Maine Eastern Railroad

Last updated
Maine Eastern Railroad
Maine-eastern-railroad.png
Maine Eastern FL9.jpg
Maine Eastern 488, ex-Amtrak 239, nee-New Haven 2016
Overview
Headquarters Rockland
Reporting mark MERR
Locale Maine
Dates of operation20032015
PredecessorSafe Handling Rail, Maine Coast Railroad
Successor Central Maine and Quebec Railway
Technical
Track gauge 4 ft 8+12 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
LengthApprox. 57 mi. (Rockland Branch)
Other
Website maineeasternrailroad.com
Mid-Coast Limited
BSicon KBHFa.svg
BSicon BOOT.svg
0
Rockland
BSicon HST.svg
29.5 mi
47.5 km
Newcastle
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon HST.svg
36.6 mi
58.9 km
Wiscasset
BSicon hKRZWae.svg
BSicon HST.svg
47.9 mi
77.1 km
Bath
BSicon exdCONTgq.svg
BSicon eABZg+r.svg
Rock Junction:
Lower Road to Augusta
BSicon INT.svg
BSicon BUS.svg
56.6 mi
91.1 km
Brunswick
BSicon CONTf.svg

Maine Eastern Railroad( reporting mark MERR) was a railroad that operated in coastal Maine, between Brunswick and Rockland, on the former Maine Central Rockland Branch rail line. [1] Maine Eastern passenger trains connected with the Amtrak Downeaster passenger train and Pan Am Railways at Brunswick Maine Street Station. The state of Maine did not renew the operating contract with MERR, which effectively ended operations at the end of 2015.

Contents

History

Maine Eastern was a subsidiary of the Morristown & Erie Railway of New Jersey, who won the bid to operate the line in 2003. MERR provided freight service year-round, and passenger service seasonally between Brunswick and Rockland with former New Haven/Amtrak EMD FL-9 locomotives and stainless steel streamlined passenger cars. The Maine Eastern was the successor to Safe Handling Rail, which took over operation of the MaineDOT-owned line when the Maine Coast Railroad chose not to bid on a new contract. In September 2015, the Maine Department of Transportation selected the Central Maine and Quebec Railway (CMQ) to operate the line beginning on January 1, 2016. [2] In 2020, the CMQ would be acquired by the Canadian Pacific Railway, which then absorbed the CMQ into their rail system. [3]

Commodities moved in freight service include cement, plate steel, and perlite.

In February 2018, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority voted to conduct a three-weekend pilot passenger service along the line during the summer. However, Amtrak later announced that this plan would be cancelled due to time constraints in the execution of their risk-assessment plan for the rail line. [4] Despite the cancellation, Amtrak, along with the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority, Maine Department of Transportation and the Central Maine and & Quebec Railroad, made a test run to Rockland on August 14, 2019. [5]

Finger Lakes Railway proposed a private alternative to this extension in January 2022. Under the plan, their subsidiary Midcoast Rail Service would operate a rail shuttle to Rockland that would have timed transfers with the Downeaster in Brunswick. One daily round trip would run year-round, unlike in Amtrak's seasonal proposal. Two daily round trips would run on summer weekends. [6]

Rolling stock

The MERR roster consisted of a former Canadian National MLW M-420s numbered 3573, [1] and a RRPX Railroad Power Leasing Electro Motive Division GP9, numbered 764. These two locomotives were used normally used for freight service, but would fill in for a FL9 if needed. For passenger operations, the MERR operated a pair of ex-Amtrak EMD F40PH-2s that still carried their original Amtrak numbers 265 and 291. [1] These only ran for the 2004 season and would be replaced with ex-Amtrak EMD FL-9 locomotives, 488 and 489. Both FL9s were sold to Webb Rail in 2020.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln County, Maine</span> County in Maine, United States

Lincoln County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maine. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,237. Its seat is Wiscasset. The county was founded in 1760 by the Massachusetts General Court from a portion of York County, Massachusetts and named after the English city Lincoln, the birthplace of Massachusetts Bay Provincial Governor Thomas Pownall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockland, Maine</span> City in Maine, United States

