Milo Maine USA - Dozens of locomotives once owned by the railroad responsible for last year's deadly derailment in Lake Megantic have been sold at an auction in Maine.
 
Auctioneer Adam Jokisch says 35 locomotives sold for anywhere from US$10,000 to US$15,000 to upward of US$200,000 apiece on Tuesday.
 
Jokisch declined to provide an auction total.
 
All but seven locomotives were owned by Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA), which went bankrupt after a runaway oil train exploded and killed 47 people in Lake Megantic.
 
The auction will help pay back US$3.7 million owed to Maine-based Bangor Savings Bank, which had liens on 24 of the locomotives.
 
The auction was supposed to include the lead locomotive from the train that derailed, but it was pulled from the auction at the request of Quebec Provincial Police.
 
Central Maine & Quebec Railway, which has assumed the bankrupt railroad's operations, plans to spend US$10 million on rail improvements over the next two years.
 
CEO John Giles says the company is doing well as it attempts to lure back customers, and traffic levels are already at 40 to 50 percent of what they were a couple of years ago under MMA.
 
"There are a lot of people who want us to succeed, and there are a lot of people whose businesses would be improved if they had reliable and economical rail transportation," he said.

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