Today's U18B will be #404 with sibling 409 and a big brother Rock U25B still in red bringing train BR4 through Portland. Pretty sure is this from the Parkway just before crossing the Fore River where the blue Nova experienced car trouble and had to pull over just as the train showed up.

For today\'s U18B fix, we\'ll stick with September 26, 1981, the same day as the previous couple of posts. At some point we encountered YR-1\'s counterpart RY-2 heading west. I don\'t remember if we made it all the way to Portland and came back to Sebago Lake or not. Maybe NR Tower will. Sebago Lake is about 15 miles from Portland and is big enough to have an island. The MES nicely skirted the south side of the lake. This is kind of like yesterday\'s shot in that the light is right down the track and the track is along one of the many lakes in New England.

I had a different shot of YR1 ready to post for today but while this one doesn't have the best light angle, it fits with the fog in St Johnsbury from yesterday's post and gives an idea of what the weather was like the rest of the day. This is about 10 miles east of St J along Miles Pond with the heavy fog visible in the background.

With last_mec_dispatcher in the Arizona desert for the winter away from his slides and unable to provide a U18 theme for us, I'll make a modest attempt at one. It starts with an unusual roster shot posting of #402 at the Rigby Yd engine terminal on May 14, 1981.

10 U18B's were purchased new by the MEC in mid 1975 and named the Independence class to honor the upcoming bicentennial. Each one of them was given a name for a New England Revolutionary hero, battle, or place.

General John Stark was given to #402. General Stark distinguished himself in several battles including Bunker Hill in Boston. Bennington, and Saratoga. He is credited with the phrase Live Free or Die which became the New Hampshire state motto. In addition to his name going on MEC #402, his name also went to Stark County Ohio, which is where I grew up.

Owner MWSHAPES

2006/2021

2009/2021 - MW SHAPES

Last shot to close out the MEC U18B theme from the past 10 days. For me it's been fun to look back at places and events that I hadn't thought much of for 40 years. Here we see Mountain Division train RY2 soon after leaving Rigby Yard in South Portland. The junction to switch onto the Mountain Division is not far around the curve. Google earth shows an overpass for the Fore River Parkway about 5 cars back would be in the shot today. This was the first day of a week long trip that had started in St. Johnsbury with a chase of counterpart YR1, September 26, 1981

The Pan Am Railway's SAPPI job rolls down the Hinckley Branch and passes by Milepost 1 as it approaches the junction in Fairfield, Maine, where it will get on the main to Waterville where it will swap trains and head back to Skowhegan.

====Info====

PAR Hinckley Branch

Fairfield, ME

PAR SAPPI (Local; Skowhegan, ME to Waterville, ME)

MEC 514 GP40-2LW Ex. CN 9655 Blt. 1976

MEC 501 GP40-2LW Ex. CN 9412 Blt. 1974

!!Thank you for visiting and comments !

Gracias por visitar...y comentar !!!

Fatigada del baile,

encendido el color, breve el aliento,

apoyada en mi brazo

del salón se detuvo en un extremo.

Entre la leve gasa

que levantaba el palpitante seno,

una flor se mecía

en compasado y dulce movimiento.

Como en cuna de nácar

que empuja el mar y que acaricia el céfiro,

tal vez allí dormía

al soplo de sus labios entreabiertos.

¡Oh! ¡quién así, pensaba,

dejar pudiera deslizarse el tiempo!

¡Oh! si las flores duermen,

¡qué dulcísimo sueño!

Becquer

sốt....hơn chữ sốt

nhứt đầu...hơn chữ nhứt đầu

sổ mũi...hơn chữ sổ mũi

chóng mặt.....hơn chữ chóng mặt

ngột ngạc hơn chữ ngột ngạt

chán.....hơn chữ chán

nhớ LAX

nhớ tụi nhok

nhớ SP md

nhớ KA

nhớ 9.4

nhớ all mọi ng`

A nice set of MEC U18B's are making a move by the tower at the end of Rigby Yard in South Portland, ME on July 2, 1984. I had gone to visit one of my sisters who was attending Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH. Using her place as a base, I made a few trips to various New England locations as day trips. This day was a trip to Rigby Yard. Spent a few hours parked here and saw some locals arriving back at this end of the yard as well as a couple of road trains arriving from the East.

MEC U25B 229 leads a 3 builder consist on a Westbound D&H/Guilford train at Silver Road in Linden, NY on September 15, 1985. And some may wonder why I am loathe to go out and chase what passes for trains on this line today.

