Maine Central Railroad Calais Branch

The Calais Branch is a mothballed railroad line in Maine that was operated by the Maine Central Railroad.

The Calais Branch is 127 miles and connects Brewer to Calais. It was constructed in 1898 and carried freight and passengers over the years. Passenger service was discontinued in 1960 and freight service was discontinued over the majority of the western end of the line in 1984. The line also includes a spur to Easport which junctions with the Calais Branch at Ayers Junction.

The section from Brewer to St. Croix Junction is currently abandoned and was acquired by the Maine Department of Transportation in 1987 for the purpose of preserving the rail corridor. The tracks are still intact, however they and the roadbed have been sporadically maintained by the state over the past two decades and significant deterioration has occurred.

In January 2006 the mi to km|30|abbr=yes segment of the Calais Branch from Brewer to Washington Junction, east of Ellsworth was leased by owner MaineDOT to the not for profit Downeast Rail Heritage Preservation Trust. The Trust is currently working on rehabilitation of the line to begin excursion service from Ellsworth to Green Lake.

Woodland Spur

An isolated extreme eastern section of the Calais Branch is still in operation from St. Croix Junction to Milltown where a connection is made with the New Brunswick Southern Railway at the Milltown Railway Bridge into Canada. At St. Croix Junction the Woodland Spur continues northwest to Woodland, crossing into New Brunswick (Canada) for several miles along the way.

This operating section of the extreme eastern section of the Calais Branch and the entire Woodland Spur comprise a short, isolated section of former MEC trackage at the far eastern edge of Maine, running from a pulp mill in Woodland to the city of Calais. Once part of a much longer line that ran from Bangor to Calais, it has been cut back to the present trackage and for part of the way it runs through the neighboring province of New Brunswick, Canada where it interchanges with the New Brunswick Southern Railway. The spur is owned and operated by Pan Am Railways.