• Dear Santa, 2014

  • Pan Am Southern (webssite: https://panamsouthern.com ) is jointly-owned by CSX and Norfolk Southern, but operated by Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Pittsburg & Shawmut dba Berkshire and Eastern,
Pan Am Southern (webssite: https://panamsouthern.com ) is jointly-owned by CSX and Norfolk Southern, but operated by Genesee & Wyoming subsidiary Pittsburg & Shawmut dba Berkshire and Eastern,

Moderator: MEC407

  by jaymac
 
Dear Santa,
I know that others and I asked for a lot last year, but you delivered. Gardner now looks like a 1:1 version of someone's carefully-tended 1:87 version of what Gardner should look like. Athol is getting better. The Wachusett Extension project -- however slowly -- is progressing. Mill 8/Newark America service-restoration is fact. The Leominster garage got opened, and other parts of the east-of-Fitchburg T upgrade have really moved along. PAR/S power failures still occur, but not with the same predictability as earlier, meaning more power is reliably available. I don't know the last time FI-1 had to help a WB up Da Hill to 345.
At the risk of seeming greedy and repetitive, there are some things I'd like for this Holiday season. First, could you make things right for Noel Weaver and everyone else similarly situated?
Also, even though they're not as nice-looking as the NewBlues, I'd appreciate it if you could use your influence so the NS 3400s stayed around at least a little longer. They do haul.
Oh, and thanks for all the Conn River work. It's good to see the rebirth of the valley accompanied and aided by the rebirth of rail in the valley. And looming excursion service on the Adams Branch? Wow! Next, will there be Grandma Moses excursions from Bennington to Eagle Bridge?
What seems to have changed mostly in the PAR/S world is its paradigm -- from retrenchment to expansion. Please, Santa, may we have some more and more quickly? That might be a problem in parts of D-1, but if anyone can do it, you can.
One other thing that I am truly grateful for is that there is far less of something. Pan Am Railways (formerly Guilford Rail System) has become a far less contentious site. Differences and disagreements still get expressed, but discordant tone has vanished.
Thanks again!
s/
jaymac
  by MEC407
 
May I be a cosignatory on that letter? :-D
  by strangelyamused
 
Amen. God bless the railroad.
  by BostonUrbEx
 
Dear Santa,

All I want for Christmas is a 60mph PAS, 40mph B&M, and 30mph MEC. The system can handle almost any of the crappy cards it is dealt so long as you have speed.

Sincerely,
BostonUrbEx
  by B&M 1227
 
How about more crews to bolster iffy service with interchange partners... PAS has been making late connections with VTR/BKRR for the last couple weeks.

Slightly off topic, but going off those Grandma Moses excursions, it would be nice for PAR/PAS to consider an excursion pool much like NS, VTR, and P&W. Nothing that has to be run with any regularity, but those 3 roads must break even in some way on their excursion runs. Could be useful PR and a relatively cheap investment if they could make some of the Business Train spare cars roadworthy, or lease some MBTA extras like the Grafton & Upton. Maybe in another 10 years when freight is running as it should and there's enough crews and locomotives to support dinky PR Christmas/Fall Foliage stuff?
  by Dick H
 
On the east end, get those speed restrictions taken care of promptly, call out signal maintainers after hours
when signals and switches act up and try to reduce the service interruptions and slow orders for the
Downeaster for the tie job between Dover and Portland in 2015. Thanks Santa...
  by newpylong
 
Dear Santa,

By the end of 2015 please make Tim Mellon finally sick of his play railroad and sell it to someone who wants to run it.
  by johnpbarlow
 
2014 was indeed a good year at least for PAS if not all of PAR. In 2015, I look forward to seeing increased intermodal & auto traffic via NS owned D&H South. And a blue re-furbed dome car. And a visit from NKP 765 would be over the top!🚂
  by jaymac
 
newpylong » Sun Dec 14, 2014 5:55 pm

Dear Santa,

By the end of 2015 please make Tim Mellon finally sick of his play railroad and sell it to someone who wants to run it.
We gawkers have been reminded by one who was really there and really experienced it that only in feel-good fiction are fictional Scrooge/Grinch characters totally, speedily, and irrevocably reformed. Reality has fewer true tidings of comfort and joy.
That posted, may the reality of the future improve on the reality of the past.
  by jaymac
 
MEC407 » Sun Dec 14, 2014 10:41 am

May I be a cosignatory on that letter? :-D
The response in my mind was immediate, but the response on the site took too long: I would be honored.