Abandoned Railroad to be Restored or Removed - Maine's Mountain Division Update - 5/2026

It has been some time since I issued an update on the Maine side of the Mountain Division between Westbrook, Maine near Portland up to Fryeburg, Maine. It has been pretty quiet recently but the clock is ticking on the future track removal. Just a few days ago an information filled interview with folks from the Conway Scenic was released so we’ll discuss what was said in this video. To start the clock is ticking and in about 6 months the state is looking to remove the tracks on the Mountain Division. It has been known for a couple years that the Conway Scenic is looking to restore freight service on this route but one big part is connecting with CSX in Portland. Any track removal messes with those plans to connect Portland and North Conway and CSX. Not only does the removal of the track affect Maine but it would affect New Hampshire where there are interested freight customers who would like to ship by rail again through the CSX connection. Conway Scenic has been working on a proposal to take over the line and they were even spotted in Washington DC with Senator Susan Collins. Here’s a screenshot of Conway Scenic owner David Swirk with her posted to her facebook page. The details of the meeting were not publicly released but I think we can all guess what they were talking about. Anyways it was previously stated that after all these years its finally attractive to ship by rail again since CSX took over Pan Am Railways in 2022. With improved infrastructure and operations CSX can work with Conway Scenic better than the former operator Guilford Rail System, later called Pan Am Railways. For those that don’t know Guilford has been called one of the worst railroads to exist and they killed off a lot of traffic and customers with bad or nonexistent service years ago. They were actually the ones to abandon the Mountain Division after rerouting through freights in 1983. The line lingered on a bit after that with service from Maine into North Conway continuing until 1986 or so. Following that the businesses had to switch to trucks. Guilford/Pan Am is still a sore subject with many people in the area but with CSX there’s been some improvement. People will argue that CSX has its own issues but that’s not today’s subject. Either way shortlines are looking to work with CSX and they see it as an opportunity to grow and bring back some of these out of use rail lines. Off the top of my head there’s three short lines looking to reactivate lines in Maine currently with one other, the Cumberland & Knox, who already reopened the Rockland Branch last year. All of these operations have or will have a CSX connection. Meanwhile MaineDOT wants to remove some of the same lines proposed for reactivation including the Mountain Division. Now that we’ve established some context we’ll get into the details of the recent interview. It starts off talking about how rail is making a comeback in some places meanwhile the state is looking at ripping up unused tracks throughout the state. The tracks would get replaced with bike paths, mind you some of the Mountain Division is already rail with trail but apparently the state doesn’t want to continue this kind of construction. Now for 10 miles of track it is estimated to cost $11.1 million to remove and replace the tracks with the trail. Millions of dollars just to have a bike path when you could have both rail and trail. And that’s not even the full route, just 10 miles out of about 57 miles. Conway scenic spent some serious time talking to potential customers last year so now we’re finally hearing about more specific details on who those are. Green Thumb Farms of Fryeburg, Estes of Baldwin, Wadsworth, and other gravel pits are among the companies discussed from Maine but there are more. The gravel pits are of interest as having rail helps expand those businesses. With rail they can be more competitive with trucks and distribute further. The Conway Scenic has a memorandum of understanding signed with the railroad to the north, which is Vermont Rail’s New Hampshire Central Railroad, to ship freight with them. They now have the opportunity to ship from New Hampshire to Maine and points south as well as points north and west. Vermont Rail is working on reopening the Mountain Division line from Whitefield to Gilman, Vermont. They’re also looking at going all the way beyond Gilman to St. Johnsbury, Vermont where it would connect with another one of their lines. Also brought up during this interview was a documentary coming out about how Maine should be saving its rail lines. Its called savemainerails and I have linked their website in the description so go check that out. Thanks for watching and stay tuned for future updates on the Mountain Division. https://savemainerails.org/ Facebook:   / mslrailmedia   Comments? Questions? Just leave a note in the comment section and I'll get back to you. ©2025 South Coast Rail Videos