Portland Waterfront Rail Ops (Yard 8, Intermodal, etc)

Now if PanAm could only see value in extending their line to the east, to the under-reconstruction container port at the former Scotia Prince terminal.

I imagine they'd be more than happy to if the city and/or state paid for it.

From The Portland Press Herald:

The Portland Press Herald wrote:A zoning change for a vacant parcel on west Commercial Street will let J.B. Brown & Sons begin marketing the site for development immediately, a company official said Wednesday after the City Council approved the change.
...
The developer initially wanted the limit to be 65 feet -- the standard in the business zone -- but agreed to 55 feet between the Star Match Co. building and the section of the parcel that is in line with Fletcher Street, and agreed to 45 feet for the portion of the parcel east of Fletcher Street.

Read more at: http://www.pressherald.com/news/zoning- ... 02-23.html

For the past two or three weeks, there has been a rail crane sitting in Yard 8 in Portland. I believe it's one of PAR's "American" cranes, but I'm not sure if it's one of the "big hook" types that usually reside at Waterville or East Deerfield; it seemed like it was a little bit smaller than those. I'll try to grab a picture next time I'm over there, but in the meantime, does anyone know anything about this crane and why it's in Yard 8?

If it is in fact an American, it is my impression that those are used for trackwork, so I would imagine it is related to either the DownEaster extension or some other trackwork going on in the area. Its about time for staging of MofW materials and equipment, especially with the early spring we're having. I've seen several pieces of rail and road based equipment at Leeds and Winthrop over the past few weeks...

Thanks. I don't know if I'll have time today before the sun goes down, but definitely by tomorrow I'll be able to get a picture of it, assuming it's still there.

KSmitty wrote:If it is in fact an American, it is my impression that those are used for trackwork, so I would imagine it is related to either the DownEaster extension or some other trackwork going on in the area. Its about time for staging of MofW materials and equipment, especially with the early spring we're having. I've seen several pieces of rail and road based equipment at Leeds and Winthrop over the past few weeks...

Not sure what exactly they were doing with it, but I watched them for quite some time working on the ex Mountain Sub between the junction and the PTC two weeks ago. I was limited by the windows at Mercy Hospital (in for the birth of my son.) A large amount of time was spent right near the waterfront connector overpass.

Eric

ericofmaine wrote:

KSmitty wrote:If it is in fact an American, it is my impression that those are used for trackwork, so I would imagine it is related to either the DownEaster extension or some other trackwork going on in the area. Its about time for staging of MofW materials and equipment, especially with the early spring we're having. I've seen several pieces of rail and road based equipment at Leeds and Winthrop over the past few weeks...

Not sure what exactly they were doing with it, but I watched them for quite some time working on the ex Mountain Sub between the junction and the PTC two weeks ago. I was limited by the windows at Mercy Hospital (in for the birth of my son.) A large amount of time was spent right near the waterfront connector overpass.

Eric

congratulations on the son.

BigLou80 wrote:congratulations on the son.

Thanks Lou.

Eric

Yes, congratulations Eric! That's wonderful news.

I swung by Yard 8 at noon today and the crane was gone. Looked around the general area briefly but didn't see it, nor could I find it in any of the visible-from-public-property areas of Rigby Yard.

I just spotted the crane doing work near the footbridge at Falmouth Crossing. I watched it a bit from the bridge but can't quite figure out what they're doing. I'll post a photo and video later today.

Thanks, Jeff!

Here's a picture of the crane working near Falmouth Crossing on 3/21.

http://bit.ly/GKOzp2

And here's a video. I have no idea what exactly they're doing here.

http://youtu.be/RbBBtgxTESY

The quality isn't great since I shot both with my phone and had no zoom.

From the video it looks like the crane has an elctromagnet and is picking up old spikes, tie plates and joint bars left over from the track rehab.

The had a crane (maybe the same one) like this back here in West Fitchburg and used it for clean up after the NS track gangs had finished rehabing the line.

Peter

Anyone know if they are still receiving tankcars, or was this more of a one time thing? Any info would be appreciated.