Downeast Scenic Railroad (DSRX) Discussion

[Otto Vondrak]

Thread for the discussion of the Downeast Scenic Railroad, it's operations, equipment and history.

Official Web Site: http://www.downeastscenicrail.org/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Downeast- ... 5333084104

-otto-

[MEC407]

Article in yesterday's Bangor Daily News:

ELLSWORTH, Maine — The snow is deep around the vintage locomotive at Washington Junction, but the folks at the Down East Rail Heritage Preservation Trust are busy behind the scenes getting ready for their first full season running scenic train trips out of Ellsworth.

Read more at: http://new.bangordailynews.com/2011/02/ ... ostReadBox

[bml1149]

Greetings,
The Downeast Scenic Railroad would like to remind everyone that we will begin operations to the general public on Saturday, May 28th.
Leverett Fernald

[MEC407]

From the Conway Scenic thread:

Just wanted to let CSRX fans know that the 1055 was run down to Ellsworth Falls and back in preparation for a charter trip coming up this weekend. She looked good hauling her consist, which will include the 1910 MEC passenger coach donated by the CSRX. The coach is looking real nice. Lots of hours have been spent putting it back in service.

[thebigham]

Here are 3 recent pics of DSRX:

http://photos.nerail.org/show/?order=by ... t%20Scenic

[jwhite07]

I passed through Ellsworth the weekend after these photos (sadly I was unable to take any pictures of my own) and noted the same consist being used. Are the 1055 and caboose out of service for some reason?

The new coach looks great. I especially liked the name it was given - "McNiel Point". That was the end of the Bar Harbor Branch in Hancock, where the Mount Desert Ferry once was.

[thebigham]

^Why would you assume the 1055 is out of service? Maybe it's in service and alternates with #54?

[bml1149]

Good afternoon,
Both the caboose and 1055 are in service. We have been using 1055 on work trains this month. The caboose we are using for group charters only this year.
Leverett Fernald

[jwhite07]

Thanks for the clarification, Leverett. Hope to get back home in August and take a ride again, like I did last year and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Bigham, I only thought so because it was my understanding that 1055 was intended to be the "road" power and 54 the "work train" power. But you know what they say about assuming...

[jwhite07]

I did get back to Ellsworth last week, but unfortunately my plans to take another ride and get an up-close look at the coach McNeil Point were preempted by the need to travel back home in advance of the approaching Irene. Hopefully next year!

My wife did get a grab-shot of the train, which was conveniently in the station as we passed by on High Street.

[gokeefe]

How did DSRX do this year? Was ridership good? Is there some money that can be used for further improvements?

[jwhite07]

I hope they did very well...

IMHO Columbus Day weekend seems too early to shut down for the year. Hopefully there will eventually be resources available to run later into the year for foliage excursions, maybe a Thanksgiving "Turkey Trot" during the busiest travel week in the year where many people (myself included) travel to the area to be with family and friends, Polar Express trips around Christmastime... so many possibilities!

[bml1149]

Good evening;
We did well this year with ridership with a substantial increase over last year, but we also ran about 8 weeks longer than we did last year. There will be improvements made next year. We plan to rebuild the wye at Washington Junction and install 500 more ties between Washington Junction and Ellsworth Falls. We probably wont run much later in the fall than we do now for a while yet. In order to do that, we would need a heated facility to keep the locomotives warm, plus the coaches would need to be heated, as well. It is, however something we will consider as we grow. The other thing is this is a good time of the year to do any major track maintenance, such as lining, surfacing and ballasting like we've been doing for the last 3 weekends. This is best done when there is no train traffic to clear for.
Leverett Fernald

[gokeefe]

Good evening;
We did well this year with ridership with a substantial increase over last year, but we also ran about 8 weeks longer than we did last year. There will be improvements made next year. We plan to rebuild the wye at Washington Junction and install 500 more ties between Washington Junction and Ellsworth Falls. We probably wont run much later in the fall than we do now for a while yet. In order to do that, we would need a heated facility to keep the locomotives warm, plus the coaches would need to be heated, as well. It is, however something we will consider as we grow. The other thing is this is a good time of the year to do any major track maintenance, such as lining, surfacing and ballasting like we've been doing for the last 3 weekends. This is best done when there is no train traffic to clear for.
Leverett Fernald

Leverett,

Great update!

I saw some mention of ballasting. That seems new to me. Is this being done in any great quantity or just "spot" application on washouts etc.?

[bml1149]

Good afternoon,
The ballasting job I refered to earlier was the recovery and replacement of the shoulder ballast on about 1 mile of track on the south shoulder. Over the years the railroad was abandoned, there was heavy atv usage and this caused much erosion of the shoulder ballast. All together, we put out about 300 yards of ballast. We also lined and surfaced about a half a mile of track near Washington Junction and half way between Ellsworth and Washington Junction.
Leverett Fernald