Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad (2009)

Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad (2009)

B&ML#53, left, and B&ML#50 at the City Point Central yard turnout (milepost 2.5)
Reporting mark BML
Locale Waldo County, Maine United States
Dates of operation 2009–
Predecessor Maine Central Railroad Co., Belfast Branch (Under lease, 1871-1925); Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad Co. (1926-2007)
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length 30.57 miles (49.20 km)
Headquarters Brooks, Maine
Website BrooksPreservation.org
Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad (2009)
Legend
 33.07 Burnham Junction
Sebasticook River
 29.34 Winnecook (Unity Pond)
 24.95 Unity
 22.61 Common Ground Country Fair
 21.40 Thorndike
 18.47 Knox
 14.07 Fobes (Former siding)
 12.27 Brooks
 7.15 Waldo
 2.50 CPC Yard and Museum
The grade from MP 0.0 to 2.50 has been railbanked.

The Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad (operated as the "Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railway" from 2009 to 2012) is a subsidiary of the Brooks Preservation Society (BPS), a not-for-profit organization established in 2008 to protect and preserve historic rail transportation structures and assets in Waldo County, Maine, USA.[1]

Following the announcement in February 2008 of the formal demise of the original Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad (1871-2007) by its then private operator, the non-profit Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad & Preservation Society of Unity, Maine,[2] the BPS was incorporated as an all-volunteer non-profit 501(c)(3) organization to purchase the 1892 B&MLRR stationhouse in Brooks (MP 12.27) to save and preserve it as an historic railroad structure.[3] In the months that followed the BPS was also able to negotiate the purchase of several pieces of B&MLRR rolling stock including two of the road's three operating 1940s 70-ton GE diesel-electric locomotives: B&ML#53 which had been acquired used by the B&ML from Vermont's Montpelier and Barre Railroad in 1970 followed in the Fall by B&ML#50 that had been bought new by the road in 1946 and had provided the first non-steam power to ever operate over the corridor.[4][5] A track inspection car, an open-air observation car, a 1926 former DL&WRR Pullman-built chair car, a MEC stainless steel coach, and a caboose were later added to the equipment roster.

In February 2009, the BPS entered into an agreement with the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) to operate over the State-owned 30 miles of B&ML grade running inland from the Belfast/Waldo town line (MP 3.14) to Burnham Junction (MP 33.07) and early that July began operating weekend excursion trains between Brooks (MP 12.27) and Waldo (MP 7.15).[6] The following November the BPS leased another three miles of grade within the Belfast city limits between the Belfast/Waldo town line and the Penobscot McCrum property line under the US Rt. 1 bridge from its still then owner, Unity Property Management (UPM).[7] This permitted the BPS to establish regular seasonal excursion service from the Upper Bridge (MP 1.0) to Waldo.

In July 2010, the City of Belfast purchased the UPM-owned portion of the grade within the city limits in order to preserve the corridor and with the intention of eventually developing it as a public multi-use rail trail.[8] While exploring how to design and finance such a rail trail, in the interim the City also agreed to continue to lease its portion of the grade on a year-to-year basis to the BPS to operate seasonal trains from its Upper Bridge station.[9][10]

After two seasons of operations from the Upper Bridge, however, the City cancelled the lease with the BPS in October 2012, and four months later formally applied to the Surface Transportation Board of the US Department of Transportation and the US Department of the Interior for permission under the National Trails System Act (16 U.S.C. 1247(d)(e)) to "railbank" their portion of the grade from the Belfast waterfront at Pierce Street up to the turnout to the privately owned City Point Central Railroad Museum at MP 2.5 next to the Oak Hill Road grade crossing.[11][12] In late September, 2014 the City began the process of pulling up and scrapping the grade's sleepers and over 300 tons of well-over-century-old 75-pound steel rail, spikes, tie plates, and other materials.[13][14] It is estimated that it will cost over $600,000 to convert the corridor to a pedestrian rail trail.[15][16]

BML#3248 at the City Point station (MP 2.5) to which the B&MLRR moved its operations in 2013

The loss of the lease with the City forced the BPS to relocate the railroad's excursion train service in 2013 to the stationhouse at the City Point Museum site, a property which the BPS subsequently also agreed to purchase from its long-time private owner.[17][18] The remaining 0.64 miles of City-owned grade from the City Point turnout to the Belfast/Waldo town line as well as the 30 miles of State-owned grade beyond continues to be available to the B&MLRR over which it now operates its scheduled seasonal weekend excursion service from the City Point station to the bogs beyond Waldo, as well as other special event runs and group charters over that and other parts of the line.[19]

Locomotive roster

Number Builder Type Build Date Status Notes
50 General Electric 70-ton switcher 1946 Operational Purchased new in November 1946 from GE, #50 was the first diesel electric locomotive to operate on the Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad.
53 General Electric 70-ton switcher 1940 Operational Purchased used in 1970 from the Montpelier & Barre Railroad in Vermont.
B&ML#50, left, heads inland on the B&ML's main line in July, 2011 approaching the turnout to the City Point Central Railroad Museum (milepost 2.5), where B&ML#53 sits on track #1 by the yard's section house.
The 1892 B&MLRR stationhouse at Brooks, ME (2004)

References

  1. ↑ Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad Excursions BrooksPreservation.org
  2. ↑ Staples, Beth "End of the line for the B&MLRR" The Republican Journal February 5, 2008
  3. ↑ Davis, Jay "Brooks group buys railroad station" The Republican Journal August 7, 2008
  4. ↑ Fuller, Steve "Brooks Preservation Society continuing to make tracks" The Republican Journal October 5, 2008
  5. ↑ Fuller, Steve "Rail revival continues in Brooks" The Republican Journal December 1, 2008
  6. ↑ Stickney, Ben "Preservationists reviving Waldo County rail one tie at a time" The Republican Journal August 19, 2009
  7. ↑ Andrews, Ethan "Brooks rail group picks up a little more track" The Republican Journal" November 3, 2009
  8. ↑ Andrews, Ethan "Council approves rail corridor purchase" The Republican Journal June 30, 2010
  9. ↑ Andrews, Ethan "Belfast Moosehead Lake Railway back in Belfast pretty much" The Republican Journal May 28, 2011
  10. ↑ Holbrook, Ben "Council continues to explore rail banking former rail corridor" The Republican Journal June 27, 2012
  11. ↑ Holbrook, Ben "City to terminate lease with Brooks Preservation Society" The Republican Journal October 9, 2012
  12. ↑ Holbrook, Ben "City approves banking portion of rail corridor" The Republican Journal February 9, 2013
  13. ↑ Example of 1896 steel 75 lb rail in place on the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad grade
  14. ↑ Bailey, Jordan "Rail removal set to begin for future Passy Rail Trail" The Republican Journal August 14, 2014
  15. ↑ Holbrook, Ben "Council whittles down rail trail design options" The Republican Journal January 23, 2013
  16. ↑ Holbrook, Ben "Rail trail construction to cost about $600,000" The Republican Journal June 1, 2013
  17. ↑ Holbrook, Ben "Brooks Preservation Society to buy City Point Station" The Republican Journal, July 9, 2013
  18. ↑ Cooper, Bruce C. 2013 Images of City Point and Upper Bridge stations Digitalimageservices.com
  19. ↑ B&ML Services & Rates BrooksPreservation.org
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