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  • Maine Eastern Railroad (MERR) 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

 #1357268  by MEC407
 
Photo by Paolo Roffo:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=554173" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1357270  by gokeefe
 
Might as well be titled "Twilight of the Maine Eastern".....

That has to be one of the very few crossings on the Rockland Branch that hasn't had new crossing protection installed.
 #1357314  by YamaOfParadise
 
gokeefe wrote:Might as well be titled "Twilight of the Maine Eastern".....

That has to be one of the very few crossings on the Rockland Branch that hasn't had new crossing protection installed.
It definitely is one of the last... it's a dead-end that only serves a handful of lakefront houses, so low priority.

I hope that station can be preserved in the future; it's definitely getting to the point of crossing the point of no return as far as maintenance.
 #1357337  by MaineCoonCat
 
YamaOfParadise wrote:
gokeefe wrote:Might as well be titled "Twilight of the Maine Eastern".....

That has to be one of the very few crossings on the Rockland Branch that hasn't had new crossing protection installed.
It definitely is one of the last... it's a dead-end that only serves a handful of lakefront houses, so low priority.

I hope that station can be preserved in the future; it's definitely getting to the point of crossing the point of no return as far as maintenance.
I think the only reason the Warren depot hasn't fallen in is it's too tired to do so.. Sad. We've discussed preservation a couple of times in this thread and unless there are new developments I've not heard of, well the prognosis is bleak.
 #1358687  by gokeefe
 
MaineCoonCat wrote:
YamaOfParadise wrote:
gokeefe wrote:Might as well be titled "Twilight of the Maine Eastern".....

That has to be one of the very few crossings on the Rockland Branch that hasn't had new crossing protection installed.
It definitely is one of the last... it's a dead-end that only serves a handful of lakefront houses, so low priority.

I hope that station can be preserved in the future; it's definitely getting to the point of crossing the point of no return as far as maintenance.
I think the only reason the Warren depot hasn't fallen in is it's too tired to do so.. Sad. We've discussed preservation a couple of times in this thread and unless there are new developments I've not heard of, well the prognosis is bleak.
I do not agree. That building is made of some strong stuff. Drive through any Maine country road and you will see more than your fair share of barns, homes, and other old dilapidated wrecks that have caved in from year after unrelenting year of Maine winter weather (and summer showers).

The prognosis is not bleak at all. This building is being watched, it is known and it is not a hazard to the railroad or any people around it. There are plenty of possible opportunities remaining to save it and plenty of organizations that may do so at some point.
 #1358703  by MaineCoonCat
 
gokeefe wrote: I do not agree. That building is made of some strong stuff. Drive through any Maine country road and you will see more than your fair share of barns, homes, and other old dilapidated wrecks that have caved in from year after unrelenting year of Maine winter weather (and summer showers).

The prognosis is not bleak at all. This building is being watched, it is known and it is not a hazard to the railroad or any people around it. There are plenty of possible opportunities remaining to save it and plenty of organizations that may do so at some point.
I sure hope it gets saved..
 #1358990  by Watchman318
 
gokeefe wrote:That has to be one of the very few crossings on the Rockland Branch that hasn't had new crossing protection installed.
Crossings in Brunswick were upgraded as part of the Downeaster project, but I think some of them already had gates. I believe everything from Park Row westward did get at least new bungalows, with cameras on them.
Other than those, I think the last upgrades on the line were 2010, when two streets in Thomaston received lights and gates (and another crossing was closed), along with a back road in Woolwich that was upgraded from crossbucks-only. That one was "other than 90°" angle, so it was a little higher in the ranking used to channel the funding where it's most needed.
Of the 55 public at-grade crossings in MERR-controlled territory (Jordan Ave. and eastward), I think 20 have gates, and eight have only crossbucks, with or without stop signs.
But the masts at Depot Rd./Station Lane are a little "dated." Other than scheduled cleaning of the lenses and maybe some new paint, I think the most recent thing done to those was the addition of ENS signs.

The Warren depot might be on "borrowed time." Then, too, I've heard there's a building somewhere on the Mountain Div. that might be demolished "some day." I think the Warren Historical Society knows about it, but I don't know what their plans might be.
 #1358993  by MaineCoonCat
 
Watchman3 wrote: The Warren depot might be on "borrowed time." Then, too, I've heard there's a building somewhere on the Mountain Div. that might be demolished "some day." I think the Warren Historical Society knows about it, but I don't know what their plans might be.
Back in 2013 when I contacted the Warren Historical society, I was told that because it was privately owned but the land is owned by the state and because they didn't have the resources, there were no plans at that time.. Also: viewtopic.php?f=126&t=78066&p=1258415&h ... t#p1258415
 #1359018  by Watchman318
 
MaineCoonCat wrote:Back in 2013 when I contacted the Warren Historical society, I was told that because it was privately owned but the land is owned by the state and because they didn't have the resources, there were no plans at that time.
Okay, I'd forgotten that post. Back then, my understanding was that the owner of the metal building (557 Depot Rd.) owned both buildings. I've since learned that he owns the metal building and the land underneath it, and leased the depot from MDOT. MDOT has notified him of their intent to terminate the lease and demolish the building.

Looking at the Street View that Yama linked, the back side of the roof doesn't look as swaybacked as I remembered. I think the addition that seems to be tilting away badly from the Depot Rd. side of the building was some kind of "attached outhouse" many years ago.

I was told that "the parks department" owns some of the land on the pond side of the track. I believe that's the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, which lists "DOC" as the owner of the boat launch on South pond.
I think there had been some inquiries into using the old dumping ramp across from the depot to load about 27,000 tons of waste fiber material from a site in town, for shipping to recycling in PA, but that didn't happen.
 #1361336  by Watchman318
 
The GP7 now known as ME 100 (ex-MMA 100, LMS 100, BAR 68) went westbound Friday morning. That might be its first trip out of Rockland since its acquisition by Morristown & Erie. I don't know when or if it returned to Rockland.

There was an eastbound through Waldoboro and Warren around 18:30 tonight, which I think was an FL9 and/or GP9 764, probably returning from the Candy Cane Train in Bath.
 #1361746  by PT1101
 
The ME 100, caboose ME 5, and plow were sitting in Brunswick Yard as of a few hours ago. It sounded like PO-2 was in town also. I don't know if they'll be bringing the equipment back to Rigby with them.
 #1361860  by Narrowgauger
 
Since we are winding down to the end of Maine Eastern operations, Has anyone one any information about whats going to happen? What power, operations and changes are heading this way? Will it just be the Rockland branch of the Central Maine & Quebec? Since the Central Maine & Quebec has a bunch of ragtag locos im guessing they will just send over a pair of whatever to Rockland. Do they even have a corporate scheme yet? While I want to give the new owners all the benefit of doubt, the Maine Eastern was one classy operation. Some pretty large boots to fill.
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