Lewiston Industrial Track/Lewiston Lower Rd/Branch status

The 1961 view of the map of Lewiston in the link posted by Sleepingtree in the above post is a little before my time-
I was 6 years old at the time. By the time I worked for MEC in the 70's most of the facilities were still there altho the
MEC roundhouse on Whipple St. was gone. Good resource to study.

So now that the PDA here in Portsmouth has not renewed Grimmels contract for next year do you suppose that Grimmel will ship some or most by rail next year. With the line to Brunswick all rebuilt its a quick trip to Portland and beyond. Could be a good gig for the RR. According to an article in the Portsmouth Herald it takes 1500 truck loads to fill a ship and they do a ship a month so thats a lot of trucking.
A few questions
1. How much inventory does Grimmel have up there?
2. Does most of it get trucked to Portsmouth?
3.Does any of it get trucked and transloaded to rail somewhere else?
4.What condition is the siding down into Grimmels in and do they own it from the switch to there facility?
5.If its not coming to Portsmouth where will it go Boston?

With the Portsmouth Branch getting rebuilt its a shame it won't come here!!.
In true NIMBY fashion Portsmouth doesn't care where it goes as long as they don't have to look at it and pollute our river. Let somebody else deal with it. I think more could have been done to control the runoff problem but I don't know at who's expense.

MEC

Black Bridge, which is the one lane bridge under the RR bridge between Topsham and Brunswick, is scheduled for removal soon, with a completion date of 10/31. Get photos now if you want them...

From a Bangor Daily News/Midcoast Forecaster article, "State to pay for removal of roadway on historic Androscoggin River bridge":

The roadway portion of the bridge sits below a railroad tier, which is currently not in use but is expected to remain part of the bridge for the foreseeable future, [MDOT spokesman Ted Talbot] added.

(<http://bangordailynews.com/2014/01/23/n ... ck-airport>)

More bridge photos and history here <http://bridgehunter.com/me/cumberland/323> and here <http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/me0315>.

Not a darn thing happening much past Cumberland St. on the LIT these days? That article was from January. I would hope things have picked up a little since then, but a late May article barely mentioned the railroad.

The LIT has been dead quiet for a LONG time - over a year or more. A tree fell across the line (visible west from the Pejepscot / River Rd. crossing) back in late winter and there it lay until about a couple weeks ago. Someone cut it away from the tracks, but I don't know who - though I did witness a four-wheeler ATV traveling on that section of track this past weekend...it was likely the ATV crowd who removed the tree.

PO-1 went to Grimmel's with B&M 327 one GDJX car about noon or a little after yesterday (9/30/2014) Not sure what they brought back if anything but this is the first run I have heard about there in quite a while. I will have a picture up to NERAIL soon, of them crossing the Androscoggin River bridge from Brunswick into Topsham.

drcrf93 wrote:PO-1 went to Grimmel's with B&M 327 one GDJX car about noon or a little after yesterday (9/30/2014) Not sure what they brought back if anything but this is the first run I have heard about there in quite a while. I will have a picture up to NERAIL soon, of them crossing the Androscoggin River bridge from Brunswick into Topsham.

You've got to be kidding.......looking forward to the photo and thanks for catching it.....

That's good to hear. Wonder when the last move prior to that was?

And on a related note, I was heading over to Gridiron in Lewiston yesterday on 196 and stopped to check out the crossing protection at Pleasant St. Then I discovered that a bunch of brush cutting had been done on the line from that crossing east so I ended up walking the line from Pleasant St to 196. Now I can check another section of the line off my list.

I'll see about getting the photos I took added to the google maps page of this line but there were probably 4-5 customers at one time in this short stretch of the line. Mos of the trackage and switches are still in place. Some of it quite overgrown where the brush cutting stopped. There was quite the customer base on this line just in Lewiston at one time!

If you look this google maps link (it should take you to the right place), the heavy brush from the street east to that clearing (above) between the buildings south of the ROW was removed. The tracks where also removed there for a small gap. Not sure why. Maybe someone was driving a vehicle through that area. Along the ROW, there is a snowmobile trail but it's just to the right of the overgrown tracks, they don't run on them in this stretch.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Lewis ... 5ad8e67d10" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is definitely a surprise. I'm sure the 'Brunswick Yardmaster' knows if any cars went west. Let us know when you hear from Jerry. Keep us posted Mr. Comick!

I heard from a railfan friend that they did pick up four loads yesterday afternoon, and also heard that PO-1 went out there sometime last week light engine and went back I believe with two loads.

Picture from yesterday: https://www.flickr.com/photos/104379093 ... /lightbox/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hopefully business on that line will keep up!

drcrf93 wrote:PO-1 went to Grimmel's with B&M 327 one GDJX car about noon or a little after yesterday (9/30/2014) Not sure what they brought back if anything but this is the first run I have heard about there in quite a while. I will have a picture up to NERAIL soon, of them crossing the Androscoggin River bridge from Brunswick into Topsham.

First "test drive" of the "Black Bridge" after the road deck was removed?

It's good to see traffic happening there again. I should check scrap metal prices and see what's what now. Maybe some went up.

Another PO-1 to Grimmels today. Sudden increase in business?

BostonUrbEx wrote:Another PO-1 to Grimmels today. Sudden increase in business?

Any idea how many cars in this latest "flood" of business?

gokeefe wrote:

BostonUrbEx wrote:Another PO-1 to Grimmels today. Sudden increase in business?

Any idea how many cars in this latest "flood" of business?

Two to Grimmels. Not sure what came back, if anything.