Passenger Trains > Downeaster at Wells, ME Saturday

AFter visiting the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME
Satuday(6th) I happened to go to the Wells, ME Amtrak station
as I returned home. The 2:26 pm Downeaster to Boston departed
about 5 minutes late. About 6-7 boarded and one person even
detrained which surprised me since the train originates in Portland.
The train certainly needed to go through a washing facility as the
sides of the cars were rather dirty. And the windows did not look
as though they had been cleaned in some time.

I talked with a woman who was a Downeaster volunteer and she was
very pleasant. She seemed pleased many people were using the
train to go to Boston for the Red Sox games. The parking lot had
about 50 + cars in it so a reasonable number of people were using
the train on a Saturday. The station is a nice facility and has
plenty of literature for tourists. Busses do not use the station.

A rather long Pan Am freight was parked on the other track. Ten
minutes after the Downeaster left it was still there. As I approached
the Berwicks I did not see the train so I guess it stayed at Wells for
awhile. I could not see the locomotives although the volunteer
said about 4-5 were on the train. I hope Pan Am has lots of
long freights as it certainly needs the business.

The trolley museum was reasonably busy and they were using
several busses instead of trolleys to transfer tourists to Highwood
barn. Many trolley fans were at the museum Saturday as some
special program was going on emphasizing bus transit.

And there were also many people looking at the Bush compound
in Kennebunkport taking pictures of the famous house. Parking
spaces used for photo taking were certainly being used as much
as possible.

mp16 Wrote:
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> AFter visiting the Seashore Trolley Museum in
> Kennebunkport, ME
> Satuday(6th) I happened to go to the Wells, ME
> Amtrak station
> as I returned home. The 2:26 pm Downeaster to
> Boston departed
> about 5 minutes late. About 6-7 boarded and one
> person even
> detrained which surprised me since the train
> originates in Portland.
> The train certainly needed to go through a washing
> facility as the
> sides of the cars were rather dirty. And the
> windows did not look
> as though they had been cleaned in some time.
>
> I talked with a woman who was a Downeaster
> volunteer and she was
> very pleasant. She seemed pleased many people were
> using the
> train to go to Boston for the Red Sox games. The
> parking lot had
> about 50 + cars in it so a reasonable number of
> people were using
> the train on a Saturday. The station is a nice
> facility and has
> plenty of literature for tourists. Busses do not
> use the station.
>
> A rather long Pan Am freight was parked on the
> other track. Ten
> minutes after the Downeaster left it was still
> there. As I approached
> the Berwicks I did not see the train so I guess it
> stayed at Wells for
> awhile. I could not see the locomotives although
> the volunteer
> said about 4-5 were on the train. I hope Pan Am
> has lots of
> long freights as it certainly needs the business.

Pan Am seems to alternate each day between long trains and short trains. Some days the westbounds will be 60-90 cars, sometimes 15-25, with the eastbounds alternating lengths in a similar way.

Good narrative Mr. MP, but I still do a "huh?" when I see something printed such as "a Pan Am freight".

But once someone held "feet to the fire", it appears that on the DownEaster, "Pan Am makes the going great".