Passenger Trains > Last Excursions for Maine Eastern

There was a bit of discussion about Maine Eastern losing the contract with the State to operate the Rockland Branch of the old Maine Central about a month ago, but no followup that I could find since then.  This has been a favourite destination for me over the last 10 years, so I thought I should plan to shoot it one last time, and also finally ride it.

The last weekend for public excursions was October 24 and 25th.  There may be some private charters before the end of the year when Central Maine & Quebec takes over.  CMQ has said they don't plan to operate any kind of passenger service.  With Saturday looking like it would be better, weather-wise, I opted to chase on the 24th, and then ride the train on the Sunday.

Wiscasset, billed as "The Prettiest Town in Maine" is indeed very photogenic.  The full train is seen crossing a timber trestle over a cove of the Sheepscot River, just east of the station stop there.

In Nobleboro, I had almost perfect conditions for this reflection shot of the train on a small causeway across an inlet of Damariscotta Lake.

After trying a new shot (not shown) at Warren Depot, I barely made it to South Warren in time to catch the train creeping across this rather unusual lift bridge over the Oyster River.

GTD​​​​​

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There was a roughly 3 hour layover in Rockland, at the eastern end of the line.  Plenty of time for a walk around town to find some lunch.  The station itself has a first rate pub inside, which I can heartily recommend.  I hope it will survive without the passenger service.

Unfortunately, the weather sort of fell apart for the return trip, but I got a decent shot of the trestle at Wiscasset again, this time at low tide.  The causeway and trestle are quite long, but not very deep!

Sunday lived up to its promise, starting off with quite heavy rain at times, but as the train got back to Wiscasset, the sun broke through the clouds, allowing this view of the former ROW of the narrow gauge Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington, which crossed the Maine Central here on a diamond, and then terminated on a wharf out in the river.  The MEC had exclusive rights to the town, so the WW&F had to go "offshore" and build their own trestle to serve the town.  The 2-footer shut down in the '30s, but there is still evidence of the wharf and trestle, and the WW&F Museum operates a few miles north of here at Alna.

And lastly, here's a video of the train arriving in Wiscasset on the Saturday.  The yacht club was hauling out the wharves for the season, but there were enough left for about half a dozen railfans, some from as far away as Chicago and Germany, to record the scene.​​​

GTD​



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/15 18:17 by cn6218.

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Very nice. Thanks for posting !

Your fourth photo should be Image of the Day.

Thanks for sharing.

Shame to loose this service.

The State of Main dropped the ball here, big time. It should have INSISTED that passenger service be part of the contract.

mundo Wrote:
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> Shame to loose this service.

What a bummer, Nothing like a fine private go-getter passenger train operation up to (or very close) to Amtrak standards, keeping that classy streamliner look. I hope they ammend the contract or the locals push to get the Downeaster run thru this part of the line.

How was the trip back handled, re: the engine (turned engine, "cab" car, hostler controls, pushed train?)
Sure is a scenic part of New England in the fall.

Frank30

Frank30 Wrote:
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> How was the trip back handled, re: the engine
> (turned engine, "cab" car, hostler controls,
> pushed train?)
> Sure is a scenic part of New England in the fall.
>
> Frank30
In Rockland, there is a runaround track at the station.  The FL9 is cut off, and then backs half a mile or so to the roundhouse where it's turned on the turntable​. They then back down to the station, couple on, and wait for departure time.  There is shore power at the station, so the FL9 and its HEP generator can be shut down until it's time to leave.

In Brunswick, there is a wye (connection to the former MEC Lewiston Lower branch), and the whole train is turned there. So the cars themselves get turned everyday, while the locomotive gets turned every trip.  Last year, they operated with an FL9 on each end of the train, so no turning was required.  One exception to that was the AAPRCO charter last September, when the two FL9s were run back to back on the head end.  They still needed to run around the train, but that is a lot simpler than wyeing or spinning the locomotive of the turntable.

We actually had some trouble on the Sunday trip with wheelslip caused by wet leaves on the rails.  The train stalled at one point, but the engineer was able to get us moving again, albeit very slowly.  I'm not sure if they had sand on the eastbound trip or not, but I did hear that they had topped up the sand boxes for the return trip!

GTD​​

WIll the passenger cars go to the scrap heap ? I hope not. I wonder if some other rr might be interested in acquiring these cars.

mp16 Wrote:
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> WIll the passenger cars go to the scrap heap ? I
> hope not. I wonder if some other rr might be
> interested in acquiring these cars.

No, no danger of that.

Maine Eastern is owned and operated by the Morristown & Erie in New Jersey.  Some of the cars are even lettered for ME, and all the reporting marks are ME.  The cars (and FL9s) have always gone back to the M&E for winter storage anyway.  They'll just go to NJ this time, and stay there.​​

The future for the Maine Eastern's sole M-420W may not be so bright however.  New England's only operating MLW failed a few weeks ago, and word is that it is "finished".

GTD