Downeaster to Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad and Casco Bay
August 9, 2003

Text by Vic Campbell for Callboy

Our second group excursion aboard Amtrak Downeasters #681 and #688, on August 9, carried 130 passengers and staff from Boston's North Station, Woburn and Haverhill to Portland, ME for a six-hour visit to that ever-interesting port city. #681's northbound consist included four 60-seat Amfleet coaches plus an Amcafe behind P42 173, with an ex-F40 cab-baggage (or "cabbage") control car on the rear. As we departed on time at 9:30 AM, Mass Bay RRE Treasurer Dave Brown and Director Bob Popovac got everyone settled and passed out literature. Helping them was volunteer train host Wayne Davis, chairman of Portland-based Trainriders/Northeast, who had worked southbound #680 earlier that morning.

Because of meets with delayed southbound Downeaster #682 and a Guilford Rail System freight, we reached Portland 15 minutes late at 12:30 PM. A light "drizzle" welcomed us to the Amtrak/Trailways station, where two charter motorcoaches and one city METRO Route 5 bus took our riders to in-town destinations - the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad & Museum, the Old Port District, and downtown. During the bus-shuttle trips, the drizzle stopped, but the clouds and fog remained.

Amtrak P42 87 on the rear of southbound Downeaster #688 at Portland.
Doug Scott photo.