Ferroeqinarchaeology Expedition In Maine

On Saturday July 17th, the DT&I fan and I took off on a fairly short notice, spur of the moment trip to Gardiner, ME to visit the MEC's Cobbosseecontee Branch. It is noted for it's steep grades and curved trestles over and along Cobbossee stream. It also packed a lot of operation into a relatively short 1.15 mile branch with many customers in the 1960's.

The photo on the left shows where the branch left the main in Gardiner. It is now the first few yards of a "rail & trail" along the old MEC "Lower Road" to Hallowell. The branch headed along a hill on the left - behind the fence where the stones are - and climbed a steep hill behind what is now a Hannaford supermarket. You can just make out the grade from the trailhead (Hannaford parking lot area) now but it is vegetated heavily now. You can see the first grade crossing, and while the signage is gone, the posts for the signals is still there.

The next photo shows a curious and fairly unique detail. It is the "derail" for the branch. It's still quite visible in the street. It was simply a switch with a few feet of track past it. Apparently this derail was set whenever the local went up the branch. Any runaway car would get a good running start at the mainline if it went past this point and down the really steep grade. The house next too it has since taken the opportunity to build a ramp to their porch right up to the rail. I think that is also the second grade crossing on the line in the background.

Looking uphill from the derail, we see the T.W. Dick steel plant that used to make all sorts of metal tanks. If you were to see two specks in the road by the pickups, that would be DT&I fan talking to a former co-worker who not only used to work in the steel plant, he worked on the MEC too. (They aren't in this photo.) His dogs barked at us when we parked there and he came out to quiet them. We had no clue who he was at first. A totally unexpected surprise. Some of our info came from him right there. They apparently changed their rail layout over the years as there used to be a spur into the building on the far end. That switch was gone and paved over. My guess is that a rearrangement inside the building made the spur unusable as built. In later years, the local would drop the car of steel on the "main" under the overhead crane on the way up the branch and simply push the empty back when they were done. Try to get that kind of cooperation today!

At the other end of the steel plant, still following the street rail we see where some smaller warehouses were once located. You can make out where the tracks were paved over next to the buildings. The "main" rails continue to the next cross street and stop for a bit. At that point there may have been a switch leading to an industry downhill on the left. There's a fairly good parking area there now next to a restaurant in a remodeled building. If you imagine the tracks continuing straight up the grade where the new street is now you will find more gems hidden in the trees.

At the end of the pavement you begin to see signs of railbed again, and in fact, find the old tracks too! This is apparently part of a locally known, but unsanctioned trail system. The trail goes right into the woods between the rails for a few yards to the first curved trestle! This one is an "S" curve though visually the far curve is buried in trees. Trails were everywhere at that point so my guess is fishermen use the area extensively to partake of Cobbossee Stream. At least they don't have to worry about being pushed off the trestle by a train. The timbers looked surprisingly good but I'm sure some engineer would disagree. I had no idea the rails were still in place, so this was a gem of a find for me. It turns out that the town has this trestle in part of a larger, long-term scheme to develop a park and path system along the stream in this area.

I took more pictures but my details get even sketchier from this point on. Most of the details above are from a myriad of conversations with other fans in the area, plus the accidental meeting mentioned. I'm certainly no expert, but there are some around. Signs of the winery and paper mills still exist beyond the trestle and up the branch. Maybe I'll stitch those together another time when I get more info. The DT&I fan wants to do a presentation on the modeling potential of the branch at a Prototype Modelers Meet one day. This probably won't be my last visit.


BC