BAR Boxcars in Meddybemps, Maine

[Mikejf]

I was out on tour today and spotted these boxcars. Must be 15 of them there. 3 Rows deep. Even a State of Maine, If you look at the second photo, zoomed in. Last car in the third row. You can see the S from Potatoes.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.017468, ... LcYR8A!2e0

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.017114, ... q-IQZQ!2e0

[Mikejf]

I missed these. Must be 20 or more there seeing these.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.018356, ... YGlEkg!2e0

[MaineCoonCat]

I was out on tour today and spotted these boxcars. Must be 15 of them there. 3 Rows deep. Even a State of Maine, If you look at the second photo, zoomed in. Last car in the third row. You can see the S from Potatoes.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.017468, ... LcYR8A!2e0

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.017114, ... q-IQZQ!2e0

I missed these. Must be 20 or more there seeing these.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.018356, ... YGlEkg!2e0

What I find also interesting is that looking at the USGS topo maps, I don't see anything indicating track in that immediate area..
?!

[MaineCoonCat]

Addendum:

I was out on tour today and spotted these boxcars. Must be 15 of them there. 3 Rows deep. Even a State of Maine, If you look at the second photo, zoomed in. Last car in the third row. You can see the S from Potatoes.

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.017468, ... LcYR8A!2e0

https://www.google.com/maps/@45.017114, ... q-IQZQ!2e0

I missed these. Must be 20 or more there seeing these.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.018356, ... YGlEkg!2e0

What I find also interesting is that looking at the USGS topo maps, I don't see anything indicating track in that immediate area..
?!

I pulled up imagery from May 14th, 1996 on Google Earth (only one I could find with minimal concealment by foliage), and it looks to me like it might be (or was) a scrap yard..

meddybemps poss junkyaed 05141996.jpg

EDIT 03 SEPT 2014 19:45 EDT, - I've been trying to figure out who may own the property to no avail. Tried the Maine Office of GIS' web site with no luck. Can't search the Washington County Registry of Deeds without an address and I can't seem to locate an assessor's map for the Meddybemps area.

[mowingman]

Google Earth shows a scrapyard there. It looks to me like they are using the boxcars as a viewblock, so the scrap yard can not be seen from the highway. Most states have laws that require scrapyards to be screened, by some type of fence or barrie,r to block the view from public highways.
Jeff

[MaineCoonCat]

AH HAH!!!!!!

[quote="On Dec. 06, 2001 on Page B3 in edition 1 of the Bangor Daily News in an article titled "Junkyard owner back in jail; Meddybemps man violates probation, says cleanup under way", Mary Anne Clancy, BDN Staff"]“We have some railroad boxcars on the side of the brook, but not in it,” he said.

Smith said his junkyard includes approximately 18 acres on each side of the brook, but in order for him to remove 36 acres of material, he would need another 36 acres to deposit it on.

Smith said his “long-term goal” is to “totally get out of the scrap business, clean it up and comply with state law.” But he is basically “a one-man show” and doesn’t have the money to do it, he said.

In closing arguments, Assistant District Attorney Carletta Bassano said nothing has changed at Smith’s site in years.

“Mr. Smith’s not doing anything,” Bassano said. “He’s only getting rid of the tires he can sell.”[/quote]

Read the whole article at: http://archive.bangordailynews.com/2001 ... under-way/

See also: http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2 ... 85,1347785

And http://www.thevoiceofmaine.com/viewtopic.php?t=1645

WOW...

And the site was being used for storage of hazardous waste, see http://www.maine.gov/ag/news/article.shtml?id=48290

[Mikejf]

Hmmm. Glad I didn't stop by...

[MaineCoonCat]

Wonder what became of the neutron generator..

[Gerry6309]

Traveling to Nova Scotia, I have had the questionable pleasure of passing through the metropolis of Meddybemps. It is more exciting that the nearby Township 28 ED, at least it has a name! That being said, it seems like the expense of hauling hazmats to such an out-of-the-way place would offset any possible income. Likewise, the box-cars sound like an expensive haul, even if they were acquired when the Calais Branch was still running.How could the state allow this for so many years? Maine is a big state and some unorganized or extremely rural areas are not under the watchful eye of a code enforcement officer. Hopefully this isn't the tip of an ugly iceberg.

[MaineCoonCat]

Hopefully this isn't the tip of an ugly iceberg.

At the risk of veering wildly off the subject of railroading (my apologies for that), I share that feeling and fear it may be. The photo below is from Google Earth Street View taken only about 275m. (300yds.) southwest of the Smith site. Imagery date July 2011.

Meddybemps junk.jpg

[RGlueck]

Typical front yard in Washington County.

[oat324]

Will there be anyway to save these cars before they are scrapped?

[douellet]

You're killing me Dick! The typical front yard in Washington County doesn't look like Smith's junkyard. I'm very familiar with some of Smith's neighbors having run a blueberry harvesting crew in Meddybemps and I can assure you their yards looked damned nice! I live in the Washington County and my yard doesn't look like dump, nor do the majority.

[bml54]

the guy isn't a scrapper my grand father worked for the bar from 1952-1996 and he says the guy makes garages out of them and he made a 3 alarm wild fire in nmj in 1998 when he was welding on a pile of used tires.

[RGlueck]

Do these BAR cars still exist?