St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad (SLR/SLQ)

Hello,
Today's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond around 0750 with the following:

GP40-2 3007
GP40-2 3047
14 centerbeam flats
4 boxcars
1 covered hopper
7 salt hoppers
2 tank cars
10 propane cars

That's only 38 cars total, all empties. No ST interchange traffic in today's train.
Have a great day,
Fritz

Hello,
Today's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0744 with the following:

QG GP40-2W 3014
RM-1 805
GP40-3 3805
GP40-2 3035
13 centerbeam flats
11 salt hoppers
7 cement hoppers
2 tank cars
8 propane cars
10 hi-cube boxcars
6 boxcars
1 hi-sided gondola

That's 58 cars total, including 16 loads and 42 empties. This time there were 24 cars from ST.
Best,
Fritz

Hello,
This morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond around 0730 with the following:

QG GP40-2W 3014
RM-1 805
GP40-3 3805
8 centerbeam flats
11 salt hoppers
9 cement hoppers
3 covered hoppers
5 propane tanks
7 tank cars
3 hi-cube boxcars
1 boxcar

That's 47 cars total, all empties.
Best,
Fritz

Hello,
Today's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0746 with the following:

RM-1 804
GP40-3 3804
GP40-2 3007
GP40-2 3047
9 centerbeam flats
13 hi-cube boxcars
3 boxcars
21 propane cars
10 tank cars
1 covered hopper

That's 57 cars total, including 4 loads and 53 empties.

Fall Foliage Report: The fall foliage is just about peak in Island Pond and vicinity.
Best,
Fritz

Thanks for your posts Fritz, I really enjoy them. I miss seeing posts about the Washington County railroad (on the CMQ forum). One question: how do you know how many cars are loads vs emptys, I wouldn't think it would be something you could tell by looking at the cars (other than open cars of course!)

lift 'em up and shake 'em, of course

woodeen wrote:One question: how do you know how many cars are loads vs emptys, I wouldn't think it would be something you could tell by looking at the cars (other than open cars of course!)

Compression on the truck springs.

Ah, thanks!

Hello,
Today's very short SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond around 0745 with the following:

RM-1 803
GP40-3 3803
RM-1 805
GP40-3 3805
5 centerbeam flats
3 tank cars
7 propane cars
2 salt hoppers
2 hi-cube boxcars

That's 19 cars total, including 2 loads and 17 empties.

And, yes, looking at the springs usually makes the loads vs. empties obvious, but not always. The type of car and reporting marks usually helps as well, although sometimes cars get re-used for other traffic (that is, a CN boxcar that came east loaded also goes back west loaded), but that is unusual.
Have a great day,
Fritz

Hello,
I could not wait around to watch the entire train, but today's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0815 with the following:

RM-1 804
GP40-3 3804
GP40-3 3805
RM-1 805
About 70 cars

There were 14 cement empties and lots of empty propane and other tank cars.

In addition, SLR is also replacing ties in several areas: 1) east of Stark, 2) East Brighton (both main and siding even west of the bridge which hasn't been used in years), and 3) Island Pond from MP 0 west through at least the first couple of crossings. I also saw Maine Track Maintenance machinery and trucks arriving in Island Pond this afternoon from the west. I wonder if they are doing "spot" tie replacements in areas flagged by the FRA inspection train last month.
Best,
Fritz

Hello,
Again I couldn't wait around for them to depart, but today's SLQ westbound 393 was preparing to depart Island Pond around 0830 with the following:

QG GP40-2W 3014
QG SD40-2 6904
GP40-2 3047
Around 60 cars

Meanwhile, the MTM tie gang was changing out ties at East Brighton this morning and in Island Pond this afternoon.
Best,
Fritz

Hello,
Today's SLQ Westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0807 with the following:

GP40-3 3805
GP40-3 3803
RM-1 803
8 centerbeam flats
12 hi-cube boxcars
24 propane cars
5 tank cars
1 covered hopper
8 ballast hoppers

That's 58 cars total, including 10 loads and 48 empties. Empty ballast hoppers must be headed to Sherbrooke Sub for track work there. Meanwhile, as soon as the 393 passed, the surfacing gang (tamper and regulator) began working east from the west siding switch at Norton.
Have a great weekend,
Fritz

Hello,
Today's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0806 with the following:

QG GP40 3105
GP40-3 3803
RM-1 803
GP40-2 3007
10 centerbeam flats
10 propane cars
3 tank cars
7 boxcars
1 covered hopper

That's 31 cars, all empties. There appeared to be no cars from ST in today's train.

Also it seems that the surfacing has moved east as I saw no sign of them (except the nicely-manicured track) in either Island Pond or Norton.
Best,
Fritz

Just thought I'd share this - hot off the press, based on photos of 3008 I took this past April... Prior to this, I hadn't made any SLR drawings since 2010 - mainly because I had already drawn so many of their locomotives in smaller scales.

(For some reason the image won't show up here - perhaps since it's a PNG).

http://trainiax.net/drawings/18-paint/s ... gp40-2.PNG

The rest of my older drawings are under SLR and SLQ here.

Hello,
Today's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond in light rain at 0811 with the following:

GP40-3 3805
RM-1 805
GP40-2 3035
4 centerbeam flats
8 hi-cube boxcars
9 boxcars
35 propane cars
10 tank cars
4 cement hoppers
2 covered hoppers

That's 72 cars total, including 18 loads and 54 empties.
Have a great weekend,
Fritz
P.S. Nice drawing of the 3007, Michael!