Maine Eastern Railroad (MERR) Discussion

I can't remember where I saw this or who posted it, but someone said CMQ would base a pair of B23-7s on the Rockland Branch. Seems like a logical enough choice for this operation. Their paint jobs might be a little threadbare but they're reliable and fuel efficient.

Also, somewhere, there was a comment that the CMQ would be retaining 4 of the ME employees.

As I understand it, four of the full-time employees were offered jobs with CM&Q. They are an engineer/freight conductor, diesel mechanic (who is also a qualified engineer), signal maintainer (was and probably still is qualified as an engineer), and the track foreman. M&E offered at least one of those four employment in NJ.

We drove down to the Portland area on Monday, and noticed that the caboose was gone from the siding at Wiscasset. I gotta say, that was a darn good use of that as a ticket office, and "billboard" advertising besides. I wish I had gotten to meet the innovative Mr. Garbely.

An FL9 went through Waldoboro around 2:16 this afternoon; westbound, I believe. Something else that I'm pretty sure was GP9 764/light engine went eastward a little after 6:00 PM.

Watchman318 wrote:
We drove down to the Portland area on Monday, and noticed that the caboose was gone from the siding at Wiscasset. I gotta say, that was a darn good use of that as a ticket office, and "billboard" advertising besides. I wish I had gotten to meet the innovative Mr. Garbely.

As of 12/16 the caboose is sitting on a siding in Brunswick at the new layover facility construction site. Open below and pan right.
http://www.nnepra.com/sites/default/fil ... 20site.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I just went past the Rockland yard and all I could see, other than transit hoppers, was the two well cars and some misc rail maintenance equipment. Seems so strange not seeing the old Amtrak baggage cars and the grey passenger car sitting around. Although I must admit the place looks a bit cleaner without them.

MERailFanJay wrote:Seems so strange not seeing the old Amtrak baggage cars and the grey passenger car sitting around.

By the baggage cars, do you mean the heritage cars (ex-Adirondack/Ethan Allen, I think) 1853 and 1854? I thought those were being leased to Beaver Industries (occupant of the former freighthouse) for storage. I think they had been considered for refurbishment and fitting with bicycle racks for use with the excursion trains, but were rendered unsuitable for passenger train service a few years ago after someone cut big chunks out of the HEP cables underneath them. They found some good use at Rockland.
There was also an ex-Amtrak MHC (Material Handling Car) hanging around there for a few years, with the big "ship's wheel" for opening and closing the sliding doors.

"Photographs and memories"

A class act ended Friday when GP9 1764 led a string of Maine Eastern FL9s, passenger cars and work equipment from Rockland to Brunswick for pickup by Pan Am and return to New Jersey. The cortege is shown passing the platform at the Brunswick station.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRJ6P0oksk8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Sad video. So what has replaced the power from CM&Q? There must be something in Rockland ? I cant imagine the line is without service?

Nothing yet, as far as I know, unless something slipped through without anyone here or elsewhere reporting it.

The M420W is still in Rockland, I believe.

Thats right, I forgot about the M420. It seemed that with a customer that builds navel ships that the line would of been left without service for a week.

abesier wrote:A class act ended Friday when GP9 1764 led a string of Maine Eastern FL9s, passenger cars and work equipment from Rockland to Brunswick for pickup by Pan Am and return to New Jersey.

A class act to say the least. Easily the most serious attempt at providing some form of consistent passenger service to rural Maine since the Bangor and Aroostook ceased service in 1961.

Some of the Maine Eastern equipment stored at Brunswick headed west around 5:45. I caught a glimpse of a Pan Am engine, followed by the Maine Eastern FL9's heading thru Freeport. I couldn't tell what followed, but the train length did appear to be consistent with the length of the equipment seen in Brunswick yesterday.

What routing is it going to take west of Ayer: via CSX and the B&A or PAS+NS and the Patriot Corridor?

Heading west through Falmouth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPAbrPFnExE" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Video by Robert Selberg

Thanks for the video link. Note the absence of the MERR GP9. It must've gone back to Rockland. Someone posted a comment on another YouTube video that the M420W is OOS. Not sure if that's true, but if it's true it would explain why the GP9 isn't going away just yet.