WILLOW CREEK — The last train rolled down the Aroostook Valley Lumber Company’s logging spur on October 25, and when it finished its run, the whistle fell silent for good.
The 14-mile spur, built in 1908 to connect the upper West Branch timberlands to the Bangor & Aroostook main line at the Willow Creek depot, has been rendered uneconomical by truck logging. The company’s fleet of logging trucks, faster and more flexible than the steam-powered Shay locomotives that pulled the spur trains, can deliver timber directly to the mill without the need for transloading.
“Trucks are the future,” said Aroostook Valley Lumber’s superintendent, Robert Cheney. “We held on to the spur as long as we could. But the economics just aren’t there anymore.”
The spur’s closure marks the end of a half-century in which the little rail line was the lifeline of the town’s timber economy. At its peak in the 1920s, the spur carried 6 million board feet of logs annually, supporting the mill’s two-shift operation and employing a crew of twelve men for maintenance and operations.
“It’s a sad day,” said Ezra Homan, who recalled riding the spur as a boy to visit his uncle’s logging camp. “That railroad was how this town connected to the woods. You could stand on the depot platform at noon and hear the whistle echoing off the ridge. Now it’s gone.”
The right-of-way will revert to the township. The rails and ties are to be removed by the company, but the graded bed will remain. Local residents have already begun speculating about its potential use as a recreational trail — a possibility the Gazette noted in a brief editorial.
The Gazette also noted that the last train on the spur was a sentimental journey for several retired employees, who rode the caboose from the upper yard to the depot, waving at residents along the route. “It was a good run,” Cheney said. “Fifty years. That’s longer than most railroads last.”