(rshsdepot) Brooks, ME

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From The Republican Journal.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
Brooks group buys railroad station,  locomotive
By Jay Davis 
The Republican Journal Senior  Reporter
BROOKS (Aug 7): The historic Brooks railroad station and a  60-year-old 
locomotive have been purchased by the Brooks Preservation Society,  which has plans 
to transform them into productive parts of the community.  
Advertisement

Joe Feero, president of the fledgling society, said the  properties were 
bought from the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad  Preservation Society, which is 
liquidating the assets of the railroad that ran  between Belfast and Burnham, 
with stops in Brooks, for more than 130 years.  
Mack Page, who runs the City Point Central Railroad in Belfast,  hailed the 
purchase as a necessary first step toward restoring freight and  passenger 
service on the 33-mile line.  
The two organizations plan to cooperate in developing excursions between  
Page's property at City Point in Belfast and Brooks, though Feero said, “a lot  
of things will have to happen” before passengers board the train.  
Page said the equipment he keeps on a siding at City Point “is  ready to roll,
” and that the lack of a locomotive has kept him from running  trains in the 
past. He said excursions could start next year if funders can be  found, and 
that prospects for freight, including pulp wood and scrap iron, are  good.  
Page helped to inspect the old B & ML tracks between Belfast  and Brooks this 
summer and said except for two breaches, one of which the B  & ML promised to 
fix, the tracks are fine for operating at 10 miles per  hour. That's the 
speed trains were restricted to during the railroad's  grain-hauling heyday in the 
1960s and '70s.  
Locomotive 53 was purchased second-hand by the B & ML and  rebuilt in the 
1970s. Page said, "It's the best of the fleet (of engines)” now  owned by the 
railroad.  
The locomotive needs eight new batteries, at a cost of $4,500,  Feero said, 
and must be moved from Thorndike, where it is stored, before  mid-October for 
the sale to be complete. Page said the engine also needs an oil  change, which 
involves removing and replacing 125 gallons of oil.  
Feero said the engine will likely be taken to Belfast where Page,  whose 
family worked for the B & ML for four generations, will handle the  repairs.  
Volunteers have already begun repairing the station, which Feero  said needs 
a new roof and platform.  
Page said the Brooks station “is famous because it's the last one  in Maine 
to not have been” modernized. “You walk in and it's like Mr. Moody was  still 
there.”  
Linwood Moody, a well-known railroad historian and photographer,  was for 
many years the station agent at Brooks.  
Feero, 29, is a weekend railroad buff who during the week works  for a mental 
health company in Augusta. He said the Brooks Preservation Society  was 
formed recently after the Brooks Historical Society decided it didn't want  to go 
into debt to acquire the station and locomotive.  
Feero said the society currently has four or five members,  including Page, 
and seeks both volunteers and donors to support its work.  
He would not disclose the price paid for the properties, though  Page said 
they were advertised for sale for $35,000  apiece.



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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1762
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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org