"Up North" Gawking (District 1 sightings)

It's great to see that "real" volumes are being exchanged at Keag. Though it seems that the limit of 40 or so cars at a go may still be the limiting factor. I'll be curious what steps, if any, CSX and EMR take to raise that capacity ceiling in the near future (especially if CSX really has designs on running intermodal to and from St John?).

I recall seeing images of GRS GP39-2's in McAdam in the mid-90's. I forget just what rights CSX would have inherited in their purchase of Pan Am. Though I have a hard time seeing runthrough trains like that being part of the solution.

Seems to me that there are only 3 options for increased capacity:

1 runthrough sj to nmj or waterville
2 more turns per day
3 build out more tracks at keag. Is there space??

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKtg9qE5al8

the newish SD23T-4s in revenue service in ME

F74265A wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 2:43 pm Seems to me that there are only 3 options for increased capacity:

1 runthrough sj to nmj or waterville
2 more turns per day
3 build out more tracks at keag. Is there space??

All of the above are possible if needed. Each railroad can also stuff both yard tracks instead of just one effectively doubling the limit. If the carloads were there they would figure it out.

CSX power will be swapped at Mattawamkeag and CSX crews will not travel beyond CSX trackage. EMR uses an entirely different set of rules and like with CP, CSX only has haulage rights. Meaning Irving crews and power will be moving the trains. Irving tried using run through power a few years ago on the CP trains, but that will probably never happen again after CP stiffed them with high HP hour rates for units that Saint John had to bandaid to get them back onto CP property. There is a reason why they are getting 18 SD70M-2's.

newpylong wrote: ↑Thu Feb 08, 2024 7:29 pm Traffic may be fluctuating but the number of cars to and from Irving that are heading through Barbers is way up.

Is that because those cares aren't being sent to the west end? I am just curious about how routings might have changed under CSX.
Also as a side note, I don't think anyone has mentioned that CN bought into CBNS in Nova Scotia last fall. IIRC, CBNS had an agreement with NBSR and shipped a good deal of wallboard and lumber products that way for years. I am wondering how CN influence might change that.

newpylong wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 7:53 am Yep, that job was 3 sided at the time and traffic was pretty healthy when they were marketing the route w/CSX. It pretty much tailed off when they shifted to NMJ when to Keag was taken out of service. They were moving a lot of Moosehead Brewery beer in cryocars too, not sure what happened to that.

I forgot the specifics of the Moosehead deal, but I want to say they were brewing and packaging beer under the Guinness name, which ended after Guinness built a factory stateside, or something along those lines.

F74265A wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 2:43 pm Seems to me that there are only 3 options for increased capacity:

1 runthrough sj to nmj or waterville
2 more turns per day
3 build out more tracks at keag. Is there space??

Another option would be to give EMR trackage rights to Old Town or NMJ where there are enough tracks to swap power on multiple trains.

How have car loads been out of PRL lately?

Nonexistent, as posted a few pages back...

post1634630.html#p1634630

CPF66 wrote: ↑Sat Dec 09, 2023 4:53 pmThe last set of loads sat from Thanksgiving of last year to sometime around April of this year. In that time the cars were unloaded and reloaded several times. CSX was running work trains fairly frequently to Mattawamkeag at the time, why they never bothered to switch them when they were running by is beyond me. I haven't been up in a few months, but last I checked the spur was either spiked or clamped shut, so I don't think they are intending on using rail again. Yet again they haven't had much luck with CP either.

F74265A wrote: ↑Fri Feb 09, 2024 2:43 pm Seems to me that there are only 3 options for increased capacity:

1 runthrough sj to nmj or waterville
2 more turns per day
3 build out more tracks at keag. Is there space??

Well I guess my point about POSJ/SJPO is that they made it work 10 years ago, so they certainly can again. I do recognize however, they ran the operation much differently back then too. In reality, CSX should be able to pull over the NBSR, shove back into Kirby, and scoop their cars split into two tracks on their side. NBSR would need to go back to a 907/908 type setup handling all the manifest traffic from Millinocket through to SJ with work at Keag, and a seperate dedicated intermodal job a few days a week (or 7 if traffic permits).

Aside this, CSX can also go up to 7 days a week on the Keag run which they presently aren't doing... supposedly they want to run Waterville to Keag and back with a single crew, which should be do-able if speeds hold/increase. We'll see how it turns out but they are trending the right way anyhow.

The last time Pan Am was running to Mattawamkeag, WAMA would run up and EMR had a crew based out of Mattawamkeag which did all of the interchange work while the Pan Am guys waited in the office. I want to say Enfield was the regular crew change point for the return trip, or thats atleast where I remember always seeing them.
If the current chip and log traffic increases, 907/908 are going to be reinstated as a BVJ-McAdam job a few days a week. Which they have been running as extras consistently a few days a week. There is a push to get Knights siding in place to handle the traffic CPKC can't handle as well as the MNR traffic to free up Hardy Pond for meets. However, Kirby is the longest siding on EMR, so I don't forsee them using it as CSX's parking lot for too much longer. I have a feeling 909 will be running 120/121's cars out to Bancroft, as west bounds have been reducing at McAdam as of late to make the meet at Bancroft.
Bancroft was supposed to be extended to 10,000 feet but the funding was pulled due to a lack of container traffic. That funding went towards installing new 115LBS stick on MNR in places from Oakfield to Squapan so the SD70's can run up there regularly. The rest of the BAR era rail in that section is supposed to be replaced this summer as well as the worn switches at Howe Brook and Saint Croix to eliminate all 25 MPH speed restrictions in that area.

S1f3432 wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 7:26 pm With the scrap operation at the north end of the site moving to East Augusta in the future I wonder if there is
any plans for reuse of the site?

I think the town ended up buying the site from Clarks for a new transfer station.

CSXT spotted two empty center beams at PRL in Enfield yesterday, guess they're going to try again....

NHV 669 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 02, 2024 6:59 am CSXT spotted two empty center beams at PRL in Enfield yesterday, guess they're going to try again....

That's great to hear.