AN ERA OF CHANGE IN THE PINE TREE STATE Maine Memories BY MARK C. PERRI/PHOTOS BY THE AUTHOR
“MAINE RAILROADING” is a collective term that encompasses the dynamics of, and implies the inseparability of, the geography, the railroads and the railroaders of Maine. The Pine Tree State’s geography is deceivingly rugged and often remote. As Canadian Pacific cuts across the state, grades, although not sustained, are stiff, and compound- ed by sharp curves, often through rock cuts. Given that the state’s population is centered in the south, and along the coast, the Bangor & Aroostook travers- es upstate stretches that are downright desolate. For all roads, winter, relent- less in intensity and duration, hampers maintenance and impedes operations. The railroads of Maine form a com- plex web; the individual roads are com-
petitors, but out of necessity and spirit, dependent on one another for equip- ment, connections and political clout. In the depressed economy of the 1970s and 1980s, there was nowhere to go, and no need to grow. As staunchly in- dependent in a corporate sense as most “Mainers” are personally, the in- evitable line sales, consolidations and downsizing, driven by overwhelming economic necessity, were a bitter pill for Maine’s railroads to swallow. Maine railroading was exemplified by the Bangor & Aroostook, whose mo- tive power seemed to last forever. Well- maintained and operated by frugal and caring Yankees, the “B&A” was content to continue operation of a timeless fleet of first-generation diesels long after
most other railroads were on their sec- ond or even third. To an outsider, it might appear that “someone” wanted the railroad to be an operating muse- um, but to a Mainer, it’s much simpler: “Why buy a new engine when the oth- ers aren’t worn out yet?” Maine railroaders were career rail- roaders and often came from a family of railroaders. Proud, stubborn, provi- dent, professional, stewards of some of the best jobs in the state, where, save for maybe the paper mills or logging in- dustry,
everything else went bust.
However, rather than being indifferent or put off by visitors, a Maine railroad- er would often accommodate the railfan who braved a winter night for photog- raphy, or stopped by the station to ask
OPPOSITE: In February 1987, the sun is setting on the Maine Central in more ways than one as GP38 No. 258 makes a classic pose on the turntable at Bangor. In a few years, all vestiges of this facility will be gone. ABOVE: Waterville, Maine, was a hub of the Maine Central, and on a misty, wintry night in January 1987, locomotives from all three builders congregate below the sand tower. The U-boat at left sports a pine tree in the lightning stripe, blurring the lines of the common ownership of the Boston & Maine, Delaware & Hudson, and MEC by Guilford Transportation.
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