Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railway
BML#50 (left) and #53 at City Point
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| Reporting mark | BML |
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| Locale | Waldo County, Maine |
| Dates of operation | 2009– |
| Predecessor | Maine Central Railroad Co., Belfast Branch (Under lease, 1871-1925); Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad Co. (1926-2007) |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 30.57 miles (49.20 km) |
| Headquarters | Brooks, Maine |
| Website | BrooksPreservation.org |
| Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad (2009) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The new Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad (operated as the "Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railway" from 2009 to 2012) is a subsidiary of the Brooks Preservation Society (BPS), a not-for-profit organization established in 2008 to protect and preserve historic rail transportation infrastructure and assets located within Waldo County, Maine.
Following the announcement in February 2008 of the formal demise of the original 1867 chartered Belfast and Moosehead Lake Railroad Company (1871-2007) by its then private not-for-profit operator, the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad & Preservation Society based in Unity, Maine, the BPS was incorporated as an all-volunteer non-profit 501(c)(3) organization to purchase the MEC-built 1892 B&MLRR station house in Brooks (MP 12.27) to save and preserve it as an historic railroad structure.
In the months that followed, the BPS acquired several pieces of surviving B&MLRR rolling stock including the road's two still operating 1940s vintage 70-short-ton (63-long-ton; 64 t) GE diesel-electric locomotives: BML#50 that had been bought new by the road in November 1946 to provide the line the first non-steam power to ever operate over its 33-mile (53 km) grade from Belfast to Burnham Junction, and BML#53 that had been acquired by the BML in 1970 from Vermont's Montpelier and Barre Railroad. A track inspection car, open-air observation car, 1926-vintage ex-DL&WRR Pullman-built chair car, ex-MEC stainless steel coach/cafe car, and an ex-MEC caboose were later added to the equipment roster.
In February 2009, the BPS entered into a lease agreement with the Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) to operate over the State-owned 30-mile (48 km) portion of BML grade running inland from the Belfast/Waldo town line (MP 3.14) to Burnham Junction (MP 33.07) and early that July began operating weekend excursion trains between Brooks (MP 12.27) and Waldo (MP 7.15). The following November the BPS leased the remaining three miles (4.8 km) of grade within the Belfast city limits between the Belfast/Waldo town line and the Penobscot McCrum property line under the US Rt. 1 bridge from its still then owner, Unity Property Management (UPM). This permitted the BPS to establish regular seasonal excursion service from the Upper Bridge (MP 1.2) to Waldo.
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