Because I’m a slightly curious person, after coming across all the mess on my usual running route in Portland, Maine, I had to dig into why they seem to be moving this narrow-gauge railroad track over by about 5-10 feet and causing havoc on my favorite trail along the water.

That is right don’t mess with my normal paths or I might get curious!

A set of railroad tracks under construction, partially paved with fresh asphalt. The tracks are lined with orange traffic cones and a small orange sign with a black arrow pointing left. A fence runs along each side of the tracks, with utility poles and wires visible overhead. Buildings and heavy machinery are seen in the background under an overcast sky.

From my digging and research, I found that this is due to new property development in what, from my perspective, has always been an abandoned lot. I couldn’t find much on how the development will look overall, but it sounds like a win since it could bring more people to this area which is great (except for the selfish part of me that liked it less traveled). However, there seem to be some sketchy things about how this all transpired, and I’m not entirely sure I have the full story.

Here are some links I found about the whole debacle. On one hand, it sounds bad, but really, if the solution was just to move the railroad which has seemingly been there since it was built about 5-10 feet over, that should have been made very clear from the start. That’s not something that happens overnight, and it makes me wonder who’s actually footing the bill, because I can’t imagine it’s cheap to have a narrow-gauge rail car put spikes in as well 🤷‍♂️.

Then, in the last link, you can see that part of the track (looks like the offshoots) is actually on the property now being developed, which is probably a big part of the issue. I guess that makes sense for why it has to be moved. But it does make me wonder if the track was that important to Portland, why didn’t they carve that part out of the development plans? For the last 10+ years that I’ve been around this area, the track has been there, and nothing seemed all that ‘active’ on the lot.

I guess for now I can’t wait till everything gets back to normal as it is not ideal to have to run back and forth across this track at varying points along the Eastern Promenade Trail

A single railway track under construction is shown, with gravel ballast laid down, parallel to an existing track. On the left side, there’s a chain-link fence with some dry foliage and trees, while the right side features a path lined with streetlights, bare trees, and a grassy area. The sky is overcast, creating a gray and subdued atmosphere.