Keeping it rail Leisurely tour of midcoast Maine a trip back in time

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American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay once wrote, “Yet there isn’t a train I wouldn’t take … no matter where it’s going.” For generations of our fathers, the local railroad station was the first stop on the way out of town. Wherever they went, they met America, one back yard at a time.

If you think that riding the train today means sharing the ride with the gray-hair and stoop-shoulders set, meet 7-year-old Devon Davis of East Millinocket. When I did, he was so busy looking out the parlor car window that he couldn’t be bothered to acknowledge a stranger’s questions. His smiling grandfather, Gerald Brewer, acknowledged that, “Yes, the kid loves trains.”

This morning, Davis and a lot of other rail fans of assorted ages are riding Maine Eastern Railroad’s train No. 2 leaving Brunswick at 10 in the morning. Two hours later, you’re in Rockland at 12:15 p.m. You leave Rockland on train No. 3 at 5:30 p.m. and arrive back in Brunswick at 7:40 p.m. In 50-plus miles, the rider is treated to a nostalgic trip past farms, ponds, bays, rivers and Maine towns offering a cornucopia of scenes, many of which would make those previous generations homesick. It’s a quaint notion by our standards as we drive the interstate highways at 65 mph, if we are on our best behavior.

At the prompting of Gov. John Baldacci, New Jersey-based Morristown & Erie Railway launched the Eastern Maine Railroad last year as a vehicle for boosting tourism in the midcoast region. The seasonal passenger service runs from late spring through October, offering excursion rides between Brunswick and Rockland with stops in Bath and Wiscasset. Roundtrip tickets run $35 per adult and $85 per family with two children.

As late as the 1950s, trains were the way to travel. Other than the financially bruised and severely route-restricted Amtrak, all of that is gone. Only tourist short lines such as the Maine Eastern Railroad exist.

In the 1920s, you could board a sleeping car in Philadelphia or New York and arrive in Rockland the next morning. There a Penobscot Bay Line steamer would whisk the summer visitors to various points on Penobscot Bay. The steamboat line died in the Great Depression, but passenger rail service hung on until 1958.

The Railroad Guide of 1954 shows that a traveler could leave Washington, D.C., on Pennsylvania Railroad train No. 142 at 1 p.m., hook up with the Bar Harbor Express in Philadelphia and arrive in Portland at 3:15 a.m. the next morning. There the train split, part going on to Bar Harbor (from Ellsworth by bus) and the rest arriving in Rockland at 7:25 p.m.

Today’s trip will take almost the same amount of time as the Bar Harbor Express.

Like the right of way itself, the equipment that the Maine Eastern Railroad has assembled all has a past. The first class passengers ride in the Alexander Hamilton, an ex-PRR parlor car that was built for the Congressional Limited, a speedster that could make the 226 miles between Washington and New York in three hours and 35 minutes, six station stops included.

The dining car is named Alta Lake. It’s an ex-Canadian National car with eight tables and a kitchen capable of turning out a light breakfast or lunch. The day we rode there were also three coaches: Pine, ex-Santa Fe, one of the newer cars built in 1957; Ash, ex-New York Central; and Magnolia, built in 1937 for the Florida East Coast Line.

The motive power was a couple of EMD FL 9s delivered to the New Haven in October 1957. All of the cars feature comfortable seats facing each other in pairs with adequate leg room. The cleanliness of all equipment is top notch.

We are just getting settled as the trip begins. Leaving the station in Brunswick, the train immediately crosses Maine Street and Park Row. On one side is the beginning of Bowdoin College’s campus, on the other is a tree-lined New England downtown. From there, the tracks parallel U.S. Route 1 as we pass the front gate of Brunswick Naval Air Station.

Soon we are gliding slowly through downtown Bath. The shipyard appears on our right. There are two of the impressive Bath-built destroyers alongside shipyard piers.

The Carleton Bridge spans the Kennebec. Opened in 1927, it replaced a ferryboat, the Fernando Gorges, which previously brought the rail cars from one bank to the other. There was usually an engine on the opposite side ready to couple the train back together and proceed on its way.

The bridge has two levels, with a single railroad track on the lower level. Route 1 formerly occupied two lanes on an upper level. Now the highway is routed over the new concrete bridge next door.