Rockland is a city in Knox County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 6,936. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city is a popular tourist destination. It is a departure point for the Maine State Ferry Service to the islands of Penobscot Bay: Vinalhaven, North Haven and Matinicus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seaboard Coast Line Railroad</span> Transport company

The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lines to create the Seaboard System in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Trunk Western Railroad</span> American railroad

The Grand Trunk Western Railroad Company was an American subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railway, later of the Canadian National Railway operating in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Since a corporate restructuring in 1971, the railroad has been under CN's subsidiary holding company, the Grand Trunk Corporation. Grand Trunk Western's routes are part of CN's Michigan Division. Its primary mainline between Chicago and Port Huron, Michigan serves as a connection between railroad interchanges in Chicago and rail lines in eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States. The railroad's extensive trackage in Detroit and across southern Michigan has made it an essential link for the automotive industry as a hauler of parts and automobiles from manufacturing plants.

<i>Downeaster</i> (train) Amtrak service between Boston, MA and Brunswick, ME

The Downeaster is a 145-mile (233 km) passenger train service operated by Amtrak and managed by the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA), an agency of the state of Maine. Named for the Down East region of Maine, the train operates five daily round trips between North Station in Boston, Massachusetts, and Brunswick, Maine, with ten intermediate stops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston and Lowell Railroad</span> Former railroad in Massachusetts, United States

The Boston and Lowell Railroad was a railroad that operated in Massachusetts in the United States. It was one of the first railroads in North America and the first major one in the state. The line later operated as part of the Boston and Maine Railroad's Southern Division.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maine Central Railroad</span> Defunct American Class I railway

The Maine Central Railroad was a U. S. class 1 railroad in central and southern Maine. It was chartered in 1856 and began operations in 1862. By 1884, Maine Central was the longest railroad in New England. Maine Central had expanded to 1,358 miles (2,185 km) when the United States Railroad Administration assumed control in 1917. The main line extended from South Portland, Maine, east to the Canada–United States border with New Brunswick, and a Mountain Division extended west from Portland to St. Johnsbury, Vermont, and north into Quebec. The main line was double track from South Portland to Royal Junction, where it split into a "lower road" through Brunswick and Augusta and a "back road" through Lewiston, which converged at Waterville into single track to Bangor and points east. Branch lines served the industrial center of Rumford, a resort hotel on Moosehead Lake and coastal communities from Bath to Eastport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EMD FL9</span> Dual-mode electro-diesel locomotive, built for the New Haven Railroad

The EMD FL9 is a model of electro-diesel locomotive, capable of operating either as a traditional diesel-electric locomotive or as an electric locomotive powered from a third rail. Sixty units were built between October 1956 and November 1960 by General Motors Electro-Motive Division for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Railway of Maine</span>

The International Railway of Maine was a historic railroad constructed by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) between Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, and Mattawamkeag, Maine, closing a key gap in the railway's transcontinental main line to the port of Saint John, New Brunswick.

<i>Atlantic</i> (train) Canadian passenger train

The Atlantic was a passenger train operated by Via Rail, serving both Canadian and U.S. territory between Montreal, Quebec and Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was previously operated by Canadian Pacific Railway as The Atlantic Limited between Montreal and Saint John, New Brunswick. It formed part of the transcontinental service for both systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bangor and Aroostook Railroad</span> United States railroad company

The Bangor and Aroostook Railroad was a United States railroad company that brought rail service to Aroostook County in northern Maine. Brightly-painted BAR boxcars attracted national attention in the 1950s. First-generation diesel locomotives operated on BAR until they were museum pieces. The economic downturn of the 1980s, coupled with the departure of heavy industry from northern Maine, forced the railroad to seek a buyer and end operations in 2003. It was succeeded by the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">EMD GP40-based passenger locomotives</span>

