St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad (SLR/SLQ)

They are going to/from Boston.

Perfect timing, and a lucky set of ears allowed me to make a good U-turn (thanks EMD's), and catch 393 on the tiny strip that abuts Route 2 in Shelburne. Failing to reach North Road quick enough, I leapfrogged to the crossing at the intersection of Bangor Road and Route 2, just east of Gorham. 805, 3805, and 3007 led 58 cars west at 10:28 pm. Lots of boxes, a few tank cars and empty centerbeams, about 8-10 Ciment Quebec hoppers, and a few hoppers lettered for NAHX (I believe they have some cement loads as well, re: Bay Colony Millis spur.)

394 was there, didn't appear to be a long train, as the cars stopped before the NH Distributors warehouse(Budweiser building on Rt. 110). I had to hustle home, didn't stick around to see them leave.

Casey,
NAHX covered hoppers likely empty talc going back to Montana.

By the way, both CBFX 6028 and 6029 roaming the NS system, I assume on lease to NS. I wonder if 6031 will join them.

Thanks for the train reports.
Best,
Fritz

Hello,
Today's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0753 with 91 cars!

RM-1 805
GP40-3 3805
GP40-2 3007
14 centerbeam flats
6 bulkhead flats
26 cement hoppers
1 covered hopper
2 hi-sided gondolas
3 tank cars
17 propane cars
15 boxcars
7 hi-cube boxcars

That's 91 cars, including 8 loads and 73 empties.
Have a great weekend,
Fritz

Thanks, Fritz, for that info.

I believe the 6031 is still "roaming" around CMQ territory, given it was in-tow on a 6/17 extra to Derby, headed through Brownville Jct. Apparently, it still hasn't been worked on yet, or maybe returning to the shop for more work?

393 Eng. 3004-6904-3035 by South Paris at 2055 with 27 cars. Lot of variation from day to day.
Monday it was 79 with 2/3 being 2-bay covered hoppers.

Got to Berlin at about 10:35, 394 was already parked, marker visible. I misread a post, thinking 393 had already left. After a pair of U-Turns, I returned in time to see them pull into the yard around 11:10. The crew exchange was very quick, and they departed west at 11:17 with the aforementioned train. 394 took a minute, and left east at 11:36 with 3007 and three other units, towing 54 cars, mostly boxes. Took a shot in the dark, and drove to IP, where I somehow passed 393 in a dark stretch. Upon returning east, spotted the lights through the woods, and caught them here: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wenlo ... 71.7531483

at 1:10 am, so roughly a two hour trek between Berlin and IP.

393 Eng. QG5904-QG3014-SLA3035 by South Paris at 2035 with 39 cars. Second trip this week for
3014, an ex CN wide nose GP40L in decent paint.

I've been missing the Fritz reports..


Reports on FB state they have still been the same schedule, though one video I saw only showed like 10 cars, going through Gorham or Berlin. Fuel shipments should start increasing here shortly as the demand rises, and people start preparing for winter..

Hello,
Been out of town much of the summer but got back just in time to catch the FRA inspection train headed west on the SLR/SLQ.

Thanks to a heads-up from a friend, I caught them westbound through North Stratford at 1730 with the following:

GP40-2 3047 (long hood forward)
DOTX 220
DOTX 218

After getting a track warrant to work between Island Pond and Norton, they continued west to Norton, where they switched moved the 3047 to the east end of the train, and the, at 1930, they started testing the track from the border east to Island Pond.

Tonight the train is tied up on the "house track" in Island Pond. My GUESS (and it is nothing more than that) is that they will continue testing east tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the SLQ eastbound 394 had to wait north of the border for the FRA train to clear its warrant. Once that was done, they continued east at 2020 through Norton with the following:

GP40-2 3007
QG GP40 3105
GP40-2 3035
5 centerbeam flats
1 bulkhead flat
11 hi-cube boxcars
15 boxcars
7 propane cars
11 tank cars
2 cement hoppers

That's 52 cars total, including 45 loads and 7 empties.
Have a great day,
Fritz

Hello,
The FRA inspection train departed Island Pond at 0731 and was through North Stratford at 0819. I would GUESS that they are near Berlin at this time (1015).

SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0854 with the following:

RM-1 804
GP40-3 3804
RM-1 805
GP40-3 3805
3 centerbeam flats
2 hi-cube boxcars
9 boxcars
5 tank cars
5 propane cars

That's 24 cars total, including 1 load and 23 empties.
Best,
Fritz

Observed rare Saturday run of 513 switching NEPW at South Paris this morning about 0915.

Hello,
Today's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0834 with the following:

RM-1 803
GP40-3 3803
GP40-3 3804
RM-1 804
6 centerbeam flats
26 cement hoppers
2 covered hoppers
29 hi-cube boxcars
12 boxcars
8 propane cars
5 tank cars

That's 88 cars total, including 27 loads and 61 empties!
Have a great day,
Fritz

Hello,
I was finally able to upload some photos of the track geometry train that ran on the SLR last week.

Here's three photos of the westbound on August 20th:

http://fritz.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=5003844

http://fritz.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=5003850

http://fritz.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=5003852

And here's three photos of the eastbound on August 21st (this is the run that was actually doing the testing):

http://fritz.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=5003856

http://fritz.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=5003857

http://fritz.rrpicturearchives.net/show ... id=5003859

I hope you enjoy.
Best,
Fritz

Hello,
Today's SLQ westbound 393 crested the summit at Summit (approximately MP 6 on the Sherbrooke Sub) at 0845 with the following:

GP40-2 3035
QG GP40 3105
GP40-2 3047
2 centerbeam flats
4 propane tanks
1 tank car
18 hi-cube boxcars
18 boxcars

That's 43 cars total, including 12 loads and 31 empties.
Have a great day,
Fritz