BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 15, 2025
Originally built by Maine Central Railroad in the 1880s, the railway used to carry passengers to McNeil Point in Hancock, where they would board steamer ferries to cross Frenchman Bay to Bar Harbor. This once-popular method of travel, known as the Bar Harbor Express, chugged along until 1931, when the railway from Ellsworth to Hancock was discontinued. An auto bridge had been built to MDI, providing easier access to the island’s oceanside resorts and the newly formed Acadia National Park. Nowadays, you can still ride a train on a 13-mile section of the restored the Downeast Scenic Railroad, starting at the rail yard and boarding platform on Washington Junction Road in Hancock. Or you can walk along a 3-mile stretch of the former railway on the Old Pond Railway Trail.