Madison Branch

According to the comments on this article, the abandonment went through the STB without a single negative comment. The Madison Branch is officially done for.; let the brawling between the XC skiers and snowmobile clubs commence!

Abandoned rail line to be converted into 32-mile recreational trail through central Maine

Its sad to see one of the more unique branches get turned into a dirt path. But on the flip side, should the new insulation company ship outbound cars, they could always transload at NEPW in Fairfield on the Hinkley Branch.

The state is about to sign the contract for track removal from the Madison Branch.

State officials plan to begin the process soon of removing old Maine Central Railroad lines to make way for a proposed 32-mile recreation trail that would extend north from Oakland to Embden.

Jim Britt, spokesman for the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, said the plan is to have the work finished by the end of the year.

Bids on the project were reviewed recently, and Britt said officials hope to have a signed contract soon with a company to begin the work.

The state is actively positioning the trail to accommodate snowmobiles and ATV's.

The track is completely removed now and the state has begun fixing several washouts. I talked with the engineer for the project today, which he used to work for the town of North Anson. He was telling me that in the last two years of operations, they had a lumber company and Fabain who wanted to locate at the end of the line. They talked with representatives from the DOT who were interested in doing studies to estimate the cost of getting the line back up to 10 MPH and in a stable condition again. But Pan Am had no interest in pursuing any traffic on the line. The manager from Pan Am, that they talked to went as far as to say that he would be happy if they cut all the branches loose as well as the main line east of Hermon, since it would make his job much easier. Which said manager has been well known for turning away business. The customers who wanted service, definitely wouldn't have filled the void the mill eventually left, but it would have most likely kept the branch going for a few more years.

Raises a glass to the Somerset....