Oil Trains (RJMA / MARJ, OI-x, etc)

bostontrainguy wrote:Really great pics and videos of the oil train. I have to think that if that box car was painted in a patriotic theme with "North American Oil" written on it, no one would complain about waiting for it to pass through the crossings!

Good point " bostontrainguy ", it would be akin to those road signs posted from traffic delays created by the Highway construction season to appease the motorists........" Your Tax Dollars " at Work.

Some information I ran across with facts of Irving's Saint John N.B. Oil Refinery, Canada's largest.

The refinery has a capacity of just more than 300,000 barrels per day, exports > 80 % of production to the U.S. and accounts for 75 % of Canada's gasoline exports to the U.S. and 19 % of all U.S. gasoline imports.

Who in their right mind is going to rebuild that entire line (with it's heavy grade) for another bridge route into a state with declining industry just south of an existing route?

gokeefe wrote:

newpylong wrote:While the mainline is more bread and butter than the Woodland Branch, they have shown they will sell if it's better for them, which is a huge difference than in the past where they have kept little bits of trackage just to screw everyone while the traffic dries up around them.

Do you think there could be movement on the sale of the remaining Mountain Division trackage in NH to someone else or will they keep it in order to protect against a new "bridge"? I would guess even with the "new way" that they would still want to protect themselves against competition from "elsewhere" but who knows....

newpylong wrote:Related, service has gotten drastically better to the mills. On average they ship 30% rail / 70% trucks. If service keeps up this is going to tip and put further strain on those old branch lines. In the time table most are 25 mph. In reality they are all 10, and 5. If I was the state of MA I would put pressure on them to do something given the continued increase in derailments.

I've been wondering how much potential there is for additional service to the mills and certainly didn't realize it was that much.

Sounds to me as if their only hope is to undertake a self-funded comprehensive track rebuild program. Given the dividends that they are likely used to reaping I'm not sure if the private shareholders are going to be happy with that as any program of this magnitude would almost certainly affect the current dividend payout (which I'm assuming is relatively substantial).

newpylong wrote:Who in their right mind is going to rebuild that entire line (with it's heavy grade) for another bridge route into a state with declining industry just south of an existing route?

I don't know. The reconstruction of the Woodland Branch is part of what I had in mind. But that's a more straightforward case, established customer, short distance and no major grades. Obviously PAR wasn't the one funding the rehab. either.

Returning to topic, I think the potential oil unit train business certainly makes us all wonder, "What's possible?".

With all of the discussions with respect to intermodal traffic to Waterville on this thread, why hasn't Norfolk Southern extended MOAY/AYMO as of yet? Are they interested in anything more than the Patriot Corridor or are they content with just going to Ayer? Will any of these oil trains be routed via NS-D&H-PAS-PAR routing also?

CPF363 wrote:With all of the discussions with respect to intermodal traffic to Waterville on this thread, why hasn't Norfolk Southern extended MOAY/AYMO as of yet?

The partnership with NS doesn't go beyond Ayer. That's where the improvements to the auto terminal have been made.

CPF363 wrote:Are they interested in anything more than the Patriot Corridor or are they content with just going to Ayer?

They might be but PAR has been careful not to let them go any further, partly in order to allow them to preserve multiple outlets for traffic (e.g. CSX @ Ayer).

CPF363 wrote:Will any of these oil trains be routed via NS-D&H-PAS-PAR routing also?

I'll defer to the experts. I have no idea how third party intermediate routing is determined. Part of this may have to do with whether or not BNSF wants to give NS or CSX the traffic.

In today's Portland Press Herald:

The Portland Press Herald wrote:Crude oil from the West has begun moving across Maine – not by pipeline, as some environmental activists fear it will someday – but by railroad.

A train carrying 104 tank cars of crude from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota came through Maine last weekend on a 2,435-mile journey to the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, N.B. It rolled through Portland, Waterville and Bangor on Pan Am Railways tracks, on its way to Canada’s largest oil refinery.

This so-called unit train – made up only of oil tank cars – is an example of how Irving and other energy giants are reacting to a fast-changing North American petroleum market, and how Maine figures into the developments.

“I think we’re going to be seeing more of this,” Tom Hall, a former assistant general manager for Pan Am Railways in Maine told The Portland Press Herald.

Read more at: http://www.pressherald.com/business/oil ... 05-30.html

MEC407 wrote:In today's Portland Press Herald:

The Portland Press Herald wrote:Crude oil from the West has begun moving across Maine – not by pipeline, as some environmental activists fear it will someday – but by railroad.

A train carrying 104 tank cars of crude from the Bakken oil fields in North Dakota came through Maine last weekend on a 2,435-mile journey to the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, N.B. It rolled through Portland, Waterville and Bangor on Pan Am Railways tracks, on its way to Canada’s largest oil refinery.

This so-called unit train – made up only of oil tank cars – is an example of how Irving and other energy giants are reacting to a fast-changing North American petroleum market, and how Maine figures into the developments.

“I think we’re going to be seeing more of this,” Tom Hall, a former assistant general manager for Pan Am Railways in Maine told The Portland Press Herald.

Read more at: http://www.pressherald.com/business/oil ... 05-30.html

It was a good comprehensive article. I was 'stuck' on Forest Ave. waiting for this train to pass - now I know what I was waiting for!

After seeing the video of the train crossing Forest Ave., I can only imagine how far the auto traffic must have backed up! Does anyone know why the train was going so slowly through there? It seemed like they were doing a solid 25 or 30 when they first entered the crossing, but by the time the last car had cleared the crossing, they couldn't have been doing more than 10.

Whats the RR mileage for that crossing?

According to this, it's MP 195.02.

CPF194 - MP 194 single 10 mph
MP194 - CPF 196 single and # 1 - 25 mph
CPF195 - CPF199 #2 10 mph

Not much room to stretch their legs in there...

On it's way back. Heard it on the scanner but too dark for pics of course. Should be good shots for D1/2 tomorrow.

Unconfirmed report of another job reaching Saint John on June 4th.

The westbound was pulling through Lawrence Yard about 0925 today. The BNSF unit in the lead had really faded paint.

newpylong wrote:CPF194 - MP 194 single 10 mph
MP194 - CPF 196 single and # 1 - 25 mph
CPF195 - CPF199 #2 10 mph

Not much room to stretch their legs in there...

Just a question, where'd you find all that speed restriction info?