Also, neither the Buck or the Madison are technically abandoned. They are storing cars all the way down the Buck, still serving the old Holtra-Chem site in Orrington, and the line is serviceable, if unserved, from the north gate of the old mill to Calais Junction.
They also still use, on occasion as needed, the first few miles of the Madison to store cars. That is unserviceable north of there at this point with healthy growth enveloping the R.o.W. No small effort to recover rail from that.
The 'Keag line was never formally filed on. And infact the occasional NM-1 is still traversing the line. Pan Am has several series of old tie cars, MEC and B&M gons, and old D&H 2 bays, along with the MEC 1200 chip gons which all still go to 'Keag, carrying spent ties up, or chocolate chips (chipped spent ties) down to Rumford. Most of these are interchanged, but one series either CM&Q or NBSR refuse. So they run an NM-1 up and back. Usually they shuttle GMTX 205, subleased from NBSR, for it's 92 day inspections as well.
The fate of the line almost certainly hinges on trackage rights to Brownville however. Trackage rights are STB regulated and long term priced. Haulage is a mutually agreeable, no regulators involved, contract over generally short terms which leads to renegotiated rates. The ability to go to Keag has given them power in those negotiations. If CM&Q charged too much they could simply walk away. With trackage rights that need for a backup connection to Irving and the line, already in disuse, wouldn't be there. I imagine they'd hold onto it until it became inconvenient to do so, first major washout, bridge failure or whatever, and then file to abandon. However, CP is fighting the claim for trackage rights, ironically because the 'Keag line still exists, so the Keag line will remain important, even if for negotiating power, going forward, unless the STB surprises everyone and grants the rights. We'll know that shortly.
