One example I can think of is a significant portion of the Eagle Lake & West Branch. When the railroad was built in 1926-27 a permanent easement was obtained from various land owners with the aid of Great Northern Paper Co. One tract of land (an entire township) was and still is owned by the Pingree Family and is managed by Seven Islands Land Company for timber production.
In the early 1970's the Maine Department of Conservation sold the track located within the area they acquired in 1969 to a Quebec salvage company who began removing rail from the Allagash stream trestle south. (approx. 12 miles of rail) They would have removed all the rail if not for John Sinclair of Seven Islands. I have in my collection a letter from Mr. Sinclair stating that the State of Maine may sell off its history but Seven Islands would not and very bluntly stating that the scrapping crew was not to trespass on their property.
In November of 2012 we hiked the section of rail bed that traverses the Pingree lands through Ellis Bog (NOT a recommended hike! It took us 5 hours to hike 3 miles) and just as Mr. Sinclair declared the rails end exactly at the township line.
What I find interesting is the fact that a state entity charged with preserving and maintaining numerous historic sites and wilderness areas was so willing to scrap a piece of history. Mr. Sinclair had a deep sense of historic value and to this day Seven Islands has never cut-over the right-of-way though approx. 1000 ft. of rail was removed around 1995 where it crossed the logging road just east of Umbazooksus Lake and extends south west towards the Umbazooksus lake.
