Forty-five years after the last passenger train left town, limited rail service resumed Aug. 5 in the form of a an excursion run from Brunswick to Rockland with a stop in Bath.
The run by Maine Eastern Railroad coincided with the Lobster Festival in Rockland, August 5-8, and the railroad plans weekend excursions after that, possibly through the fall foliage season. Round trip adult fare is $40 per person, $30 for children 15 and under and no charge for toddlers under two.
There have been shorter excursions over the line – known as the Rockland Branch – over the past 15 years, operated by Maine Coast Railroad. After Maine Coast, the line was served briefly, for freight only, by Safe Handling of Auburn. The latest plans for tourist trips differ in length from most prior excursions, and in their purported potential to become scheduled passenger rail service. The Rockland Branch already handles small freight trains on a regular basis.
The state already owns the historic brick train station in Rockland, although tracks beside the platform have been ripped up for a parking lot. The state bought the entire Rockland branch in the 1980s from Maine Central Railroad, following a campaign by then – Rep. Rita Melendy of Rockland, and a statewide referendum on the deal.
The Department of Transportation has completed $30 million worth of repairs to the line. The current user is primarily Dragon Cement of Thomaston. Dragon receives supplies by rail, but it mostly uses the line to ship cement from its plant to barges at Rockland’s South End docks, using a short spur through the city.
The DOT’s long-term vision includes passenger service connecting with Amtrak trains in Portland, and with a proposed high-speed ferry terminal in Rockland taking passengers to Acadia National Park and other points down east. The Amtrak connection from Portland to Brunswick, which demolished its railroad station years ago, is not likely to happen for a couple of years, DOT officials have said. Bath has retained its historic downtown train station with slate roof, in relatively good repair.
The Rockland city council recently went on record saying reviving rail would play a role “in the continued economic vitality of the City of Rockland and the social and cultural fabric of our community … be it hereby resolved that the city enthusiastically supports the re-use of the historic train station to accommodate permanent passenger rail service.”