Penobscot County
Everything rail close in is at one junction, four miles out
There is no yard in town. Five rail-yard rows sit together about 4 to 5 miles south-west at the same junction near Hampden, under names that differ by a word and a carrier tag, and that cluster is the whole of the rail record inside nine miles of town. The airport is about 2 miles west with a Guard training site about 2.6 miles south-west beside it.
The stone is close and small. A ready-mix operation is under a mile south-west with one person on it, the Queen City Quarry about 2 miles south has 2, and the Odlin Road Mill & Quarry about 4 miles south-west has 12 — the largest headcount anywhere near here. The Frink Pit is about 10 miles south-west with 2.
Past ten miles it is one- and two-person pits
That pattern does not change as you go out, it just spreads. The Great Works and Old Town yards are about 10 miles north-east. The Winterport Pit is about 12 miles south with 4 people, the Prospect Crushing Plant about 19 miles south with 3, the Dority Pit about 20 miles south-east with 1, a Pioneer plant at Newport about 21 miles west with 8, and the Passadumkeag Pit about 24 miles north-east with 2.
Ten operations inside 25 miles and the biggest of them employs twelve. This is a place where one truck is frequently the whole fleet, and a seller here is usually the person who drove it.
Maine weight law
A hundred thousand pounds, if the truck has six axles
Those long legs run under a rule that goes the opposite way to most states, and the configuration is the whole of it. Under 29-A M.R.S. § 2354 a 3-axle truck tractor with a tri-axle semitrailer — six axles, with the extreme axles excluding the steering axle at least 36 feet apart — may run up to 100,000 lb. That section says it does not apply on the interstate; § 2355-A then puts the same combination back onto any portion of the interstate, for as long as the federal exemption at 23 U.S.C. § 127(a)(11) remains in effect.
Two cautions belong with that figure rather than after it. It is a hardware rule — a five-axle combination gets nothing from it however it is loaded. And the allowance lasts exactly as long as the federal exemption does; the current status of that exemption is not established in our files, so check it before relying on the number. A rule that can lapse without the state doing anything is not a rule you take off a page.
29-A M.R.S. §§ 2354 and 2355-A; 23 U.S.C. § 127(a)(11). Federal exemption status not established. Information, not legal advice, and only as current as the date the rule file was last verified.
Maine paperwork
We need a title — unless it never had one
Beyond the weight rule that is the whole of it in one sentence, and everything after it is a fix rather than a category. A counter replacement if the title is lost, a bonded route if the truck is old enough that it never had one. Neither stops a sale, and neither changes with where the truck stands — the file is the same at the Queen City Quarry 2 miles south and at the Passadumkeag Pit 24 miles north-east.
What we will not do is quote you this state’s salvage threshold, because we do not hold it. The definition was not reached in Title 29-A and no figure is written for it here. One duty was established: recyclers, salvage vehicle dealers and scrap processors carry a 30-day duty to report the destruction of a vehicle to the Secretary of State. If your truck has a brand on it, ask us and we will check it against your actual title rather than a general explainer.
29-A M.R.S., reporting duty; salvage threshold not determined. Information, not legal advice.
What we buy here
The junction and the pits run different iron, and whatever you drive, the offer doesn’t change — we buy all of them. Log trucks and timber rigs off the country north and east. Dump trucks and aggregate haulers out of the Odlin Road and Winterport operations. Day cabs and road tractors on the junction work, flatbeds, box trucks, service bodies and the pickups that follow the rest of it around.
Most of it works inside about 12 miles — the junction 4 miles south-west, the Queen City Quarry, the airport, and the Frink Pit.
We buy complete trucks. If the engine, transmission, doors, rear ends, drive shafts, wheels or anything under the hood have been removed, we can’t buy it. Small things — a missing bumper — are fine.
Straight answers
The questions we get asked in Bangor
- Does it have to run?No. It does have to be complete, though — if the engine, transmission, doors, rear ends, drive shafts, wheels or anything under the hood have been removed, we can’t buy it. A missing bumper is fine. A missing driveline is not.
- Do you actually come to Penobscot County?Yes, and where the drive is long we often do not need to — we buy it remotely and arrange the tow. We also come to you and drive it away, come to you and tow it, or you drive it to us. The junction end of it is about 4 miles out and the Passadumkeag Pit about 24.
- What if I can’t find the title?We need a title — unless the truck is old enough that it never had one. If it’s lost, there’s a counter replacement. If there was never one to lose, there’s a bonded route. Neither stops a sale.
- There’s still money owed on it. Now what?That’s a payoff and a lien release, and it’s the slow part rather than the hard part. Tell us up front and we’ll work it into the paperwork.
- How do you pay?Cash or electronic payment, whichever you would rather have.
- It’s a one-truck outfit. Are you interested?Yes. The ten operations within 25 miles of here employ between one and twelve people, and most of them are nearer the bottom of that. One truck is the normal call around here.
Why people call
Beyond the trucks themselves, the reasons repeat. A DOT physical didn’t go the way it used to. A hauling contract that filled the season for nine years went to somebody else. The truck is just sitting beside a shed, and every month it sits is another month of insurance on something that isn’t turning a wheel.
The lots around the junction 4 miles south-west, and out past the Odlin Road Mill & Quarry toward the Frink Pit, hold a fair number of trucks in exactly that position.
Most of those aren’t happy reasons, and we don’t treat them like they are. Somebody wants a straight answer and the truck gone by the end of the week. That’s what we’re here for.