Re: (rshsdepot) Rockland, Maine

["seth bramson" <sbramson_@_bellsouth.net>]

- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: <jdent1_@_optonline.net>
To: <rshsdepot_@_lists.railfan.net>
Sent: Friday, July 21, 2006 10:19 AM
Subject: (rshsdepot) Rockland, Maine


> From Trains.com
>
> Former Maine Central station reopens to passengers after 47 years
> July 14, 2006
> ROCKLAND, Maine - The former Maine Central station in Rockland, reopened 
> to serve passengers on June 30 after 47 years, according to a report by 
> WLBZ Television in Bangor. The trains are operated by the Maine Eastern 
> Railroad, which began passenger operations on the 57-mile former MEC 
> Rockland Branch between Brunswick and Rockland in 2004. MEC ended 
> passenger service on the branch on April 4, 1959.
>
> The state of Maine purchased the railroad in 1989 and owns the station, 
> constructed in 1917. In 2005 the original main line to the station was 
> re-laid, and passengers boarded from a platform west of the depot until 
> this June. The railroad did the renovations to the structure, which 
> include a ticket office; plans call for a restaurant to be built in the 
> waiting room. The city hopes that re-opening the depot will bring more 
> people into downtown Rockland.
>
> Maine Gov. John E. Baldacci helped cut the ribbon for the renovated 
> station and says he'd like to see more rail passenger service around the 
> state as a way to save energy and reduce highway traffic, WLBZ reported. 
> With daily Amtrak Downeaster rail service from Boston to Portland, and 
> tourist service from Brunswick to Rockland, the Governor hopes to connect 
> the two for continuous service between Boston and Rockland.
>
> In November 2003, Maine contracted with New Jersey-based Morristown & Erie 
> Railway to operate the Rockland Branch and also the 33-mile former Maine 
> Central "Lower Road" main line between Brunswick and Augusta, the state 
> capital. M&E formed the Maine Eastern to operate the lines. The 
> Brunswick-Rockland passenger trains operate from June into October. Motive 
> power is a pair of former Amtrak FL9 cab units built for the New Haven 
> Railroad.

>>>FANTASTIC news, Jim, and thanks so much for sharing it with us.

Just a sidelight, all:

After my first year at Cornell I worked the summer of 1967 as Ass't Mgr of 
the Samoset in Rockland.  Spent no few days at the closed station, very 
unhappy that there was no longer any MeC passenger train service.

After that summer, I THINK the station eventually became the Rockland Police 
Station and I am SO very glad to hear that the state that allowed the 
destruction of most of it's ferries AND it's two foot gauge railroads 
is--like California with passenger trains and light rail--doing the right 
thing. 


=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

------------------------------