I've been spending some time in Westbrook this summer, and every time I pass over the tracks it gets me wondering what's going on with PanAm's service to the area these days.
Last I had heard, PanAm was still running occasional local freights down the Mountain Division as far as the Sappi mill (just chemical tankers and pulp cars I think), but I haven't seen a train down that direction yet this year. The rails along the entire line are very rusted over, so that seems to back up my anecdotal evidence of a lack of trains. Does anyone know if Sappi is still shipping or receiving at all by rail, or is the Mountain Division truly dead past the Amtrak station? (The only other potential shipper/receiver I see on the line is the Blue Rock quarry, but they don't look to be in a position to ship by rail.)
On a related note, does anyone know the history of the various rail lines that snake through Westbrook? There are a number of lines that run through and around Westbrook that I've never seen service on or have been abandoned for some time. Does anyone have any maps, or history of when service dried up on the various branches?
For example, this branch that runs to the South side of Sappi along Warren ave:
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hne ... 1&t=h&z=18
Or this -now paved over- branch along Rt. 25, which I recall seeing traffic on in the early '90s (did this line formerly run all the way into Gorham? It almost looks like it):
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hne ... 1&t=h&z=18
I've also noticed what appears to be rail popping through the pavement on Cumberland Street within the Westbrook rotary, apparently running down the center of the street. Could this be remnants of Portland's former streetcar system?
If anyone has answers about this area, or knows where I could look to find them, I would be very interested to hear it. It seems that there is a lot of railroad history right in my local area, but I currently know very little about it! Thanks in advance!