Maine Eastern Railroad

I hate driving SR 1 in the summer due to all the extra traffic tourist season brings, but I love the views of the coast from the road and want to share it with every summer visitor I have. This was the best of both worlds. The train follows SR 1 up the coast between Brunswick and Rockland and makes four stops: Brunswick, Bath, Wiscassett, and Rockland. You can get on and off on any stop, and they offer daytrip activities for Rockland (such as a plane ride over the Penoboscot Bay, a lobster boat ride, several museums) along with roundtrip fare on the train from your destination.
If you’ve ever ridden the train on the east coast, then you know what train traveling is like. This is no different. The train itself has regular and reserve seating along with a dining car in case you get hungry. The seating can comfortable… or not; sometimes the seats work… or not, the bathrooms are miniscule, but every seat has awesome views of the Maine coast up Route 1. My nieces were mesmerized by the coast and when they got tired there was a whole train to explore (which really beats a two hour drive in a car with them complaining…). We took the train to Rockland and spent the four hour layover perusing the picturesque coastal town with its shops and museums, which was the perfect way to waste a day on the mid-​coast.
The train is seasonal from May to September and runs Wed through Sun. It seems like it would be packed on the weekends although we went in mid-​June and it wasn’t. There are several train runs throughout the day on Wednesday thru Saturday and fewer on Sunday. The ride between Brunswick and Rockland is about 2 hours with varying times for the other stops. Check the website for more details. You can park your car at the train stations and leave it for the duration. The prices weren’t cheap ($ 40 roundtrip/​adult), but I’d pay a bit more than that to avoid driving up the two lane Route 1 in the summer. My only gripe was that the train only went from Brunswick to Rockland (I would have hoped that it would go from Portland to Acadia as the train tracks run that far).
All in all, it was a great way to relax AND enjoy the company of my family and still have them see and experience a bit of the Maine I love best.