July and August have been very busy at the Downeast Scenic Railroad. Volunteers have been hard at work sanding, sealing, priming and painting the exterior and interior, and installing new windows in our caboose. We are also making preparations to begin work on restoring MEC day coach #155.

Roadmaster Charlie Freeman and his track crew have been installing ties and aligning track from Washington Junction to Main Street in Ellsworth, approximately 2 miles.

We have at the same time completed the rebuild of the grade crossing at Beal Avenue in Ellsworth, all as part of our goal of opening the first 4 miles of the line by the summer of 2009.

The Trust has entered into an agreement with the Maine Eastern Railroad to provide tie and timber instalation on a larger scale begininng in September. ME General Manager Deny Mohn will be sending their tie crew North for several weeks to complete the contract. This has all been made possible by donations to our Buy-A-Tie program and through the generous donations we have received of both ties and funding to be able to contract this work.

Right of Way restoration continues, volunteers have reset crossbucks and made operable the crossing signals at Washington Junction Road in Hancock as well as begun work restoring the crossing signals at Wyman Road.

We would like to thank Bob Campbell, signal maintainer for the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway for donating his time to restore the signals and boxes at these crossings and Shawn Melvin for assisting him.

We would also like to thank Ron MacQuinn and Harold MacQuinn Contractors for providing gravel and ballast for the Beal Avenue crossing rebuild, as well as the City of Ellsworth, Ellsworth Public Works Department and Rob Chester for providing his civil engineering expertise.