Transportation officials in southern Maine continue to debate the fate of Portland to Boston rail service. The most recent controversy is over whether people will ride the train south to the Hub when they can drive faster down Interstate 95 and arrive at their destination in less time.

North of Bangor, the pace of everything, including the trains, runs slower. Top speed for the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad these days is 35 miles per hour — about half the speed allowed on the nation’s super highways. But on an excursion trip last month from Millinocket to Brownville Junction and back, not one B&A passenger complained. They were too busy enjoying the scenery, exploring the seven vintage cars or reminiscing about other train rides to care if they could have driven the 40 or so miles from one town to another faster.

This summer, for the first time in more than 35 years, the B&A is carrying passengers over much of its track, which usually only carries freight. The company’s 1998 Excursion Special already has run from Bangor to Searsport, Fort Kent to Van Buren, Madawaska to Eagle Lake, and Presque Isle to Squa Pan for a picnic dinner. This month it will travel between Brownville Junction, Greenville, Jackman and up to the Canadian border before returning to the County for runs from Houlton to St. Croix and Sherman Aug. 29 and 30.

Last month Iola McCleary of Millinocket gathered her three children, six grandchildren, son-in-law and daughter-in-law and boarded the 10 a.m. train. The last time McCleary rode a train was in the 1980s when she took one of the final passenger runs out of Maine to Canada. She rode all night to Montreal and “didn’t see a thing because it was dark.”

“We wanted to do something all together that was different,” she said. “The kids are having a great time and it’s good that they can explore the train and don’t have to sit still. Most of them have never been on a train before.”

McCleary’s 9-year-old granddaughter, Megan Linscott of Millinocket, and her cousins checked out nearly every inch of the two passenger coaches, two sleeper cars, parlor car and former baggage car that are pulled by the two engines. They climbed up into the compartments, which are like mini-motel rooms. The compartments have a toilet, sink, storage bins for shoes and luggage, as well as electric lights. The seats fold down, a bed pulls out and the world rolls slowly by outside the window.

“I think this is really fun,” declared Megan, who confessed they had “snuck into” the parlor car, which serves as the B&A’s First Class section. “We get to wander around and see the different cars. I found out my best friend is here, too. We’ve been looking for a moose, but all we’ve seen is a lot of swamps. But I did see a crane.”

There was a lot more to see on that sunny summer day. As the train pulled out of the Millinocket yard, a moose sprinted across the tracks, a common occurrence, according to the engineers. Yellow, purple and white wildflowers swayed to the rhythm of the train as it passed by them. At Twin Lake, Mount Katahdin rose majestically in the background. A grandmotherly woman and young boy stood in front of a camp nestled on its shore and waved as the train rolled by. Passengers waved back excitedly.

One brave lone water skier sailed behind a power boat, taking what was probably his first ride of the season. Avid fishermen on the train counted mile markers and checked their maps, plotting their next expedition to the area. They said the best trout waited in the ponds and streams only accessible via the railroad tracks. A mountain of broken slabs of slate was piled near the tracks farther up the line. The jagged pieces looked like they’d been abandoned there, the forgotten remnants of an old quarry.

At Brownville Junction, the train turned itself around at a “wye turn,” three pieces of track laid to form a triangle. Traffic halted, kids on bikes stopped to stare, as passengers speculated on how the train could turn itself around. Veterans of the rails explained it to first-time riders and the B&A headed back to Millinocket the same way it had come, but at a slightly faster speed.

“We aren’t looking to get people from point A to point B; we want people to experience a little piece of history,” explained Russ Penniman, a director and founding stockholder of the railroad. Penniman, who lives in San Diego, got into the railroad business in 1994, when he and his partners purchased the Evangeline Express line in Nova Scotia. Penniman invested in the B&A the next year. This summer he’s spending most weekends in Maine, riding the train, taking tickets, answering questions, working the small snack bar and souvenir stand in the former baggage car.

Joe McOscar of Bangor was given a ride on the B&A run from Millinocket to Brownville Junction for his birthday in July. He refused to reveal exactly which one he was celebrating.

“I’m a person who likes trains, so it was a good gift,” he said, leaning over the gate across the open door of the baggage car. “I find it intriguing that senior management is so supportive. That kind of involvement bodes well for the operation, I’d say.”

Penniman, a former Navy pilot, said that senior management’s hands-on approach to running the railroad was one of the reasons it has been so successful. The B&A’s east-west Canadian-American freight runs have increased from one to three per day, and the north to south line has grown 10 to 15 per cent per year since Penniman and his group took over. Penniman said that in 1997 55,000 cars hauled more than 4.5 million tons of freight. The passenger excursions this summer will utilize nearly all of the track the railroad owns in Maine.

The B&A coordinates with local communities, depending on them to promote and advertise the excursions, Penniman explained. The B&A also offers charter trips like the one it did for the Maine Democratic Party, carrying delegates from Bangor to Presque Isle for its May convention and the trip for Eastern Maine Medical Center from Bangor to Searsport. Plans for a fall foliage tour are shaping up, according to Penniman.

Today, Aug. 8 and 15 the train will run from Brownville Junction to Greenville. Passengers will have a four-hour stop there before having to board the B&A for the return trip. Aug. 2, 9 and 16 it will run from Greenville to Jackman. On Aug. 22 and 23 the train will run from Brownville Junction to Jackman and up to the Canadian border. The last weekend of the month the B&A will return to Aroostook County for its final summer run. Gifts, light snacks and refreshments are available for purchase in the baggage car. Bathroom facilities are available on board.

Adult tickets run between $12 and $28, depending on the length of the trip. Tickets for children ages 6-12 cost between $8 and $12, and children under 5 ride free with the purchase of an adult ticket. For information on the Aug. 1-16 excursions, call 695-2702; the Aug. 22-23 trips, 668-4171; and the Aug. 29-30 trips, 532-4216.