ROCKLAND – Midcoast Railservice is beginning rail excursions between Rockland and Brunswick with short debut trips during this week’s Maine Lobster Festival.

The company, operating under parent company Finger Lakes Railway, is one of many proposals over the years to bring rail passengers back to the Rockland tracks. The last passenger service was conducted in 2015. George Betke and his Finger Lakes cohorts have been trying to find a way into Rockland since 2019 and are making headway as they continue to seek more feasibility studies.

“It has never made sense to run a full-length Amtrak train, with five coaches and locomotives at each end, to Rockland, Maine,” said Betke, now VP and Director of Midcoast Rail Service.

Betke and Finger Lakes’ Mike Smith proposed the two-compartment “self-propelled” vehicle type that is now servicing Rockland’s train station on Union Street. Instead of turning the train around at each terminus station, or having an engine at each end of the train, the engineer stands up from the seat at one end of the train, locks the controls, walks to the other end of the train, sits in the engineer seat facing the opposite direction, unlocks the controls, and commences the return trip.

Comparable to a marine engine is how Betke describes the two diesel electric engines under the floor. Those engines are nowhere near the horsepower of what other trains will use, according to Betke.

“As a result, it does not emit the same amount of ‘stuff,’” he said.

It’s a slower ride, but much quieter, better air quality for the 76 passenger seats (which would have been 88 had a bathroom not been added).

“We think this makes a lot of sense,” he said.

Betke and the others scouted around to find what they believe to be the best of the breed, in the country, for this type of excursion.

The train they found was last used as a regular service between Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas.

A year ago Monday, Finger Lakes Railway assumed the lease formerly owned by Canadian Shipping on the Brunswick-Rockland branch. In that capacity, the new company has been operating all of the freight trains, “which started out with not very many,” said Betke. Now, they are up to two days per week, and the transit is getting a little longer.

“But look how cool this is,” said Rockland Mayor Louise MacLellan-Ruf. “It’s cool (air temperature); it gets you back and forth, air quality is fabulous. You’ve done a lot of good things, and I’m glad that you were able to convince them (naysayers) to think outside of paper.”

Tickets and information for this weekend’s introductory excursions can be found at https://coastlinerexcursions.com/

Reach Sarah Thompson at news@penbaypilot.com