Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Maine Northern 9801

Maine Northern 9801
NBSR 9801 has been relettered and renumbered to MNR 9801, for the new Maine Northern Railway.

The what? The Maine Northern Railway Company is the new name for the northern Maine lines to be operated by NBSR.

MNR 9801, NBSR 2317 and NBSR 2319 are now in Maine and will be operating on the line. The official opening date is June 15 (tomorrow). This is not the "permanent" power as it will be rotated back to Saint John as needed for servicing, so northern Maine should see a variety of green and yellow engines.

Good luck to J.D. Irving in their new enterprise in northern Maine!

PS - there is a good article in MaineBiz about the transition, featuring an interview with Ian Simpson, general manager of the Eastern Maine Railroad (NBSR's Maine half). Presumably Ian will be the GM of MNR as well.

The MNR will employ up to 30 people and will be based in Oakfield and Squa Pan.

2 comments:

NBSRFAN said...

Thanks for posting this 9801 picture Steve. I should have gone out to catch the westbound leave SJ last night as I would have caught all the units leaving. They left SJ last night around 10pm.
Ian Simpson must be the General Manager for all NBSR operations. My father has been talking to Mr Simpson about doing a motorcar excursion on the NBSR.

Canadian Train Geek said...

Yes, I've heard Ian's name before.

That would be cool to do a motorcar excursion on the NBSR. Certainly there should be time available to run without running into any trains. :)