riffian wrote:Now that CM&Q has moved out of its former offices in Hermon to downtown Bangor (according to the Bangor News of 1/27/16) it leaves even less of a footprint in the NMJ area. Is the former station there now used at all for any purpose? The article noted that of 75 US employees, 25 made the move to the new Bangor office at 700 Main Street.
There seems to be a fair number of rail served businesses in and around Hermon. Which ones are served by the CM&Q? Does the traffic originated and terminated (and interchanged) there still warrant a daily job based there? Thanks for any current info.
The Corporate headquarters building once shared with the USDA is largely empty, except for some auction outfit. CMQ crews report over on the east end of the old Lower Yard(The Farm). The actual brick "station" where the BAR, Iron Roads, and MMA had been still stands basically unused except maybe storage. Pan AM also used space in this 3-story building for crews of all trains other than Old Town locals up until a few years ago. With Old Town still active at that point, PAR cleared out their NMJ rooms. They still store MOW equipment at the Hermon lot, and Waterville symbols still get crewed here with waiting taxies.
As for NMJ proper, CMQ holds down the fort with Pine Tree, Maine Energy and LMS. Between NMJ and Odlin Road, Pan Am serves Pottles and a couple of others in that cluster. Normally, NM-1 does those latter chores. With the recent rerouting of PAR/NBSR traffic via Brownville instead of Mattawamkeag, CMQ has "enjoyed" a surge in car counts. Besides Sundays, there is normally at least one CMQ crew on duty between Brownville and NMJ daily. Sometimes more. However, the old Maine Central has suffered East of NMJ to 'Keag with no daily road freights or locals since the Old Town mill closed at the end of '15. NM-1 will occasionally run an unscheduled train to Mattawamkeag for the tie chipper, but cars aren't interchanged there with New Brunswick Southern (ex CP) at this time.