B40-8 To Rumford - a photo on Flickriver

B40-8 To Rumford

            CSX Train PORU-19 weaves between houses in Livermore Falls, ME on 3/19/2024.

Like most branches in Maine, the Rumford Branch once had plentiful traffic from 3 paper mills, an egg farm, a wood yard in Dixfield, a steel customer in Dixfield, as well as traffic from the Farmington Branch. 

The Farmington Branch is now long gone. So isn't the paper mill at Livermore Falls, now just a big hole as the local scrap yard demolishes the remnants of the complex. 
The mill in Jay blew up in 2020 and closed back in early 2023, with the machines now in Mexico the scrappers have started knocking it down. 
The log business to Dixfield stopped back around 2020 and I am guessing CSX has no interest in bringing it back. The egg farm at North Leeds which once got large amounts of grain per week, officially shut down earlier this month. 
While the mill in Rumford continues to hold on, aside from occasional steel and scrap moves traffic has dropped significantly on the branch. 

When I first chased here in 2022, there were still 50-80 car trains normally requiring 2-3 crews to do a trip from Rumford to Rigby each way. Without all the additional business to pick up and drop enroute, one crew can do a round trip from Rileys, to Rumford, back west to Leeds Jct and back to Rileys in one shift. While a second crew out of Rigby swaps cars at Leeds Jct and can do the round trip in a shift, along with all of DJ-1's work. 

Times are definitely changing on the Rumford Branch, not necessarily for the better. 

CSX
Train: PORU-19
3/19/2024
Livermore Falls, ME
CSXT District 1 Rumford Branch
   

Taken in: United States / Maine / Livermore Falls / Livermore Falls (show map)

Taken on: March 19, 2024

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