[4K] Last Train On The CP Rockland Subdivision! (7/27/2022)

After a series of set backs, I finally was able to finish Part 2 to my first Rockland Branch video.
In this video we will chase the last run on CP Train G17 on the Rockland Branch on July 27th, 2022.
The last run had been delayed for weeks, while the Rockland crew was used to fill the massive crew shortage on the main CP network in Brownville Jct and Northern Maine Junction. But on the 27th, a engineer and a MOW foreman who held a conductors certification, were used to run the final train. GP38-3 3057 was the power for the day and myself as well as several friends would chase to Brunswick and back to Rockland, documenting the last day of CP operations.
At the time, the future looked much brighter with Dragon promising to ship 36,000 loads of cement to the Carolinas per year on top of other contracts for BCLR bound cement and the usual mixed freight. There were even plans to repaint the B23-7's into harvest gold to reflect what the MEC 400 series U18B's looked like on delivery. No one had a clue that little over a year into FGLK's tenure that Dragon would shut down, which will undoubtedly end all freight operations east of Bath. Even the long anticipated RDC runs have been scratched, with the RDC's owner selling it and several others to a railroad in Quebec.
Today, the Rockland Branch's future is up in the air, with all of the possible endings not being good.
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[@Maine_Railfan]

I should add some of the commentary at the end of the video no longer fits now. But after redoing this video about 8 times, I didn’t feel like going in and removing it.

[@AMPProductionsVideo]

Nice job capturing the final CP Train on the Rockland Branch

[@Maine_Railfan]

Thanks for watching! It was nice to catch them after a number of failed attempts due to the crew shortages.

[@pilotguy8685]

Nice!

[@Maine_Railfan]

Thanks for watching!

[@djgarfield22]

why is it the last train

[@Maine_Railfan]

To make things brief, when CP bought CMQ they got a bunch of branch lines. Since 2020 they have been trying to intentionally kill the remaining customers by upping rates, demanding major trackwork to customer tracks which are in near perfect condition, scrapping or refusing to move certain cars which don't have replacements, dropping speed limits, and in some cases increasing switching and transportation rates by several hundred percent. The gist of it is that CP has no interest in moving anything besides the Montreal-Saint John container traffic. And they had no intention on trying to provide service to the carload customers CMQ attracted. They have some extreme staffing shortages as well due to less than stellar working conditions and actively pull local and yard crews away from the branches to move the container traffic. I hope this paints a better background into why they wanted to get rid of this branch line. The line itself is leased until 2025 or 2026 from the Maine DOT, CP didn't want to deal with the remaining customers on the line and intentionally refused to install switches for a new steel customer. They ended up subcontracting out the remainder of the lease to the Finger Lakes Railway from New York. There will be a part 3 with chases from FGLK in the future.