Katahdin Woods & Waters Rail Access

Well with a can't do attitude like that I guess nothing is possible. Perhaps we should forget the monument and try to build a new mill of some kind? I know this company Cate Street....

Moderator Note:

Let's all try to stay on topic, please. Mr. O'Keefe asked an interesting question. He didn't ask if the train would be feasible or successful or if anyone will visit the park, so let's set all that aside for now. If you completely disagree with the premise of his question, that's fine. Sit back and let someone else take a crack at it.

To recap, here is his question:

gokeefe wrote:I am curious if a passenger train can get from New York City (GCT?) to Millinocket, Maine overnight (12 hours +/-) to bring visitors to the new Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument and if so what the timing and routes would look like.

Ok then. No. Can't be done that fast without going through Canada, which would mean border inspections and passports or passcard.

About how many hours would it be using U.S. rails?

Without doing any major rail improvents, I would think it would be at least 7 hours to Portland. Another 3 and you are in Waterville. 2 hours to NMJ. Not sure how far it is from Bangor to Millinocket by rail. Hour and a half? But with all tje railroads involved, it would probably be a pricey trip

Agreed on that last part. The model I keep thinking of is a charter.

So total rail time is about 13.5 hours "bumper to bumper". That's not bad at all for an overnight trip. Leave New York at 7 pm and arrive in Millinocket at 9:30am.

Not bad, although from about 3am onward the train would be operating over some very bumpy jointed rail... and along with that you also get the side-to-side rocking motion that comes with low-speed jointed rail ops. I dunno about anyone else but I wouldn't be able to sleep through that.

Since we are talking a once-a-year charter-- would the motion problem be alleviated at all if you used heavyweight Pullmans that were designed for service over jointed rail?

Perhaps, although jointed rail in the Pullman era was maintained to a vastly higher standard, it wasn't nearly a century old, the roadbed was as good or better than what we have on the Downeaster route today, etc.

I don't mind riding over $#!tty track during daylight hours but I wouldn't be able to sleep through it. I've tried to take naps on the Downeaster a few times and was nearly thrown out of my seat when we went over certain switches... and that's on supposedly top-notch passenger-grade track.

Of course, that was all just a guess. +/- 3 hours for good measure

MEC407 wrote:Not bad, although from about 3am onward the train would be operating over some very bumpy jointed rail... and along with that you also get the side-to-side rocking motion that comes with low-speed jointed rail ops. I dunno about anyone else but I wouldn't be able to sleep through that.

Very interesting point to consider. I assume that you're referring to Waterville north?

Mikejf wrote:Of course, that was all just a guess. +/- 3 hours for good measure

Yeah ... point taken on that one. Most of the +/- being Portland north?

gokeefe wrote:Very interesting point to consider. I assume that you're referring to Waterville north?

Yessir.

At least some of that might already be dealt with under the TIGER grant if/when this train were to run. But worth remembering in the event it does run anytime sooner. What is the current state of the track north of Waterville? Is it 25 MPH or are there are a lot of slow orders?