By Justin Franz 

The State of Maine will soon begin to search for a new operator for the former Maine Central Rockland Branch, state officials tell Railfan & Railroad. 

Earlier this summer, the previous operator, Finger Lakes Railway subsidiary Midcoast Railservice, ceased operations after the line’s largest customer stopped shipping by rail. The last freight runs came in June and the pair of B23-7 locomotives that were used on the line have since returned to New York. 

Nate Moulton, director of the Maine Department of Transportation’s freight and passenger services office, said the final two freight shippers on the line are presently trucking material to the Portland area where it is loaded onto rail cars.
Midcoast Railservice’s sudden departure from the former Maine Central route is just the latest in a decades-long saga. Since 1990, there have been six different operators on the line between Brunswick and Rockland. Midcoast took over from the previous one, Canadian Pacific, in 2022 and aggressively went after new freight business. Unfortunately, last year the line’s largest customer, Dragon Cement, announced it was ceasing production at its facility in Thomaston. Officials with Finger Lakes said the railroad was not profitable without Dragon.