Lewiston & Auburn Maine Passenger Stations

Gokeefe,

Lewiston Lower and Rumford Junction never connected directly. The route Ed is saying is using the old Rumford Falls Branch, AKA Rangeley Branch, to reach the SL&A from Rumford Junction on Pan Am. The only problem with this is the houses that have been built along the old ROW, if not on it.

The station is going to be difficult to locate anywhere. There will need to be parking there, because if you put the station in the center of town, no one lives there. If a station is constructed by the airport in Auburn, no one lives near there either. Best place for a station, Danville. Catch both lines (Pan Am and SL&A), and maybe even some day have connecting service to Montreal in the same station.

Thanks Mike for the clarification.

The route I proposed actually does not affect any buildings. It comes close in a few spots near the golf course, but (at least according to Google Earth) the route is technically feasible.

As someone who actually makes the daily commute between Portland and Lewiston, I have a hard time understanding why anyone would consider a station that doesn't drop commuters near the area's three largest employers: Bates, CMMC and St. Mary's.

Look at the numbers for Downeaster Brunswick. A trip from there takes LONGER than driving by HOURS and yet Brunswick is seeing a decent passenger count. This is, I'm fairly confident, in direct relation to Amtrak's relative convenience to downtown residents. It might take longer to get to Boston - but it's hard to argue that it isn't easier to walk to the station.

I really don't understand the debate. This isn't the Conway Scenic - this is people moving. If someone suggested putting a bus station out in the boonies, the city council would chase them from the room.

I had a discussion about this with a friend of mine last night who stays afloat of such projects in the L/A area.

He said the airport probably makes more sense if you are trying to create a transportation hub. There is no space in town for a new station. He mentioned that Hannafords has wanted to construct a new supermarket (to replace the existing one) with the entrance facing the other way. That could affect the plans for a station there. Most cities don't have large transportation hubs right near the center of town. The bus station previously moved to downtown Lewiston from a location on Libson St right by 95. I'm not convinced that the airport would play any role in transportation needs of this area. Yes, it's all commercial out that way but if you create a hub there, would other related businesses and amenities follow suit? I haven't seen any kind of plans for that area so it's probably off the table for now.

Something he and i both agreed on was that the hotel train has a slim chance of running next year (or the next few years). If it does operate, it can only be a good thing. We need more ways to move people around this area.

Just dreaming here, I can picture a station at Danville Jct where the Montreal trains and Downeaster shuttles stop. The shuttle continues up the PAR main with stops in Auburn and at Lewiston upper. If you get the DMU's coming up the GT from Portland, they could stop there too. I'm just daydreaming here so don't take that last bit seriously.

This was in today's Sun Journal. First I've heard of this! Imagine how different both cities would be if they followed through with this plan.

Nice. Thanks for posting

I wonder what they were thinking (if the rumor was even true). I could see GT changing over at Danville and using Lewiston Upper (and reversing back out to continue north... their own station was a dead-end anyway), but how would they have tied in Lower? Add a new bridge and run a line across where the golf course is now?

It says they would have stopped passenger ops on the lower but continued freight ops. (The pass ops were discontinued anyway.)

Kind of reads like they would have gone Crowleys to Leeds Junction then to Lewiston

Well Crowleys Jct to Lewiston was via the Lewiston Lower. The two lines they mentioned are sections of track where passenger ops would have been abandoned. 100 years ago, there was still passenger service on the Lewiston Lower. All the local passenger rail options would be "consolidated" into one station that would serve both MEC and GT and all trains would go via the Back Road (GT connection at Danville I'm sure)

But, 100 years ago passenger service was still on the Crowleys to Leeds line with a stop in Sabattus. So they would come up from Brunswick to Crowleys Junction and onto Sabattus and Leeds Junction. Perhaps terminating there with a meet with another train.

Very interesting how things were and have changed over 100 years.

Was there ever a connection at Leeds Junction which would have enabled a move from Crowley's towards Lewiston proper? The whole bit about a "true Union Station," coupled with the abandonment of service to Lewiston Lower, makes me think they had some plan to enable a one-seat ride from Lewiston Upper to Brunswick (and thence to Augusta).

Old USGS maps would tend to indicate that connection never existed:

1908 map when the Farmington Branch was intact- http://docs.unh.edu/ME/lews08ne.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

1942 map after Crowleys to Leeds severed- http://docs.unh.edu/ME/lews42ne.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Note the east leg of the wye as we now know it wasn't there in 1908.

Yes, the East leg of the wye is relatively new, compared with the rest of the trackage. It looks like they could have done a run around at the Junction easily with the yard tracks.

The Maine Rail Transit Coalition held a very well covered event at the Royal Oak Room, the former waiting room of the Maine Central's station in Lewiston on May 20, 2014. Here is the article from the Sun Journal.

LEWISTON — Making a pitch for commuter train service in the Twin Cities, members of the Maine Rail Transit Coalition said it's time to start developing rail aggressively. "In the past, rail development in the state has been about slow, incremental development to trying to rebuild sections of rail at at time," said Paul Weiss, a board member of the coalition. "We got the Downeaster to Portland and now, 10 years later, we've expanded to Brunswick." About 36 people gathered Tuesday night in the Royal Oak Room, the revamped event space in the former Maine Central Rail Station, to talk about expanding rail into Lewiston-Auburn. "We think it needs to be rethought," Weiss said. "We want to develop rail in Maine rapidly, simultaneously, really expanding multiple sections at a time." The group was focused on the state-owned rail branch between Danville Junction and Lewiston-Auburn. It could someday connect the Auburn-Lewiston Municipal Airport to downtown Portland.

I would note that the former station continues to gain prominence in the public eye. It certainly seems more likely than ever before that it could one day be returned to its former use as a station for railroad passenger trains.