Looks like the dismantling has not taken much time:http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2005071120542717476.jpg&bydate%3A3http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2005071120404118341.jpg&bydate%3A4http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=200507112027519738.jpg&bydate%3A4http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2005071120002925859.jpg&bydate%3A5http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=200507111907517937.jpg&bydate%3A6

This may be a moot point now, but isn't this ripping up of the B&ML in Belfast illegal? I have scaned the STB website and can find no authority to abandon this line. Doesn't any abandonment have to be cleared by them?

some recent news stories:June 17http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=115189July 6http://waldo.villagesoup.com/Government/story.cfm?storyID=57551looks like the railroad lost to the developers. :(Scot

I wouldn't doubt that BMLRR is pulling up the rail so that the town doesn't jump the gun and send in a scrapper before the abandonment is official. From what I have heard (all 3rd person type reports) is that the town is very antsy about getting everything out of there and the site cleaned up ASAP so that development can start.Hopefully it gets filled with buildings that stay empty for a few dozen years, while the BML Prospers.Rich C.

how can the BLM prosper if its tracks have been pulled up to make way for those empty buildings?I was under the assumption that the BLM wouldnt be able to operate with its main terminal yard wiped out..but im not that familiar with the area..only been out that way once..so the BLM can still operate even after losing this yard?Scot

The new shop, big turntable, and small storage yard are all at Unity, a little more than halfway between Belfast and Burnham Jct. A Mr. Don Adams - from a New England Rail - has been proposing buying the B&ML and putting a lot of money in it for the cruise-ship trade. There have been articles in the Waldo newspaper about his proposals to Belfast.The railroad is still operable, though it is not now operating, with the Belfast terminal removed. Much of the true waterfront flavor of the little terminal was removed already - back in 2001.The USRA boxcar that shows in the first photo is of particular interest - it is a steel-braced wood car of uncertain origin and no remaining paint, but actually in very good condition for what appears to be a WWI vintage car with K brakes. I'm not sure who controls it now - if it was 'abandoned' on the town property or is still the railroad's property (Unity Property Management) but it really deserves preservation and a good railroad museum home.

What Randy mentioned was the first thing I noticed, and I suspect quite a few others noticed as well. Does anyone know the fate of the boxcar shown in the photo? Is it to be scrapped with the rail? Is there anyone locally that could remove the car from harm's way until a savior organization could move and preserve it?

It doesn't appear to be a USRA car; those cars were all built with steel ends. What it does appear to be, from what I can see in the photo, is a Mather Stock Car Co. car, similar to the ones at North Freedom. This would make sense, as Mather, which was eventually taken over by North American Car Co., maintained wood cars quite late, and leased to a lot of shortlines and small railroads. Belfast & Moose Lake isn't listed as having any freight cars in either the 1958 or 1970 Official Railway Equipment Register, but the car could have run under it's MSCX reporting mark.

I think this one was originally a Maine Central or Portland Terminal car. It looks like there is a cut-in end door, indicating work train use at some point.

and it appears that this car was sitting in the exact same spot back in 2001...http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo=2004053006435129022.jpg&byrail%3A21%3ABelfast_&_Moosehead_Lake