Greetings from Brunswick, Maine! As I continue my Downeaster to CapeFlyer trip.
This past April the State of Maine decided to start an experiment with the Downeaster trainset that layovers in Brunswick by having it on weekends make a shuttle trip between 3:00pm and 3:45 to and from Freeport, its intended use is to let day trippers experience both towns in one day. Today I got a ride on it, with one other group of retirees on the way there and me the only passenger on the way back! This set of trains is also the shortest in the Amtrak system (and I have a feeling Amtrak has ever operated, just a 12 minute ride to go 9 miles).
I get off the Concord Coach Lines bus from Bangor in Brunswick at 2:47, about 20 minutes late. 13 minutes I notice the bridge plate is out. I walk and get some photos of the Downeaster trainset (3 Coaches, a Business Class/Cafe a Cabbage at the southbound end and a regular P42 at the northern end) at the station platform that I visited by car on my trip to Maine last summer before the station opened. I find three retirees one with a walker aboard. Their the only passengers. The conductor scans my ticket before we leave, even giving me a seat check and tells us it will be a 12 minute ride once we leave to Brunswick.
Train #678, the Freeport-bound Downeaster Shuttle (it and the northbound train are the shortest trains in the Amtrak system only 12 minutes to go ) at 2:59 gets a double-toot from the cabbage and we leave passing Hannaford. We slowly pass houses and backyards on what is Amtrak’s shortest trip. The crossings and signals are all new with LEDs. We continue through the trees passing some cars on a freight track on a ROW that was once wider. The signals are also new LEDs. We go through the trees passing houses. The ROW becomes narrower as we follow a road and trees. The road leaves us and the view continues as trees.
At 3:08 we Slow down, the trees continue. I hear the crew offering the older ladies to stay on the train because it continues beyond the station to reverse. There going to Freeport for the evening and at that point I decide I might as well spend the $5 for an extra 100 AGR points and have a shorter layover. Since the train has to continue beyond the station to relay, It will give me the photos I want of the Freeport platform empty. At 3:12, 3 minutes early, we arrive in Freeport. I photograph the train continuing beyond the station as part of its relay move as it becomes train #677.
I go walk into the small visitor’s center that looks like a lighthouse with a clocktower.
The train comes back in at about 3:22, now Train #677. The Brunswick-bound Downeaster Shuttle. The crew is chatting with some locals who stop by to say hello. I re-board, using the bridgeplate they have positioned because otherwise the gap between the train and the platform would be too big. I’m the only passenger! I have a joke with the conductor as he doesn’t bother to scan my ticket, he says I got you (your easy to find) and understands about the points.
We leave at 3:30 for another ride through the woods and industry back to Brunswick we arrive at 3:42, he doesn’t bother to put out a bridgeplate for me at the siding island platform with a minimal gap. I chat with the conductor again as I get off. He tells me that the weekend Downeaster Shuttle normally runs basically empty and the train will soon be discontinued. It was a nice idea but the demand wasn’t there.
I walk into town and find a cafe where I buy a cookie and make this post.