Madison (ME) Mill to Reopen

This is certainly interesting news. I wonder if there's a possibility, however remote, that the Somerset Branch will be rehabbed and revivified?

https://www.newscentermaine.com/article ... 5rT4gGZD8c

Never heard it called the Somerset branch. I think it was the Kineo branch under the MEC? Madison branch under GTI and PAR.

Guess it depends on how much tonnage they end up moving in and out and where it's coming and going?

That product isn’t very heavy so probably more likely to move by truck. If Pan Am wasn’t willing to serve the branch when it had an active paper mill, I doubt CSX will be any more aggressive as it’s a fairly long branch line and would need to be rebuilt from the ground up. If someone like ND was moving in then maybe; but this seems like a real long shot.

MEDOT should have been spending money on the Madison Branch instead of the Mountain Division. Somewhere with actual potential carloads instead of chasing dreams.

What he said

They will be, the state is in negotiations to buy it from Pan Am with the intention of making it into a trail.

I think it was the Kineo branch under the MEC?

At least in the 70s, MEC referred to it as the Bingham Branch, as it ran as far as.... Bingham. Another thread indicates it was cut back to N Anson in 1977 and rails removed in '78. I'd respectfully dispute that, as I have a late 1979 MEC timetable that showed it was still active at the time.

That branch was the old Somerset Railroad (Oakland to Moosehead). Sadly, the tracks in North Anson were pulled up recently. The Madison Branch is in very rough shape, though.

In the CSXT STB filings, guess this answers the question.


G. Abandonments and Discontinuances
The PAR System, through Maine Central, currently intends to seek STB
authority to abandon an out-of-service rail line located in central Maine, known as
the Madison Branch. The line runs from Oakland, ME (milepost 0.4) to North
Anson, ME (milepost 25.7). The line will be converted to a multi-use trail.

On Thursday, 6/24/21, Pan Am formally filed at the STB to abandon the Madison Branch with proposed consummation date of August 20, 2021. Interesting excerpt:

Applicants are unsure about the suitability of the Line for public non-rail purposes. As of the effective date of this abandonment, Applicants' intent is to sell the real property to the State of Maine, Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, Bureau of Parks and Lands.

https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 302586.pdf