HAPT Local Samplings

I figured a few local sights would make sense in case someone wanted to know what there is to see in the rail world around here. By "here" I mean Portland and north along the old MEC's "back road", all part of Pan Am Railways now. There's plenty to see but I don't want to build a fancy archive of details. Just a few highlights. The Wheelman has links to maps, freq's and a live scanner feed at his Maine Rail Scanner Yahoo Group also linked on the margins of this blog. Check out the "LIVE Maine Rail Radio" link on the top this page for live scanner action where these pictures were taken.

The picture to the left shows the latest "cabagge" car paint scheme on the Downeaster, complete with a Christmas wreath for the 2006 season. This guy is headed to Boston and is about to pass under the next road south of CPF 201. Double tracking has progressed to this area since the photo was taken. Rigby Yard's south end is around CPF 199 or so.

As we progress eastward past (ignoring) Rigby, we come to the two wyes where a line to Commercial Street and the Mountain Division line begin. That would be where the top photo taken in November 2007 comes in. The eastbound is rounding a curve on the wye for Commercial street and the head end is approaching Mountain Jct., CPF 196, where Amtrak detours up the old Mountain division to the new Portland Amtrak/Concord Trailways depot. The old Portland Union Station site is behind me. On the right we see a shot looking the other way toward the old Maine Central headquarters building and Union Station track area. Tower X is also intact as a small office building. The photo to the lower right is a pair of trains passing each other at Congress Street, CPF 195, at what used to be the other end of the station complex. This is now home to the Union Station Plaza as visible on the left of the photo. To the right out of view is the new Cumberland County "bed and breakfast" for the lawless. The 376 is heading the same train as the top photo, EDNM, and RIED is the westbound with the EOTD. Signalled territory continues east to Royal Jct., CPF185, in Yarmouth where the "lower road" splits off to Brunswick and the connection with the Maine Eastern Ry. After that point "Form D's" are the order of the day for anything that moves so finding trains depends on your scanner set to 160.620 mhz. They need plenty of paperwork to get anywhere so it's a bit like "shooting fish in a barrel" once you find one.

Next we'll skip about 30 miles east to Danville Jct. MP 167.47. This is where the old MEC meets the old Grand Trunk. Nowadays this is the major interchange between Pan Am Railways and GWI's St. Lawrence and Atlantic Ry. You can usually count on seeing trains to and from Rumford, Waterville and Northern Maine Jct. come through here daily. For the last year or two there has also been a local switcher based here as well. The SLR crosses over to work the interchange several times a day and once a week or so they have a local run down to Deering/Portland where they now terminate at Burnham and Morrill Baked Beans. All in all, Danville is a pretty good place to watch trains in this area during daylight hours though you may have some serious lull's between action. There are plans afoot to rearrange the interchange and crossover area in the near future. What this will do to the railfanning opportunities is anyone's guess.

The left photo shows the relatively new sign on the operators shack at Danville Jct. The photo to the right shows the local switcher, DJ-1 about to depart for the industries between here and Auburn. Between the interchange business and the variety of industries, business was getting too complex to leave everything to the passing road jobs to handle, apparently. This view shows the office before the sign was put up. Check out the GRS roster information and other details at the Railroads of Northern New England link on the right margin.

Another date and time (July 2006) finds one of the now rare SD26's in charge of DJ-1. Here the unit and a few cars approach Rumford Jct. (West) siding MP166 with a few cars for the back of a waiting westbound. This was also a joint W.F.P.T./HAPT outing so this action was well documented from the overpass near the Sleepy Time Motel and Channel 8. The lone unit then returned light to Danville Jct. with the crew of the canned westbound. The interesting part is the taxi service provided by the SD26. Follow the blue coolers.

The next stop down the line is Rumford Jct. (East), MP165 the other end of the siding. Just out of view behind the cars in the left photo is CPF 164 where signals guard the yard limits of Danville. A day later in July 2006 two passing trains swap power. Apparently one of the trains lost a unit and the other had one more than absolutely necessary. The result is a bit of shuffling right before our eyes. Again, our Massachusetts visitor from the W.F.P.T. gets to see all the strange operations we locals rarely see. The MEC 309 on the right of the right hand photo of this odd move is currently running around on NS to work off horsepower hours. Now and then it is sighted at Conway, PA by our friend at the Fallston Flagstop.

As we head east still farther, we cross the Androscoggin River from Auburn to Lewiston. In
October 2005 an eastbound shows us the bridge as an angry river floods below. Usually the water is much lower, if not hard to see from this angle. To the right we see a westbound at Fairgrounds West siding heading deeper into Lewiston in July 2006.
We see meets at Fairgrounds, MP 160, fairly often. The crews often head for dinner in this vicinity as well. Just past Fairgrounds East is a convenience store and Subway which are heavily patronized by passing crews. Below we see a westbound just leaving the Lewiston Subway shop and heading toward an eastbound at the end of Fairgrounds siding. Our westbound will then roll by on the siding allowing the eastbound to take his turn for lunch. There aren't many crossings to interfere with operations like this on the edge of Lewiston. The photo shows that the siding is actually shortened "double track" that used to extend over Main St. for another half mile or so. Back before the late 1980's when Lewiston had a yard, the second track extended the length of the city and ended before the Androscoggin River bridge. The second track then picked up again on the Auburn side. Not really double track in the busy mainline sense, but I bet it helped the flow of local operations back when there was plenty to keep a switcher busy and more traffic used the main. I remember seeing an Alco switcher based in Lewiston the few times I visited the real MEC. Somewhere I have photos of 958 switching in Auburn. That unit is now in New Hampshire and I've digressed.

Only a few miles to the east along route 100 is Leeds Junction, MP150.2. It's a bit off the main road but only far enough to miss it. If you cross over the Rumford line, you've gone too far. Here there is a couple of sidings and the wye for the Rumford Branch. One of the road jobs diverges here for the paper mills at Jay and Rumford.

Here we see RIED coming off the branch and heading west in the winter of 2006. This is a daily operation and the location is a public grade crossing. The branch makes for an interesting chase. A grain elevator a few miles up the line gives them an excuse for some switching which one might catch from another public crossing. Here I will also veer off as this is getting long.

Tune into the Maine Rail Scanner site at the top of page to hear trains at these locations and check the link on the right side to find maps of all these locations.