After missing these guys leaving the SAPPI Somerset mill in Skowhegan, I backtracked and found them just outside of Shawmut village with more clouds than sun. At a brisk 10 MPH on the majority (if not the entirety) of the branch, it was an easy chase and one I wasn't about to abandon with the potential of getting some sun. Sister's MEC 315 & 316 lead Y121 off the Hinckley Branch and onto CSX's Waterville Sub at WAT 110, (formerly CPF-110) on September 28, 2024. To my knowledge there are only three or four of the "Big G" GP40s remaining in service while the rest have been sidelined due to various issues.

Just a wide roster shot of the detail photo I posted here: flic.kr/p/2no8sPL.

Maine Central 315 is an EMD GP40 blt. Nov. 1968 as Penn Central 3208 and some wag has seen fit to reletter her as such. Grimy gray certainly isn't far removed from PC black and the railroads certainly bore some similarities. The battle worn geep is seen parked by the yard office at the north end of the yard while the assigned NA1 crew is presumably off working elsewhere.

Nashua, New Hampshire

Friday May 20, 2022

Istambul

MEC 231 GE U23B Rigby Yard S. Portland, ME. From my collection.

Rigby Yard, South Portland, ME. May 23, 1981. From my collections.

The early stages of power sharing during Guilford Transportation Industries attempt at ruling the northeast's rail systems is evident here as this Delaware & Hudson freight departs East Binghamton, NY crossing the Susquehanna River for points north with Maine Central power head up.

MEC GE U25B. Rigby Yard South Portland, ME. May 29, 1981. From my Collection.

Railfans were out in force across Pennsylvania for the first Pan Am Railways (MEC) locomotive to lead a train into Enola. MEC 616 is seen here crawling over the Rockville on train 11R, the last leg of the journey from East Deerfield, MA. The partnership with Pan Am means plenty of blue locomotives have been showing up on NS 11R and 14R, but with the exception of this trip, the power always trails in and out of Enola.

DiB 12/05/15

MEC Bucksport line. 1982.

OD-MEC

Airbus A.330-243

MEA

Heathrow

Runway 27L

ME201

from Beirut

MEC Dronten .. fun to shoot...

Maine Central SD40 #601 (ex-Detroit Edison 004) trails a pair of Boston & Maine engines as they back onto their train at E. Deerfield, MA in March of 1988.

There was an open area along the road between Lanesboro and Susquehanna, PA that afforded this view. A Lanesboro detour is heading West and down the hill on the Southern Tier Line with a mix of MEC, B&M, and D&H units for power on August 4, 1985.

MEC Dronten

As we continue my 1985 trip through New England and the surrounding areas I ran across this beauty in Oneonta, NY Looked to be in pretty good shape.

======================================

The East Binghamton to Mechanicsville train passes under Starrucca Viaduct with an MEC U25B on the point.

Iêm Rùa đóa xynk ckưa xynk hơng Rùa nkèo^^~

Méc to,mũi kao:)

Mong xkao em mong khỏe pịng để đx ckạy nkảy n* s' 2 nké em kố gkắng lêng s' luông ở pêg e xkẽ k bg rờu xa em đâo:P

----------------------------------------------------

KM + Fav + Note ckoa iêm Rùa w Rùa yk :")~

Bn* tr' 200 km xẽ bn* týp:"XXXXXXXXXXXX

KM nkèo yk:p

Yêo m.ngừi nkèo l'♥

P/s:rep cm ckậm,sò rý m.ngừi nkèo:">.But Rùa hứa xẽ rep hếc km cko m.ngừi ngak=x!~

BR-4 Brunswick December 23, 1982

Built in May of 1980 by the Food Machinery & Chemical Corporation (FMC Corp), this FMC 5347 boxcar was built just prior to the end of Maine Central's independence. MEC was bought by Guilford Transporation in 1981, which was renamed to Pan Am Railways in 2006. This boxcar recieved Pan Am's sky-blue paint right around the same time, but that livery has faded fairly significantly in the 20 years since.

MEC XP A402 #32026

Houston, TX

March 10th, 2025

VB-2 arriving in Bangor. Fall 1972

As classic Maine Central as you can get

LARGE

MEC 601 in Detroit Edison colors leads a Westbound Guilford freight at the station platform in Corning, NY on July 9, 1986.

Train 55 Rockland, Maine spring 1959

My father's photo as you shall see I was a wee lad of 4 or 5.

Szakszervezeti összeurópai demonstráció Budapesten

BR-4 Clinton November 27, 1982

BR-2 approaching Rigby yard. November 28, 1982