Wiscasset is next. The Sheepscot River is blue on a clear, sunny day. The train stops briefly near the spot where the decaying schooners Hesper and Luther Little rested in the mud for decades.

Right after we pass Red’s Eats, the famous food stand on the north side of Route 1, we see a few forlorn piers reaching skyward from the mud. They are the last vestiges of a trestle built by the Waterville, Wiscasset and Farmington narrow gauge railroad that died in 1933 having reached neither Waterville nor Farmington.

The approximately seven miles between Wiscasset and Newcastle contains three bridges that originally opened to let boats pass through. The Sheepscot River bridge last opened in 1980 while those over the Marsh River and the Nichols River last opened in 1925. The traveler is struck by the small size of the latter two streams and is left pondering what manner of vessels plied their reaches.

Great Salt Bay is glinting in the sunlight as the train passes through Newcastle. Damariscotta lies across the river. Damariscotta Lake is on the left.

Someone who rode the early train down from Rockland said they saw a bald eagle flying alongside the train right here. The conductor tells us that they often see deer and the occasional moose on this stretch.

As the train crosses Route 220 and prepares to pass under Route 1, those on the right side or the car are treated to a sight of one of Maine’s landmarks, Moody’s Diner. A little farther along, as we skirt South Pond just outside of Warren, we see the evidence of beavers in the pointed stumps between the tracks and the pond.

There is one more bridge to cross before we arrive in Thomaston. This one is over the St. George River. The draw span was installed in 1922 and opened for a test.

There must be some history as to why it was built as a draw at all, because it was never opened again.

As we arrive in Thomaston, the houses are built very close to the tracks. Although we have seen people waving at the train since we left Brunswick, in Thomaston people wave from their doorways. Conductor Linwood Lothrop told us about a woman who must have surely greeted the last vestiges of the Bar Harbor Express-Rockland section in her youth.

She never misses a train today, and there she was, waving as if it were the last train ever. Passengers wave back, delighted.

Shortly after passing the Dragon Cement plant, the train arrives in Rockland. Before that, however, we pass the Lyman-Morse Boatbuilding Co., maker of fine custom yachts. We see a clam flat where the clammers have left patterns in the mud that resemble giant tire tracks.

Rockland has changed since it was a center for the offshore fishing industry that has, regrettably, become virtually nonexistent. Walking down Main Street, we counted at least 15 places to find something to eat or drink. Most were right on the ‘main drag,’ with a few more nearby on side streets.

Some of the finer restaurants are open only for dinner, but that gives the leisurely traveler an excuse to stay overnight and take the return train tomorrow. There are plenty of accommodations within easy walking distance.

The problem for the traveler is deciding how to spend the five-hour stay. There is something in today’s Rockland for everyone. The Farnsworth Museum with its Wyeth Center is a must-see for many. Check the museum’s Web site for the latest exhibit information.

Just down the street on the way to the piers is the Maine Lighthouse Museum.

The beautifully rebuilt Strand Theatre plays classic films and hosts live concerts. On Saturdays there are matinees at 2 p.m.

You have time for a leisurely lunch and then a boat ride with Capt. Ray Remick on the M/V Monhegan. The pier is only about two city blocks from the train station. On the hour-and-a half cruise of Penobscot Bay, the traveler will see a beautiful piece of the Maine coastline, as well as lighthouses and perhaps some seals.

If land and air transportation is your interest, the Owls Head Transportation Museum is only a taxi ride away. Schooner Bay Limo & Taxi will meet you at the station, take you to the museum and return you to the station for $14 each way.

That emphasizes the fact that your really don’t need a car to see the area. The views of Rockland Harbor, Penobscot Bay, and the lighthouse are all free for the looking.

Bring a pair of binoculars. They’ll be handy on the train as well.

Boarding the train for the trip back to Brunswick, we are struck by the realization that fall is upon us. One cannot help but anticipate the brilliant reds and golds that will be reflected in the ponds and bays along our route and decide on the spot to make a return trip to enjoy them.

To learn more about the Maine Eastern Railroad, call 866-637-2457 or visit www.maineeasternrailroad.com. Adult coach fare is $30 plus a $5 fuel surcharge. A family of two adults and two children can ride for $75, plus a $10 fuel surcharge. First class fare is $55 plus the fuel surcharge and entitles the rider to a light breakfast and lunch.