Yard Capacity

The long crossover at Danville gets used all the time, sometimes GRS runs right into the SLR yard and out the other end, I have seen it from both ends.

consist wrote:

emd_16645 wrote: Northern Maine Junction does have a fairly good sized yard (about 5 tracks on the east end, 3 on the west. The yard at Danville Junction is shared with the SLR. I don't know how the ownership of the tracks break down, but the yard parallels the SLR main south of the diamond.

That's the Guilford main that parallels the Danville yard, and crosses the SLR main at the diamond. I thought the whole yard belonged to the SLR. Their line to Deering (the one that dead-ends behind B&M Beans in Portland, at the burnt-out Tukey's Bridge) emerges from the south end of Danville yard and parallels Guilford's main for many miles. (Interestingly, mapquest's map of the Danville layout is wrong.) There is a crossover at the south end of the yard that enables Guilford to get into the yard, but I've never seen it used for switching. Perhaps westbound freights use it. The MO for eastbound Guilford trains dropping cars at Danville is to bypass the yard, drop the back half of the train before the diamond, pull past the diamond, back the cars they're dropping into the yard, pull forward, back over the diamond to get the rest of the train, head east.
NMJ is more like two or three small yards nested together. The best known side is along rte 2 where the MMA office is, but there's two customers and a side yard off of a road closer to Dysart's truck stop, the name is either Starch Plant or Logistics Rd.

I'm not all that familiar with Danville, as it is some distance from me. NMJ is much closer. Yes, NMJ is much more than a single yard (actually is 3), but only one is Guilford's, the other two belong to the MMA. There are four industries served by rail at NMJ. All are serviced by the MMA. Hermon Gas (I believe thats the name) is located just east of the parking lot for the RR offices (both RRs have offices here). The industry spur is off the interchange track that passes between the old station and the parking lot. Maine Gas is located off the Coldbrook Rd (the road that Dysarts is on), next to the MMA's Upper Yard (not the official name). The main customer is LMS (Logistic Management Systems). LMS operates a large warehouse, a starch plant, and a lumber off load yard. Also, Lane Construction has a spur. The two yards that the MMA are what I call the upper yard and the LMS yard. The upper yard begins at the south end of the overpass that crosses the GRS main and Rt. 2. The south end of the yard is at the Coldbrook Rd, where the main continues to Searsport. This yard is used mainly for storage. It also is sometimes used by the Searsport crew to run around their train, although since the diamond got reinstalled, that isn't needed anymore. Also, if a C30 is used on the 202/203 turn, it is left in the upper yard. The LMS yard is the main yard. It is located behind the warehouse and starch plant. Here the trains can be switched out, the LMS spurs can be serviced, as well as the interchange with GRS. The interchange yard is three tracks located next to the eastern part of the GRS yard.