Downeaster Page
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Amtrak's
Downeaster runs from Boston's North Station to Portland,
Maine, five times a day (hopefully going to seven soon), stopping at
several Massachusetts, New
Hampshire and Maine towns. The train started running on December 14,
2001, and carries standard Amfleet coaches and cafe car. We've have had
an opportunity to do some photography since
its inception and are especially impressed by the small transportation
centers
springing up in towns like Dover, NH, and Wells, Maine, as well as by
surveys which show high customer satisfaction.
It was a struggle to get the train running, what with endless
roadblocks created by Guildford Transportation, which owns the old
Boston and Maine tracks over which the train runs. Fortunately,
TraiinRiders/Northeast kept on the pressure through its RailVision PAC
to collect signatures (close to 90,000)
in Maine to force state government to spend no less than $40
million dollars to get things on track. Happily,
with this help Amtrak and the
train's sponsor, the New England Rail Passenger Authority, have
prevailed and two round trips were added in 2008 and
there are very strong prospects for extending service to Brunswick and
points north.
Here are
some of our photos. Click on thumbnails to enlarge.
The first six photos above were taken in Dover, NH, in late December
2001 and a year later. The next three in December 2001, and the last at
the new Wells, Maine, station in May, 2004.
The first two photos above were taken in the Wells station, and the
next two of trains coming and going. The final five were taken in
Haverhill, Mass., in the winter and summer of 2005.
The above were taken in Dover, NH, in July, 2005. The photos below were
taken in Durham, New Hampshire, in January 2006
Below is a photo taken in Kennebunk on a beautful late autumn day in
November, 2007. It shows a Downeaster speeding through on its way from
Boston to Portland. Kennebunk passengers cannot use the beautiful old
station, but are only a few minutes from the one in Wells. Or they can
drive up to Saco.
In August 2008 I took a day to check out the train in Old Orchard
Beach, where it is a seasonal visitor, and an few miles south in Saco,
where a new transportation center is under construction. The top photo
catches the train heading north on its way to Portland, and the second
shows it stopping in Saco on its way to North Station Boston.
Both trains seemed heavilty patronized (it was the start of the Labor
Day weekend) and a welcome relief from the usual heavy traffic that
plagues area highways this time of year.
I stopped by the Exeter, NH, station on a beautiful autumn day in
October, 2009. Just in time to catch the train arriving from Boston.
Here's a shot of the train under an overpass on Summer Street (Routes
35 and 9A) in Kennebunk on June 21, 2011. Heading from Portland down to
Boston,
We'll keep photographing this train so check back. To see The
Downeaster's dedicated website, click
here. For TrainRiders/Northeast, click here.
This page was created on August 5, 2005 and updated June
23 2011.
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