Safety for the Emergency Responder training at the Saco Industrial Track. Amtrak's Downeaster sent the 3 car spare set with a P42 and Cabbage along with Guilford Rail System sending the MEC 509, one empty tank car and box car.

Story here: http://www.journaltribune.com/articles/ ... 053611.txt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The real RARE opportunity was catching the Amtrak Downeaster crossing the roads near the industrial track. Although not carrying passengers, I was told it was the first time a passenger train had used those rails since the 1950's!

Fairly certain they did something similar back in the early years of service (like, 2001-2004). I seem to recall a photograph of Downeaster equipment calling upon the Saco Industrial Track from back then.

Edit: An old post from 2004 talks about this occurring.

Correct, they've done this before in Biddeford-Saco.

Here's my post from 2004, reposted here for posterity:

MEC407 wrote:A couple years ago, I had the scanner on and heard the dispatchers talking about "the passenger train" being in the Saco (Maine) industrial park, with fire and rescue on the way. Needless to say, my first thought was that a switch had been misaligned and that the Downeaster was probably in the Saco River! Needless to say, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.

Here's what actually happened: a Downeaster trainset took a little trip to the industrial park for a fire/EMT training session. What makes this bizarre is that the Saco Industrial Park is at the end of Guilford's Saco Industrial Branch -- an ancient remnant of the defunct Eastern Railroad. This branch has a 5 MPH speed limit and hadn't seen a passenger train since the 1940s. Guilford only uses it once a week at the most. It crosses several busy streets at grade, with no lights/bells/gates. On this particular day, it was snowing like crazy and the roads were extremely icey. A lot of drivers had to swerve to avoid skidding into the train as it crossed busy North St.

MEC407 wrote:From today's Portland Press Herald, regarding the proposed development at Thompson's Point in Portland (location of the Portland Transportation Center):

The Portland Press Herald wrote:Developers are scaling back an ambitious $100 million project on Thompson's Point, trading Class A office space for the preservation of an old brick building and delaying plans for a sports arena.
. . .
The changes approved last week would allow the developers to reuse a brick building, rather than replacing it with a 120,000-square-foot office building.

The developers say they decided to keep the nearly 33,000-square-foot brick building in response to the wishes of a potential tenant.
. . .
The city is working to relocate Suburban Propane from its rail-side location on Thompson's Point to a city-owned parcel on Riverside Street. It's unclear how the relocation would affect the overall development plan.

The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, which operates the Amtrak Downeaster train, has identified that parcel as one of two potential sites for a new transportation center that would include train and bus operations. The authority has also drafted plans to build the center on the other side of the tracks.

Executive Director Patricia Quinn said no final decision on the location has been made, but the authority wants better connections from Thompson's Point to other areas of Portland, including the Old Port and waterfront.

Read more at: http://www.pressherald.com/news/thompso ... 06-25.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It is possible that with the redevelopment apple may be interested in putting a store there and they are known for saving whole buildings just so their stores can be in them... Just a hypothesis...

from the PPH article: "Executive Director Patricia Quinn said no final decision on the location has been made, but the authority wants better connections from Thompson's Point to other areas of Portland, including the Old Port and waterfront."

How would moving the station to the other side of the tracks facilitate "better connections" to those areas?

Cowford wrote:from the PPH article: "Executive Director Patricia Quinn said no final decision on the location has been made, but the authority wants better connections from Thompson's Point to other areas of Portland, including the Old Port and waterfront."

How would moving the station to the other side of the tracks facilitate "better connections" to those areas?

Without studying the specific proposals; better parking, better roads, better platforms, better facilities, etc. A similar set of circumstances as in New York City with the new Moynihan Station addition to Penn Station.