The passenger locomotives derivatives of the General Motors EMD GP40 diesel-electric locomotive have been, and continue to be, used by multiple passenger railroads in North America. For passenger service, the locomotives required extra components for providing steam or head-end power (HEP) for heating, lighting and electricity in passenger cars. Most of these passenger locomotives were rebuilt from older freight locomotives, while some were built as brand new models.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railroad history of Portland, Maine</span> Aspect of history

The railroad history of Portland, Maine, began in 1842 with the arrival of the Portland, Saco & Portsmouth Railway (PS&P). Most of the rail activity in Portland revolved around agricultural goods bound for export and import freight from Europe. Yet Maine's largest city also enjoyed 125 years of continuous passenger rail service, from 1842 until 1967, and Amtrak began serving the city in 2001. For most of Portland's history, passenger train schedules were designed with intercity travel rather than daily commuting in mind; passenger activities were mostly confined to intercity travel from Portland to Boston, Montreal, Nova Scotia, and points west.

The Maine Coast Railroad was a railroad company that operated on tracks owned by the Maine Department of Transportation between 1990 and 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brunswick Maine Street Station</span> Train station in Brunswick, Maine

Brunswick Maine Street Station, or Brunswick station, is a multi-modal, multi-use real estate development in Brunswick, Maine. Located on Maine Street, it consists of commercial offices, service centers, healthcare, retail, restaurants, theater and residential space. Brunswick Station is also a transportation hub for city buses, taxis, and passenger trains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trainriders Northeast</span>

Trainriders Northeast is a non-profit citizens' organization group based out of Portland, Maine, in the United States. It was established in 1989 to advocate for the extension of passenger rail service from Boston to Portland and points north. Today Trainriders Northeast may be most well known for their role in bringing passenger service back to Portland, with the Amtrak Downeaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockland station</span>

Rockland station is a railway station located at Union and Pleasant Streets in Rockland, Maine. It is the eastern terminus of the Rockland Branch, a state-owned track connecting Rockland and Brunswick. The historic station building was built in 1917 by the Maine Central Railroad, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 as Rockland Railroad Station. It presently houses a restaurant, and served for a time as Rockland's city hall. The line is presently inactive, having most recently had seasonal passenger service from 2004 to 2015 operated by the now-defunct Maine Eastern Railroad. The line would then be leased to the Central Maine and Quebec Railway (CMQ) from 2015 to 2020, then to Canadian Pacific Railway following its purchase of CMQ in 2020. CMQ originally planned to reintroduce service on the line, but not with excursions.

Maine Central Railroad began operating diesel locomotives in 1935, and had retired all steam locomotives by 1954. That time interval was a joint operating period with the Boston and Maine Railroad (B&M). This article describes diesel locomotives owned by Maine Central through the period of joint operation and later independent operation prior to Guilford Rail System control in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Maine & Quebec Railway</span> Freight railroad operating in Canada and the USA

The Central Maine and Québec Railway was a Class II freight railroad operating in the U.S. states of Maine and Vermont and the Canadian province of Quebec with headquarters in Bangor, Maine. It was owned by Railroad Acquisition Holdings, LLC, a subsidiary of Fortress Investment Group, LLC. It is now a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Railway since June 2020.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Solomon (2017) , p. 152.
  2. "Central Maine & Quebec to take over route of Maine Eastern". Trains Magazine. September 3, 2015. Retrieved September 3, 2015.
  3. "Canadian Pacific Acquires Central Maine & Quebec Railway". Transport Topics. 2020-01-06. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  4. Betts, Stephen (March 27, 2018). "Decision to drop plan for summer train to Rockland disappoints city's businesses". Press Herald. Archived from the original on July 9, 2018.
  5. Stephen Betts, 'Train backers ride rails to Rockland,' 'Rockland-Camden-Knox-Courier-Gazette, August 15, 2019 https://knox.villagesoup.com/p/train-backers-ride-rails-to-rockland/1828630
  6. Gratz, Irwin (January 24, 2022). "Rail authority hears proposal for Brunswick-to-Rockland passenger line". Maine Public. Retrieved February 18, 2022.

Bibliography