Rumford Branch, RUPO / PORU

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Not related to the Rumford branch but related to train speeds in the past. This practice went well into the 80s, the A, B and C trains to Bow.

Caught RUPO passing through Lewiston later afternoon. TT speed is back to 25, and it was nice to see it moving along at that good clip again!

TT speed never dropped from 25, there was just a "temporary" speed restriction in place. If Pan Am had reduced it to 10 mph in the TT, or Class I, then they would need FRA approval before bringing it back up to 25, or Class II.

Right. Thanks for the correction. I didn't phrase that correctly. It was a speed restriction. Had TT on my mind for some reason.

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http://www.sunjournal.com/nd-paper-to-b ... aper-mill/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

In a news release, the company also referenced but didn’t specify “future capital investments.”

This won't end well.

From what I had been hearing 9 dragons owns a ton of mills in Asia, they don’t have enough pulp to keep the machines operating so they have been looking at mills in the US. They had looked at Bucksport, Lincoln, and Old Town but weren’t interested in those properties. Weather or not they will turn Rumford into a pulp mill is beyond me.

Are these trains still running on a tri-weekly schedule?

More or less at five days a week, depending on crews and power availability.

That is good to hear that they're trying to run more often. I believe the line had a regularly followed limit of something like 70 cars per train. Were they hitting that too often when running just three round-trips per week?

I would expect things to be picking back up with machine and pulp mill restart in Jay.

are RUPO / PORU back up to daily runs? I know that Rumford and Jay are both upping production.

How do you know that?

Both have had enough output for decades for more rail but have only used it for a small fraction due to unreliable service. So an increase in production will not necessarily amount to more rail service.

I don't know the physical state of the Rumford branch right now but isn't PAR doing work on the branch to improve service??

Yes. I'm not sure what the work entails. I actually caught PORU in Auburn yesterday mid afternoon. two engines with a healthy cut of cars