What's next for Maine's dormant Mountain Division? Future for unused rail line

In January 2025 I was traveling from North Conway, New Hampshire to Portland, Maine along the route of the long dormant Maine Central Mountain Division and decided to document its current conditions. The line was last used for through freight in 1983 but an occasional local ran this stretch of track until around 1986. The line, now owned by Maine Department of Transportation, doesn’t see trains west of Westbrook but most of the line is clear of brush and light weight equipment like speeders and hi-rails have operated over it recently. There’s even sections of rail with trail built alongside in Fryeburg and Gorham.
The condition of the Maine portion of the rail line is in great contrast to New Hampshire where much of the line is operated by the Conway Scenic Railroad. Their section from North Conway to Hazens went quiet in 1984 but they took over the track a decade later, restored it, and started running trains. The route, which literally runs on the side of mountains and over large bridges, leads to destination Crawford Notch, an important turn around point for their Mountaineer train once called the Notch Train. This line was completely rebuilt by Conway in the 1990’s which allowed them to expand their excursions and reconnect to the national rail network at Hazens. Currently CSRR boasts operating 53 miles of rail line and that just goes to show Conway was up for the challenge of reopening long stretches of dormant railroad. It is also extremely important to note the reopened rail line boosted local economic development. I personally don’t think I’d ever travel all the way up there to spend my money if that line wasn’t the draw it is today.
But this begs the question…What’s next for the Mountain Division in Maine? It hasn’t been used in four decades even though MaineDOT purchased it to retain it for potential rail use. They even went to the extent to build some rail with trail sections to retain the rail. Now Maine is looking to remove the rest of the track for a trail only. This plan would pull up the rails from Standish to Fryeburg which is the town bordering New Hampshire. This would remove 31 miles of track that has some limited freight potential but could also be a route from Portland to Conway shuttle tourist passengers. Now it would cost millions of dollars to make that happen but it would also cost a similar amount to build a trail. Rail with trail would likely be even more expensive which seems to be the reason Maine is looking to get rid of the tracks. On the bright side is that the trail idea is that it is for interim use. Interim use is when a track is removed for a trail until a railroad comes back to use the line. Though, it is so much harder to then reactivate the line without railroad tracks in place which then kills most plans. Some plans that would be viable as long as the track was there in some form can’t even get off the ground because tracks no longer exist. This makes businesses look elsewhere to set up shop and then the formerly rail served towns are solely reliant on trucks and the tourist money that the trails may or may not bring in. There’s no reason we can’t have both rail stay in place with trails.
Now who would operate the line? The CSRR is interested. In 2023 they submitted this to the state of Maine in hopes of preserving the line from Portland:
“The Conway Scenic Railroad if offered a 99-year lease with payments based on a percentage of revenue from the Mountain Division will help MaineDOT to develop and implement a realistic plan to reopen and revitalize the Mountain Division from Portland to the New Hampshire border for tourist train and freight operations. The Conway Scenic Railroad will operate all trains with no state subsidies”
This is pretty big in my opinion but about two years later there doesn’t seem to be much development. With Conway’s offer up in the air, who knows if Maine will proceed with the trail. Given that their own definition of interim use says the trail would only be in place until a railroad looks to reopen the line and now that they now have an interested operator looking to use the tracks, the whole trail plan might be derailed. I guess time will tell what happens next.
Check out and join the Maine Rail Group. They are an independent all-volunteer group (501c(3) corporation), that promotes awareness of railroads' contributions to Maine's economy and their important role in moving passengers and freight. MRG is supportive of keeping the Mountain Division intact for future potential use. I have linked their website in the video description so check that out to learn how to get involved. Stay tuned for more information on the mountain division and hopefully some future updates on the Maine rail group’s efforts.
mainerailgroup...
©2025 South Coast Rail Videos

[@princessofthecape2078]

It's amazing how intact the line is, given how long it has been out of service. They need to stop giving in to the trail crowd. Trails can be put in anywhere - a railroad is a precious and expensive resource that cannot be replaced on a whim.

[@trainfire2008]

Never thought of it from that angle…Nice‼️

[@fhowland]

Really hope it gets reactivated and they don’t tear the tracks up! A train to North Conway would be amazing!!!

[@brianfalzon6739]

That would be awesome!

[@PatriciaBarber-f7w]

Fingers crossed! CSRR would be the perfect fit to rehab and utilize this line. They already accomplished just that on the NH section and it would connect their Portland business to their NH business via rail.

[@jacobramsey7624]

When I used to work for the Conway Scenic Railroad, there was talk about how the owners wanted to run trains from North Conway to Freiburg to bring people to the fair there. I enjoyed this video and thank you for keeping the railfan community in New England informed on subjects like this. If possible, can you do a video on the Conway branch of Boston and Maine and how the state of NH is looking to turn part of it into a railtrail? That I think would make a great subject to cover.

[@SouthCoastRailVideos]

Hi I actually have a Conway Branch video coming out at some point. I filmed south of Conway around Madison/Silver Lake. It’s too bad the speeder operation is no more but at least they got to run for a number of years.

[@hazensearway]

Nicely done.

[@roxxma]

There are some pretty large lithium deposits in that area of Maine, and possibly in New Hampshire too. If lithium mining takes off, it might be beneficial for the rail lines in the area.

[@jerrys9226]

Hopefully Conway scenic can win out on this. We all know what happens when rails are pulled despite all the promises. We heard the same thing in Falmouth. Sounds good on paper, but it’s not the reality.

[@TBone-McGlaughlin]

How can Conway win? They passed on the RFP for operators every year and waited until the 11th hour, after the trail was already approved to even mention operating it. There is no industry on the line to warrant rail. Everything is transloaded in Portland for less money and trucked up. CSX intentionally drove Poland Springs away from rail business, so I doubt they will ever ship another car.

