The train in Maine mainly strains one’s brain

Yeah, we know; cockamamie attempts at rhyming aren’t much of a draw.

So lets get to the point.  Some months ago we posted on the heated, elevated boarding platform being constructed at Maine Street Station.  We reported that the platform is said to be 400 feet in length, or a football field plus end zones.  We’re not sure what it will end up with in the way of roof cover.

We provided this photo at that time; keep in mind the platform and ramp span from the foreground to way off in the distance at the disappearing point.

We are, for once, fairly certain on something else, and that is that the trains coming to Brunswick will pass through Freeport, and be prepared to stop at their station, now under construction.

We’ve been passing it a lot lately, and one day it hit us; why is Freeport’s ramp and platform not 400 feet long, on the same scale as Brunswick’s?  We inquired of workers at the Freeport site what the explanation might be, and they had none.

Here are a few shots of their station; the first one shows a ground/track level boarding area that amounts to a glorified sidewalk.

 

This next one shows the station covered section, which includes an elevated platform with a ramp; we’d guess this platform to be 40 feet long, tops.

Perhaps you’ve passed the station as well.

We can only wonder why Brunswick needs a 400 foot long heated and elevated boarding platform, while Freeport will get by with one in the range of barely one-tenth that long.

We’re sure someone ‘in the know’ will have a logical explanation for such variations for the same train.

As logical as we can expect, that is, for a $35 million front-end ‘investment’ in a loss-leader train that will, we predict, not come close to meeting expectations for ridership.  Or come anywhere close to the convenience and affordability of the bus options that have existed for years already.

Come to think of it, we wonder when we’ll see ‘Brunswick Train-Buffs United’ posting “Imagine our future –Invest in our trains” signs in yards around town.

Oh, the possibilities before us!  Possibilities for just what is the real question.

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