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An Ellsworth-area group dedicated to preserving the history of railroads in eastern Maine is about to get another very heavy donation for its collection.
Downeast Scenic Railroad is hoping to move a 42-ton plow car this week from Northern Maine Junction in Hermon to Washington Junction in the town of Hancock, from where the group operates seasonal scenic excursion trains through Ellsworth. The plow car, used for decades to remove snow along rail lines in eastern coastal Maine, is being donated to the nonprofit railroad by CSX, which last year acquired Pan Am Railways.
If Downeast Scenic Railroad did not want the plow car, it likely would be shipped off and demolished for scrap, according to Tom Testa, the nonprofit railroad’s president. He said the plow car is in decent shape, though it needs to be painted and restored. The group, which does not run trains in the winter, plans to use the rail plow only as a display piece at Washington Junction.
“It needs a little TLC, but it’s an incredible piece of equipment,” Testa said of the car, the front end of which consists of a large vertical, C-shaped plow that lifts snow off the tracks and shoots it off to either side of the train.
The plow car was last used by Pan Am to clear snow off the tracks on the Bucksport Branch, which runs from Brewer to Bucksport, in 2018, Testa said. Prior to that, it was used to clear snow off the defunct Calais Branch, which extended from Brewer through Ellsworth and Washington Junction to Calais. The rails on the old Calais Branch east of Hancock were removed in the late 2000s and the rail bed converted into the multi-use Downeast Sunrise trail.
“This is what we’re about, is preserving this rail heritage,” Testa said of preserving rail cars and operating trains in and out of Ellsworth.
Leverett Fernald, an officials with Downeast Scenic Railroad, said the plow car has extendable “wings” on each side that were used to push the plowed snow further away from the tracks, and a flanger board underneath it that plowed out the snow from between the tracks. If the snow between the tracks wasn’t removed, there was a danger it could melt and then freeze into ice, which could push the tracks slightly apart — a dangerous possibility for a train, he said.
Getting the plow car from Hermon to Hancock is not as simple as running it down the 30 miles or so of track between the two rail yards. The rail corridor still exists, but the tracks have not been maintained through Brewer, Holden and Dedham, so the car will have to be lifted by crane onto a flatbed truck and driven to its new home.
Testa said the move requires a lot of coordination between his group, CSX, and the crane and trucking companies. He said the goal is to move the car on Thursday this week, but it might happen on Friday.
Though CSX is donating the plow car, the estimated cost for moving it and restoring it to its original appearance is roughly $62,000, Testa said. CSX also is donating a ballast-topper car that Downeast Scenic Railroad plans to use to help maintain the section of track it uses in Hancock and Ellsworth, he said.
The plow car will not be the first large piece of railroad equipment moved by truck on Route 1A to Hancock in recent memory. In 2016, New England Steam, a related nonprofit organization, moved defunct steam locomotive Maine Central No. 470 from Waterville to Washington Junction, where it continues to restore the locomotive with the goal of operating it again.
“We’re excited,” Fernald said about acquiring the plow car. “Opportunities like this don’t come along every day. This will make a nice addition to our fleet.”
