FREEPORT – With a burst of pomp and circumstance, the first passenger train to serve Freeport in decades pulled into town on Nov. 1.

The train was a ceremonial one, arriving right on schedule at 12:45 p.m. with a large group of dignitaries, including Sen. Olympia Snowe and former governor and U.S. Senate candidate Angus King and media members arriving from Boston. The large crowd of residents waiting to greet the train were treated to a burst of music. A troupe of dancers wearing bright red sweatshirts emblazoned with “Boston” on the front and the Downeaster logo on the back circulated through the crowd, passing out T-shirts and some free passes for future rides on the train.

The next day, the first for paying passengers, got off to a much less auspicious start, as a disabled freight train delayed the first train from Brunswick to Boston for more than an hour.

Thornton Ring of South Freeport was one of the passengers on the first train between Freeport and Portland, and he said the ride was well worth the wait, both in the years it took to bring the service back to the area and the short delay to get the first train under way.

“I’m absolutely thrilled,” Ring, 66, said, adding that he only rode the old passenger train once, going from Freeport to Waterville.

“From an economic thing, it’s going to be absolutely terrific. But from a local, native thing, it’s going to be a great convenience. It’s going to add to the ability to use public transportation.”

Looking out the window as the scenery passed by, Ring said the Downeaster was “much more elegant” than the steam trains that he remembered. “All we had (then) was a seat to sit in. It wasn’t intended to be a fancy train.”

Making its way down from Brunswick and Freeport, the Downeaster was still a novelty to those along the tracks, as the view out the train window on the first run revealed a number of people coming out of homes and businesses to check out the train.

While Ring has taken the Downeaster from Portland to Boston before, he said it was special to have the chance to catch the train from his hometown.

“It’s a thrill,” he said.

The train quickly got back on schedule, and later that afternoon delivered the first of what is hoped to be many passengers from Boston to Freeport. Those passengers arriving just after noon on Nov. 2 weren’t greeted with a huge cheering crowd and the Freeport High School band like the dignitaries were treated to, but they may have gotten something more valuable to them, as representatives from L.L. Bean handed each disembarking passenger a free gift card.

The arriving passengers were all happy to have the chance to take the train to Freeport.

Pauline Bare of South Boston came up with a friend to go shopping in town and stay overnight at a local bed and breakfast.

“We’ve been waiting for this,” she said, adding the ride up was “beautiful.”

“It was nice and relaxing,” Bare said. “No traffic, just sat there. You can’t go wrong. It’s an awesome ride up and it was only $44 round trip. You can’t beat that, it’s more than that in gas.”

When asked if she would use the train again, Bare said yes, “in a heartbeat.”

Anne Merrill of Belmont, Mass., was another one of the first passengers coming to Freeport from Boston.

“It was absolutely excellent,” Merrill said.

Merrill was just staying in town for the day, returning to Boston on the 6:10 p.m. train, but she said she would be returning on the train again.

“I’ve been waiting for this since they first said it was going to happen,” she said. “So I’ve been looking forward to this for like, forever.”

The arrival of the Downeaster in Freeport is the culmination of a two-year project that required the rehabilitation of about 27 miles of track between Portland and Brunswick. New stations at both Freeport and Brunswick needed to be constructed to accommodate the train and passengers.

At the welcoming ceremony on Nov. 1, Freeport Town Council Chairman Jim Cassida was among the passengers on the first train, and he spoke to welcome Amtrak to Freeport, saying he thought that having the train from Boston come through town would be a very positive thing for Freeport.

“We’re hopeful that a lot of people are going to make that trip (from Boston to Freeport),” he said.

Cassida also added that he felt that Freeport residents would use the service instead of driving to Boston.

“I hope everybody in Freeport takes advantage of the Downeaster,” he said.

Snowe told residents that she was on the initial ride from Boston when the Downeaster began running 11 years ago and she believed that Freeport will see great benefits from having the train in town.

“This milestone is extraordinary for Freeport,” Snowe said. “It’s truly an investment that is going to produce over and over again.”

“I can’t tell you what it means to all of us to see your faces (here at the welcoming ceremony),” added Ed Bonney, the chairman of the Freeport Train Station Committee. “This is a great day for Freeport. The culmination of many, many years of hard work.”

A crowd was on hand to greet the Amtrak Downeaster as it pulled into Freeport for the first time on Nov. 1.   
Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe was one of the dignitaries who rode the Amtrak Downeaster from Boston to Brunswick on Nov. 1. She told Freeport residents she believed the arrival of the train in town was “an investment that is going to produce over and over again.”
The Amtrak Downeaster waits at the station on Nov. 1.