[@chuxproductions1090]

Terrific coverage you did on this video! Fun to see the CSSR running two former GP38’s that were once Maine Central Railroad.!!! Why not just leave the old rail and build the trail be side?

[@henryszubielski8601]

Let's hope that Conway Scenic wins.

[@Gerk8]

Looking forward to seeing the lines east of St.Johnsbury reactivated.

[@TBone-McGlaughlin]

They aren't. Conway waited until after the trail was signed into law to finally approach the state about it. Even then it was just with commitment letter from industries interested in rail. The state turned them down, since they had no real operation plan, rehab plan, or even an idea on how many cars would be moved.

[@SouthCoastRailVideos]

@@TBone-McGlaughlin Vermont Rail will be reopening St. Johnsbury to Whitefield on their own.

[@theextremeanimator4721]

Nice!

[@brianfalzon6739]

Please save the lines!

[@trainnerd3029]

Would be fun to travel these abandoned lines on a rail scooter

[@nesman]

Sadly MDOT just lets lines like these rot so it's more likely to have the rails ripped up. Just look at the lower road.

[@SouthCoastRailVideos]

I believe the lower road is being looked at for a Downeaster extension north through Augusta to Bangor so there’s hope for that one too. We’ll see.

[@nesman]

@@SouthCoastRailVideos I wish but the RUAC voted to recommend ripping it up. www.maine.gov/mdot/ofps/ruac/lowerroad/meetings/

[@TBone-McGlaughlin]

Why shouldn't they? There is no sense in maintaining track that will never see another train again.

[@nesman]

@ youtube keeps nuking my comments but www. maine .gov /mdot/ofps /ruac/lowerroad/ meetings/ the ruac voted to recommend removing the rails.

[@robertklose2140]

@@TBone-McGlaughlin How do you know?

[@Marbleheadjed]

Pulling up rail is stupidity. If they build it , they will come .

[@NHVT_Productions]

The Mountain Division has historically had little online traffic. Multiple proposals have come and gone in the last decade plus in regards to using at least part of the Maine portion to move traffic. You're looking at $65+ million to rehab to 10mph, and that's if you had shippers ready to haul cars tomorrow.

[@TBone-McGlaughlin]

The only business this line had was bridge traffic to CP. With the paper mills gone, it would never justify itself. SLR which runs a parallel route hardly has any business as is. Plus to move said traffic, it would have to go from CSX-Conway-VTR-CPKC and there would be no money in it, or the rates would be so high it wouldn't be worth it.

[@michaelritcheson5472]

Was that you that I saw set up on the rte 1 bridge at Rigby yesterday?

[@SouthCoastRailVideos]

Not me, I filmed this in January

[@cclme1276]

It’s Maine’s governor who made sure the track would be ripped up. Such a waste of infrastructure.

[@robertklose2140]

Don't be fooled. "Interim use" = "Rail never again"

[@cmphighpower]

Nothing more worthless than rail trails

[@georgedoolittle7574]

Move into Maine by Rail is a Railroad Paradise why no one in Maine wants this as the Land is so valuable there...not so New Hampshire where obviously the terrain is ahem *"slightly more challenging"* ahem. So too Massachusetts actually. Any East West line coming out of Massachusetts by rail would be very welcomed in New York as we sure don't have any interest in cars that aren't a Tesla is an understatement. As far as building freight train prime movers and rail cars out of aluminum instead of steel to massively save on weight and improve service and capabilities yes that can be done as well too. Much higher performance engines, much greater energy output, better traction control...New York very interested in this as well #gyro_copters in the meantime 😊😊

[@hawkeyetherailfan]

I don't understand the appeal of rebuilding the Mountain Division when you have an essentially parallel route with the former Grand Trunk line (I forget what Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary it is), especially when it comes to through freight since, as the name suggests, the Mountain Division has very rough grades whereas the Grand Trunk does not. Regarding tourist trains I think it would be a better offering for sightseers if the train that left Portland went over the Grand Trunk then goes over the Mountains from the north, so that the most scenic part of the route acts as a sort of "grand finale" to their trip, and then they end their journey by getting off the train in the charming small town of N. Conway. Using the Mountain Division from Portland to possibly have to transfer trains just to go over the Mountain doesn't have the same appeal to me but I guess it depends on what else is on the itinerary.

[@TBone-McGlaughlin]

I am all for the trail. The line hardly had any online customers when it was in operation. Its also worth noting, just because a company says they want rail service, doesn't mean the carloads will justify it. Building materials and fuel can be transloaded in Portland like they are now for hardly anything, and trucked. It wouldn't make sense because the construction economy in the Conway area isn't worth building new stores and warehouses, when all of that is in place in Portland. Poland Springs wont use rail. Water is trucked to the bottling plant in Poland or Kingfield, both of which aren't near rail. The finished water used to go to Ayer by rail, but CSX finally drove Poland Spring away last fall. They sent all the well cars they were using, down to Alabama to be scrapped.

[@SouthCoastRailVideos]

Thanks for commenting. The Conway Scenic rebuilt their side of the Mountain Division with Zero car loads and no freight incentive. They could operate tourist trains as they do now with incidental freight. We’ll see though.

[@TBone-McGlaughlin]

@@SouthCoastRailVideos But the thing is 99% of the Maine side is not even scenic. Unless you want to count the few miles that pass along Sebago Lake. The NH side has far better scenery. Keep in mind Conway back then had different leadership. Leadership which made sound well thought out decisions, unlike the current regime which impulsively spends money, then regrets it later.

[@robertklose2140]

I can't believe that putting a trail alongside the rail is more expensive than ripping up the rails and then putting a trail down. Rail + trail is a good compromise.