Official Maine Eastern Railroad Thread (ME) - 2009

This thread is for the discussion of news and events related to the activities and operation of the Maine Eastern Railroad.

http://www.maineeasternrailroad.com/

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 833&nseq=0
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.p ... 826&nseq=1

Here are a pair of shots from Maine Eastern's first run in 2009. Enjoy.

-Justin Franz

Sharp looking Geep... nice pictures, Justin!

-otto-

Here is a little bit of Maine Eastern news for everyone. Front page of last weeks Capital Weekly had a story about Maine Eastern bringing passenger service to Augusta. Certinatly one of those I'll belive it when I see it things, but having a pair of FL9s run up and down the Kennebec Valley would be nice - http://capital.villagesoup.com/Communit ... yid=141265

If and when train service from Portland does come to Brunswick, Maine Eastern Railroad, which currently runs seasonal passenger service between Brunswick and Rockland, is looking at adding passenger service from Brunswick to Augusta, as well, said Maine Eastern Vice President and Director of Passenger Operations Gordon Page.

Shamless plug, there is also a story in last weeks Capital Weekly about riding Amtrak from Montana to Boston by one of their freelance contributors.

Justin Franz

Thanks Justin,
Nice clear pics

Any chance, since ME already has FL-9's in operation, that they may try to pick up some of CDOT's soon to be retired FL-9's currently in pool service on MNRR? To put my question into some context, I read an article on ME passenger ops a few months back in Trains; it was a very nice write-up. They seemed eager to continue operations, and extend them if Maine funds the extension of the Downeaster. MNRR retired their owned FL-9's, but still uses CDOT's if there's a problem with their new Brookville units, or CDOT's recently acquired Amtrak P-40's, which only see branch or shuttle service.

Last question: are the two current FL-9's in operation former Amtrak or MNRR units?

The 488 and 489 are ex-Amtrak, and M&E's other FL9s are ex-Amtrak as well (they're in the same number series and are still in Amtrak Phase III paint).

That article is funny ha ha. To my knowledge Maine Eastern has never operated a single freight train between Brunswick and Augusta since they took over operation of the Rockland Branch and the Lower Road. They ARE the nominal contracted operator for the line which is presently in a semi-dormant state. Given the fact that I am apparently one of the only people on this forum who was on the excursion last spring when Maine Eastern ran from Rockland through Brunswick up to Augusta and back I can say that although the line is in decent shape most of the grade crossing signals need repair and in some locations the line needs regrading, additional ballast and tie replacement. Signals were not operational during the excursion (in many cases apparently due to serious deterioration of infrastructure), ME used rolling MOW crews in vehicles to flag the crossings from Brunswick north and then back again from Augusta south.

I think Maine Eastern has done more for rail in Central Maine than any other operator has since the Maine Central and Boston & Maine ordered the Flying Yankee from Budd however until this Downeaster extension turns a shovel nothing is going to happen. I have not heard ANY good news at all on that front other than the Brunswick Maine Street station project seems to be moving forward quite sucessfully.

On a positive note the city of Augusta built a parking garage about four years ago right next to the tracks in downtown Augusta that will make it possible for the city to reactivate the line and lose the additional parking without any difficulty when the time comes. If the Downeaster does in fact make it to Brunswick it is a matter of when not if ME would start serious service between Augusta and Brunswick. ME seems to be very consistent about this point not only in this article but every other time the words Brunswick, Downeaster and Augusta are used in the same sentence. What type of frequency the service would have etc. remains to be seen.

Now that there is a serious chance of federal bailout money for infrastructure projects working its way to the state level there is at least a chance that the Downeaster extension will be saved if not expanded by that funding.

On a different note the Rockland Branch is clearly in excellent shape and with about a decades worth of good state funding could now be described as being in a state of good repair, great ballast, good signals, Carlton Drawbridge renovated, Bath station renovated, Rockland station renovated, Brunswick station underconstruction and the Downeaster finally making progress to the north. There are some very active tie replacement programs underway and maybe at some point in the future the state will consider reinstalling the Automatic Block Signal system. Ironically the Lower Road's ABS system is probably in better shape than the Rockland Branch ABS simply because the Lower Road was operational so much longer as a mainline than the Rockland Branch.

Seems like a while since I've posted but there really hasn't been that much going on for ME or even the Downeaster beyond some service outages. Life has been pretty busy too I guess.

Sarge wrote:Any chance, since ME already has FL-9's in operation, that they may try to pick up some of CDOT's soon to be retired FL-9's currently in pool service on MNRR?

Sarge, why are you trying to give away CDOT's FL9's? I just shot them on a Metro-North train this morning. As far as I know, they are not on the market.

-otto-

Otto Vondrak wrote:

Sarge wrote:Any chance, since ME already has FL-9's in operation, that they may try to pick up some of CDOT's soon to be retired FL-9's currently in pool service on MNRR?

Sarge, why are you trying to give away CDOT's FL9's? I just shot them on a Metro-North train this morning. As far as I know, they are not on the market.

-otto-

Not trying to give them away at all, Otto. You know me, I'd just as soon start up a no frills demo project up to New Milford or Hopewell Junction using these! Or perhaps Waterbury - Berlin or NHHS, or even just for more frequent service on existing branches. But since those fantasies, er, projects, are a ways off, and since the P-40's have been purchased by CDOT, and the Brookville's are on site for pool service, I would just like for them to stay in service somewhere!

BTW, which one did you catch, 2016? Saw on the FL9 thread it was on Wassaic runs today (nice shots from Fred).

What is the plan for Maine Eastern this coming season? Any more new equipment, schedule changes/additions, track maintenance? Are there any new projects underway somewhere on the Right of Way?

2009 Schedules have been posted for ME service.

http://www.maineeasternrailroad.com/

There will be a Royal Carribbean cruise ship making a port call in Rockland on June 21st. It will be interesting to see if this generates a day of sellouts or if they run special service for the day.

How many freight moves do they make? And how often is 3573 used?

Morristown & Erie's Alexander Hamilton parlor car was seen at the Portland train station yesterday... headed for the Maine Eastern, no doubt.

There was a Morriston and Erie Coach car in Boston yesterday. I saw it going west near yawkey station in Boston. The consist was Amtrak 101, 90213, the car, and an Amfleet car. I thought it may have been a transfer to the northside. I did not catch anyname of the coach. Does anyone knows why this car was here or where it is headed?