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  • Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad (BML) Discussion

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

Moderators: MEC407, NHN503

 #941703  by artman
 
Otto Vondrak wrote:I think the goofy Swedish steam train is the reason a lot of people stayed away in the past. Does anyone know the background of that purchase?

-otto-
Hey! I liked that goofy Swedish Meatball. In fact, on the last run of the last day of the engineers program that B&ML ran, it was me who rode/drove that engine back to the yard. I am glad I was able to run that engine for an hour. Big fun
 #943982  by MEC407
 
Sad... but kudos to Mr. Cooper for documenting it. So often these sorts of things go undocumented or completely unnoticed.
 #945865  by MEC407
 
Speaking of which, Mr. Cooper just uploaded dozens of wonderful old photos of the B&ML to the NERAIL Photo Archive. Check 'em out:

http://photos.greatrails.net/show/?orde ... =hpcrowell
 #945943  by b&m 1566
 
Those are some nice photos. My favorite one being the picture of the 4-6-0 steam engine. I only wish there were more 10 wheelers around, those are my favorite types of steam engines.
 #963458  by Mikejf
 
Passed through Unity, Thorndike and Brooks today. No time to stop and look around. But being my first trip, I did notice this.

Unity. 7 or 8 sweedish cars and the tender were visible from the highway. One passenger car on the turntable. The crossing has been cleared by a tractor to remove the sand and dirt that has accumulated there. Grass and weeds growing on the tracks,

Thorndike. there were 3 wooden coaches on the siding. On the engine house lead was several two or 4 seated open speeder cars. Looked homebuilt. Plastic school type seats with the legs removed. Grass and weeds growing on the tracks.

Brooks. tracks are clear of any grass. I headed out North on Route 7 per my job so was unable to see the station location/grounds.

Mike
 #963473  by shadyjay
 
miketrainnut wrote:Unity. 7 or 8 sweedish cars and the tender were visible from the highway. One passenger car on the turntable.
Thought the Sweedish cars and loco were heading down south... did that sale not materialize or get delayed?
 #969423  by MEC407
 
From the Village Soup:
Village Soup wrote:Belfast — A proposed walking and non-motorized recreation trail along a portion of the former Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad may be years away, but on Tuesday, Sept. 6, the City Council approved a plan that would offer payoffs to abutting landowners in a preemptive effort to avoid future legal challenges.

Slocum said the idea arose after an abutter who opposed the construction of the walkway pointed out conflicting legal precedents for what can happen within a railroad easement. An opinion from the city attorney confirmed this "lack of clarity," which Slocum said exists around the country.
Read more at: http://waldo.villagesoup.com/news/story ... ney/443035
 #981685  by thebigham
 
shadyjay wrote:
miketrainnut wrote:Unity. 7 or 8 sweedish cars and the tender were visible from the highway. One passenger car on the turntable.
Thought the Sweedish cars and loco were heading down south... did that sale not materialize or get delayed?
According to their Facebook page, the cars will now move in the Spring of 2012:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brooks-Pr ... 3665829385
 #1044169  by MEC407
 
From the Bangor Daily News:
Bangor Daily News wrote:The Brooks Preservation Society, a mostly volunteer group composed of retired railroad workers and train enthusiasts, has been working to have more excursion rides along the 30 miles of tracks that stretch between Belfast and Burnham. Now, the federal government has noticed their success and is removing the exempt status on all 22 railroad crossings on the line on May 18.

Removing the exempt status means that the five or so crossings with flashing safety lights will be activated when the train comes through. It also means that certain vehicles, such as fuel trucks, will always have to stop at the other crossings, too. Until now, the trains have stopped at crossings and a flagger has exited in order to stop traffic until the train passes safely by.

While the train enthusiasts say that safety will improve as a result of the change, not everyone in Waldo County is as pleased.
Read more at: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/05/08/n ... ref=videos
 #1044336  by b&m 1566
 
I'm glad to see that BPS is doing well with the B&ML. It's sad to read the comments of the one citizen that would love to see those tracks ripped up and the ROW turned into a rail trail. He's slowly loosing the battle but he's not giving up.
 #1044340  by gokeefe
 
b&m 1566 wrote:I'm glad to see that BPS is doing well with the B&ML. It's sad to read the comments of the one citizen that would love to see those tracks ripped up and the ROW turned into a rail trail. He's slowly loosing the battle but he's not giving up.
He's actually lost two battles, one to convince MDOT to stop allowing operations by the BPS and another to convince the BPS to stop operations. Those are two fairly substantial constituencies. Anyone who can put together an operation that attracts large numbers of volunteers for trackwork is probably doing something right.

The existence of the DSRX (Downeast Scenic Railroad) and their operations in Ellsworth prevent BPS from being a "one of a kind" exemption by MDOT. Thus making it even less likely that MDOT would ever turn around and say, "you can't run these rails anymore", simply because they're not a freight operator.
 #1044707  by Cosmo
 
I'm going to be somewhat polite and limit y comment on the individual to his ridiculous and ludicrous statement that BPS "has no more right.. [etc] to run these tracks...[etc]"
People should take more care before making statements that put their own competency into question.
It's no WONDER, with statements like his, that he IS fighting a loosing battle. Simply put, he wants a trail where just about everyone else wants a train.
Too bad, so sad. Go cry to the birds, pal.
 #1044779  by steamer69
 
Those comments would seem to imply (to me anywhay) that this guy is a few bricks short of a full load....not the sharpest knife in the drawer....the dull bulb in a bright tree....not playing with a full deck....inserting foot b into mouth a....

Hey buddy, this isn't Burgur King, you can not have it your way. You want it your way, go get a whopper.
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