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Maine Narrow Gauge Museum Will Move, Monson No. 4 Makes Last Run
THE MAINE NARROW GAUGE RAILROAD AND MUSEUM said farewell to Monson Railroad 0-4-4RT No. 4 on March 29, 2014, with an all day sendoff that ended with a night photo session. No. 4’s boiler needs work and will not be recertified as the museum’s steam team is working on Bridgton and Saco River 2-4-4RT No. 7. With the anticipat- ed move to Gray, Maine, this may have been the last time No. 4 operat- ed on the Portland waterfront.
In May the Tom E. Dailey Foundation provided the museum with a $5500 grant toward No. 7’s overhaul, which has been under way since 2008. Built in 1913 by Baldwin, No. 7 is one of two surviving Baldwin- built two-foot gauge steam locomotives. The boiler is 75 per cent fin- ished, the rear tank is 95 per cent complete, and the cab is 30 per cent
ing scheduled passenger service under a five- year contract. IPH says it would begin with twice-daily service and ramp up to six to eight round trips a day, including two run- ning directly into Tulsa and Oklahoma City over BNSF trackage.
Union Pacific
BIG BOY HEADS HOME:On April 28 Union Pacific 4-8-8-4 No. 4014 left UP’s Colton Yard in California for an 11-day, 1200-mile trek to the steam restoration shop in Cheyenne, Wyo. The special move was powered by SD70M-2s Nos. 4014 and 4884 to commemorate the Big Boy’s number and wheel arrangement and in- cluded several of the steam department’s sup- port cars. Crowds turned out to view the move at every stop and the locomotive arrived in Cheyenne close to schedule on the afternoon of May 8 after an uneventful journey. UP ex- pects No. 4014’s overhaul to be completed in time for the 150th anniversary of the Driving of the Golden Spike in 2019.
done. The museum has already committed $156,000 in grants and dona- tions to the restoration and the project is slated for completion in 2015. The biggest news, though, is that the museum has acquired about two miles of private right of way in the town of Gray, Maine, located about 20 miles north of Portland on Interstate 95. Central Maine Power Co. turned over the deed to the property to the museum on April 11, 2014. The museum plans to relocate to a plot of land behind the Gray Plaza shopping mall, where it will build a shop, yard, and support structures. Track will be laid on the former Lewiston & Portland in- terurban right of way, which is within sight of the Interstate and Port- land Road. The museum will remain in Portland until the new site has been developed.
VIA Rail Canada
OCEAN ROUTE IS PRESERVED: The Canadian government says it will fund up- grades to a 44-mile segment of the lightly- used Canadian National Newcastle Sub in order to preserve VIA Rail’s Montréal-Halifax Ocean passenger service. Earlier this year, CN reached an agreement with the Province of New Brunswick which will see freight serv- ice continue for the next 15 years on the east- ern and western segments of the Newcastle Sub, but 44 miles of track in between with no freight customers were up for abandonment. The province will pay for track upgrades be- tween Irvco (east of Campbellton) and Nepisquit Junction (Bathurst), and between Catamount (near Moncton) and Nelson Junc- tion (near Newcastle). In exchange, CN will operate those line segments for the next 15 years, but the section between Nelson Junc- tion and Nepisquit Junction, which carries no freight, had been up for abandonment until the federal government stepped in.
The new agreement ensures that VIA’s Montréal-Halifax Ocean route will be main- tained through Riviere du Loup, Campbellton, and Bathurst. Otherwise, the train may have been rerouted over CN’s faster, shorter, CTC- equipped but less populous southern route through Edmunston using the Pelletier and Napadogan Subs. Or, it could have been dis- continued altogether, as was the Montréal- Gaspé train, which split off from the Ocean at Matapédia, Québec, after track conditions on the Gaspé branch deteriorated.
NEW PRESIDENT IS APPOINTED: On May 12, 2014, Yves Desjardins-Siciliano was appointed President and CEO of VIA Rail Canada, replacing Interim President and CEO Steve Del Bosco, who will resume his duties as Chief Commercial Planning Officer. Des- jardins-Siciliano was the VIA’s Chief Corpo- rate & Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary and holds a law degree from l’Université de Montréal and completed Graduate Studies in Law at McGill University.
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JOEY KELLEY; LIGHTING BY SHAWN DUREN AND MIKE PEVERETT
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