The owners of Bangor and Aroostook Railroad Co. have flatly rejected an offer by Guilford Transportation Industries to buy the B&A.

“We are not interested in your offer of discussions relative to the Springfield Terminal Railway (a Guilford subsidiary) assuming control over all or parts of the Bangor and Aroostook,” wrote Joseph B. Ely II, president of Amoskeag Co., in a letter sent Monday to Guilford President David A. Fink.

Amoskeag is the Boston company that owns 100 percent of the stock of Bangor and Aroostook. Based in Hermon, the railroad operates a 400-mile rail network in northern Maine.

The director of personnel and administration at B&A also dismissed the Guilford proposal.

“We and the owners are not interested in the proposal and do not consider it to be a serious one,” said Shirley Strout. “… We consider that it’s a dead issue.”

Guilford owns a 1,500-mile rail network in New England, including the old Boston & Maine and Maine Central lines. The company is based in North Billerica, Mass.

On Friday, Fink said his company wanted to open talks on the future of B&A. He said Guilford was concerned by management changes at the railroad, which recently announced the departure of its president and director of marketing.

“Management changes at the Bangor and Aroostook will have no effect on this railroad’s ability to continue to operate in the best interests of our customers,” wrote Ely.

Fink also claimed that B&A had seen weekly traffic declines of as much as 45 percent.

Strout said the year-to-date drop in freight carried by B&A was only 11 percent. She attributed the decline to the recession, which has begun to affect the operation of paper companies in northern Maine.

Paper mills are the largest customers of both B&A and Springfield Terminal.

“We are confident that the economic conditions which have reduced traffic on the (B&A) have had equal effect on the Springfield Terminal’s business,” wrote Ely, “and we reiterate our offer to assume operations of the Maine Central proposed in our letter to you of Oct. 7, 1988.”

Colin F. Pease, executive vice president at Guilford, implied that Guilford would try to influence Amoskeag through purchases of its stock. Amoskeag is traded on the NASDAQ National Market System.

“We hold a small (stock) position in Amoskeag,” said Pease, “and we are looking to see if we will increase that.”

Samuel Bartlett, general counsel for Amoskeag, said Guilford could “buy all they want on the over-the-counter market.” Obtaining control of the company would be an entirely different matter, according to Bartlett.

“Effective control of Amoskeag is held by a trust,” he said. “If Guilford is trying to buy control … it might want to go back to the drawing board with its research.”

Bartlett declined to provide more information about the trust. But a December 1988 article in Forbes magazine said the 12-member, self-perpetuating family trust was set up in 1920 by Frederic Dumaine Sr. The remaining shares in Amoskeag trade very thinly.

Amoskeag itself owns 100 percent of B&A, as well as a substantial block of shares in Fieldcrest Cannon Inc., a manufacturer of household textiles.

The intricate financial structure makes it difficult for Guilford to exert much financial pressure on Amoskeag. A measure of business flexibility also protects Bangor and Aroostook.

B&A and Guilford reportedly exchange about 600 loaded freight cars each month at Northern Maine Junction in Hermon. But B&A also can send railroad cars via the interchange with Canadian Atlantic Railway at Brownville Junction.

If necessary, B&A might be able to route freight onto the Canadian National Railways at St. Leonard, New Brunswick, across from Van Buren.