This one snuck in under the wire.

I noticed the otherday that Guilford has begun removing the rail from South Windham to Westbrook.

Its ironic considering that the State of Maine which purchased the remainder of the line extending from South Windham to the New hampshire border, has spent considerable time and money converting the right of way to a pedestrian walkway while still preserving the rail for future possible use.

With the scrapping of the segment of the line still under Guilford control, this all but seals the fate of the state owned section from ever seeing operating rail service ever again.

I guess I don't understand guilfords reasoning for discouraging use of the line. After all it would feed traffic to them. But, then again I don't sit in the board room.

Guilford is one RR company that is universally hated by everyone except itself (shippers, governments and employees especially), and this is one of the reasons. I'm sure glad I didn't have to go to work for them. Previously, they had removed the Northern RR of New Hampshire (B&M) route from Lebanon, NH to just above Concord, removing any credible possibility of renewed Amtrak service between Montreal and Boston.

On a slightly related note, here is something from the VRS-Rutland list, about VRS' renewed operation of the CP-B&M line from Newport to White River Jct., Vermont, which was dormant several years under CP control. VRS may operate a bit of the north end of the Mountain Division eventually as well:

From the Caledonian Record, St. Johnsbury:

Railroad Continues To Finish In Red
State Provides Monthly Subsidy

BY GARY E. LINDSLEY Staff Writer

ST. JOHNSBURY, VT - When Washington County Railroad Company
officials signed a 10-year operating agreement with the state of
Vermont almost two years ago, they agreed to make annual payments.

To date, however, not a dime has been paid because the railroad has
finished in the red both years.

WACR operates the state-owned rail line between Newport and White
River Junction.

Sam Lewis, director of operations for the Agency of Transportation,
said the railroad is supposed to make annual payments of 3 percent
on gross revenues in excess of $1 million. Because the railroad has
not broken even, no payments have been paid.

Additionally, the state is paying the railroad a subsidy of $25,000
per month in quarterly installments of $75,000 to operate the rail
line. That monthly subsidy is supposed to run through June 30, 2006.

Neither Jerome B. Hebda of the Vermont Rail System, which owns WACR,
nor Lewis would reveal where the railroad has finished financially
the last two years.

"The company will not allow me to disclose our revenue figures,"
Hebda said. "Yes, we have been in the red the last two years."

Hebda suggested getting the information from the state. And Lewis
said he couldn't provide that information because it was the
company's private information, nor could it be revealed by the state.

State and railroad officials signed the 10-year operating agreement
June 4, 2003. It runs from July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2013.

The railroad has an option to renew the lease for two extra 10-year
terms. If the renewal options are exercised, the lease agreement
will expire June 30, 2033.

Rail History

According to Lewis, the Wells River-Newport segment of the rail line
was operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company prior to
November 1996.

From November 1996 until December 2002, that segment of the rail
line was operated by the Northern Vermont Railroad Company Inc.

In December of that year, the Wells River-Newport segment of the
line was sold to the state of Vermont. The state, in turn, entered
into a six-month interim operating agreement with the Washington
County Railroad.

Prior to December 1999, the White River Junction to Wells River
segment was owned by the Boston and Main Corporation and operated by
a B&M affiliate known as the Springfield Terminal Railway Company.

It was purchased by the state of Vermont in December 1999 and
operated on an interim basis by the Green Mountain Railroad
Corporation.

The Northern Vermont Railroad operated the line from October 2000
until the Washington Country Railroad took it over and entered into
an agreement with the state.

Lewis said the Wells River to Newport segment of the rail line has
been continuously operated. The White River to Wells River section,
however, was dormant for several years because of washouts before
the state acquired it in December 1999, he said.

While the Washington County Railroad has yet to operate the line in
the black, Hebda sees a bright future for the line as well as for
the rail yard in St. Johnsbury.

Currently, the railroad is shipping about 100 train carloads of
goods per month. In order to break even, Hebda said that needs to be
increased to 200 train carloads a month.

"We want to ship everything ... all commodities," he said. "Our
speciality is bulk commodities."

Those include feed, grain, rock salt, resins, chemicals and oils.

The forest products, including wood pulp, wood chips and paper,
being shipped on the line come mainly from Maine and the Maritimes,
while the animal feed comes from the Midwest. Petroleum products
come from Canada.

Hebda would like to locate a warehouse in the St. Johnsbury rail
yard because it would allow the railroad to capture more business.

"It would open up the entire St. Johnsbury area," he said.

Washington County Railroad officials are also interested in bringing
back online the rail line which runs to the Gilman mill.

"Our plans are to operate it once all the legal issues are
resolved," Hebda said. "It's an embargoed rail line. We have been in
daily contact with the paper company. They really want [rail
service]."

One thing Hebda does not want in the rail yard is an at-grade
crossing at Eastern Avenue, which would allow shopper access to Bay
Street.

Part of the town's proposed revitalization efforts includes an at-
grade crossing at the bottom of Eastern Avenue, thus allowing
traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular, to flow between a proposed
large retail store and the community's downtown business district.

But Hebda said the railroad will not agree to that because of safety
concerns as well as the cost of operations.

"If you are running a railroad, you do not want a crossing in the
middle of it," he said. "The state will have a lot of input into it.
Our position is going to weigh on the state position also."

Lewis would not comment on a proposed crossing because he said he
has not seen any of the town's plans.

"We will have a set of comments by the end of the month regarding
the plans and crossings," he said.

Although the state subsidy to the railroad will cease in June 2006,
Hebda believes the railroad will continue operating the Newport to
White River Junction line.

They simply make no sense. Especially when you consider that the abandoned trackage was esentially costing them nothing.

Logic would dictate that they would promote feeder lines especially The Mountain Division if not for passenger service but at least for something more tangable like gravel etc. which is readly avaialble at many locations along the line (Hirim/Baldwin come to mind) and there is a big market for. Most large S&G operators in the area are trucking it in from there anyway.

I guess the opertunity was not big enough or discouraged.

Now the question is does the right-of-way revert back to the abbutors as happened with the CP line runing into Presque Isle from Plaster Rock NB. as well as others?