Maine Northern Railway (ex-MMA lines operated by EMR/NBSR)

[bostontrainguy]

With the collapse of brick and mortar stores and the rise of Amazon and Fed Ex and UPS, you would think the cardboard and packing materials side of the paper market would be growing strong. Any chance the Maine mills could convert to this?

Apparently the much toted torrified wood idea is not going very well from what I have read. This generated some real excitement when it was first proposed.

[NHV 669]

I would think there are already a vast amount of mills across the US to supply the need for packing boxes, etc. Working out in CA, I used to observe the bottoms of the boxes night stocking to see where they came from. The only local one I saw was IP, out of Auburn, of course already served by PAR.

[MEC407]

On the subject of cardboard boxes:

Volk Packaging in Biddeford, Maine is a pretty good-sized manufacturer of cardboard boxes. I'm not sure where they get their paper from. They're located in the Biddeford Industrial Park very close to the PAR mainline but it doesn't appear (based on current Google Maps imagery) that they have direct rail access at their facility, although they're certainly close enough to it if they ever wanted to use rail.

[gokeefe]

Sounds like an IRAP grant in the making ...

[fromway]

Came through Easton, Maine today on US1A. Two lines of tankers sitting at the Cavendish site. Don't know if they have anything to do with the potato planting going on. Did not have the opportunity to check the placards. Also, saw a line of tankers sitting between the McCain French Fry plant and Huber. Don't know if they have glue or cooking oil. Surprised to see this many cans sitting around. They didn't look like they were being stored.

[fromway]

Didn't know to post this, but here it is. I got stopped today in Presque Isle, Maine by a NBSR local powered by a GATX and a NBSR unit pulling two CMQ grain cars toward a Cavendish site. First time for this.

[KSmitty]

Thanks for the sighting.
There is a thread in the Central Maine and Quebec forum that is frequently used for Irving Railroad discussions.

[fromway]

Saw a video of NBSR out of Millinocket with ballast cars. Where does the ballast originate?

[fromway]

Another load of ballast out of Millinocket. NBSR must know something or is just doing a lot of MOW.

[CN9634]

Wrapping up the Maine Regional Railways project to get EMRY up to 40MPH, should see stone through August 1st according to the MaineDOT Project Plan

https://www.maine.gov/mdot/projects/doc ... urrent.pdf

[Zeke]

NBSR is going to be the CP's conduit for intermodal,chemical and gasses and looking at some of the NBSR videos on You Tube looks to be in fair to poor shape track wise.

[Cosakita18]

A couple of questions regarding the MNR Presque Isle branch

1) Is the line still being served weekly by a local crew?

2) Is the line between Easton and Fort Fairfield active? I know there is an ongoing redevelopment of the former ReEnergy facility in Fort Farfield.

3) If I recall, the line between Presque Isle and Caribou is mothballed, yes?

[S1f3432]

It's been several years since I was up there but the last I knew the line through Presque Isle
was active past Easton to the Rt 1A crossing where Cavendish Farms built a fertilizer distribution
facility in 2012. Google Earth shows cars at McCain Foods and J.M.Huber in Easton and at Dead
River and Columbia Forest Products in Presque Isle- don't know how recent those photos are.
The line to Caribou was in service until 2012-2013 servicing a scrap yard and another Dead River
facility in Caribou and occasional aggregate from Lane Construction's pit north of Caribou. One
crew based in Squa Pan was covering the traffic as track conditions and hours of service allowed.

[fromway]

McCain and Huber continue to get service in Easton. Just east of Easton is a Cavendish facility and a grain transload siding still in use. The line going to Limestone is still serviced as far as a MPG grain facility in Presque Isle. I don't know of any use past the MPG facility (by Route 167) to Limestone. LP is delivered to PI. Can't help with the crew info. Today, I saw some serious MOW equipment on a flat bed trailer headed South out of Houlton toward Danforth. Maybe, getting the roadbed ready for some more traffic.

[Cosakita18]

Thanks for all the info. I grew up in that area and just took my first trip back in several years.

I remember that BAR used to bring quite a lot of aggregate from the Lane site just north of PI. I was still a kid when MMA took over and even then I remember the Presque Isle area was being served pretty much daily.

I think I've heard somewhere that the line to Caribou north of the Aroostook river trestle is in incredibly poor condition, which is why Dead River moved its LPG facility from Caribou to Presque Isle. That might also explain why the Lane facility is no longer using their rail spur.

When I was up there, the only action I saw was a MoW crew working near downtown Presque Isle on a tie replacement job, and most of the line in and around Presque Isle seemed to be in good condition. Nice to see that MNR is still investing in central Aroostook despite the low traffic volume.