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With Borestone Mountain looming in the back-ground and standing 130 feet above Ship Pond Stream below, CPKC train 120 heads east across the Onawa trestle with CP ES44AC 8954 leading two other KCS GEs on the afternoon of October 1, 2023. Located at MP17 on the Moosehead Subdivision, Onawa is located in a very remote area halfway between Brownville Jct. and Greenville. Getting to the either side of trestle requires at least two miles of walking from the nearest dirt road or ATV trail, which is the “norm” for accessing the eastern portion of the Moosehead Subdivision. To the west of the Onawa Trestle, about four miles outside of Greenville, stands another massive trestle over Big Wilson’s Stream, which is almost completely isolated from any nearby roads or trails.

Two Weeks in Maine

by Chris Healy/photos by the author

“My Life on the Pine Tree Route,” those are the words printed on the front cover of George Pitarys’ book about the Maine Central that I bought a few years back while attending a small train show in Binghamton, N.Y. Those words written by George, a well-known retired train dispatcher and train enthusiast from Maine, summarize every late summer so far in my life. Starting from a very young age, my family and I would travel from busy New York to see my extended family in the coastal southern Maine area, often referred to as “Downeast.”

Downeast Maine holds various personal railroad connections that I have to the state, all of which have heavily influenced my railroad career and personal railfan journeys all over Maine. My great-great grandfather, Sterling Dow, started as an agent on the Maine Central, and eventually rose up the ladder, retiring as general manager of an interurban streetcar line known as the Atlantic Shore Line Railway (ASL). The Seashore Trolley Museum, a world-class streetcar museum located very close to my family in Maine, and a location that I would spend as many hours volunteering as possible that my parents would allow while growing up, is built on and operates the former right-of-way of the Atlantic Shore Line Railway.

ABOVE: CSX L054/Pan-Am RUPO crosses the Great Falls of the Androscoggin River westbound from Lewiston into Auburn, Maine, on the afternoon of September 20, 2023. The lead unit, MEC 305, is one of three remaining Guilford-painted standard cab GP40s left in service, as CSX continues to bring in its own power, removing from service older loco-motives from the former Pan Am roster.

Once I became of age to drive, I quickly branched out from riding my bike to the tracks in Kennebunk to see the same-old Amtrak Downeaster trains go by, and started exploring much of the state north of Rigby Yard in Portland. Heavily influenced by Sterling Dow, I particularly explored much of the Maine Central “Back Road”, the MEC Rockland Branch, and the Canadian Pacific Moosehead Sub. Although CSX is now rapidly upgrading much of its main-line north of Portland, including bringing in their own CSX painted engines, Guilford and Pan Am EMDs that I have fond memories of still carry a heavy presence on District One…

Read the rest of this article in the December 2023 issue of Railpace Newsmagazine. Subscribe Today!