by CPF66
MaineRailfan wrote: ↑Mon Jul 22, 2024 8:36 am EMR 910 and 909 will be reworked in almost the same fashion I discussed. Not sure what is going on at Knights right now, I just saw one loader and a dump truck there with no additional track laid. I know they had to cut back some of the places they made cuts because the land was unstable and at risk of causing a slide onto the tracks.EMR is also supposed to reinstall the siding at Packard on the Millinocket Subdivision. The Mattawamkeag Subdivision is supposed to get AEI readers which they have installed some on NSBR already. They will also be installing 3 more defect detectors at Forest City, Kirby, and Hardy Pond. The one at Forest City and Hardy Pond will be solar powered since there isn't any power nearby. As for the work on the Millinocket Subdivision, they have removed all but 11-12 miles of speed restrictions. The remaining ones will need to have rail installed, since the existing 100 and 112 LBS rail from the 40's has defects due to poor roadbed conditions. Which when CP owned the line, had they kept up with the maintenance the rail in that stretch would have still been serviceable.
In semi-related news the Millinocket Sub has been bumped back up to 25 aside from a section between Cedar Lake Road and where the CWR starts down by Packard. I am guessing once they redo the crossing at Cedar Lake, from there to the crossing at West Seboeis will be 25 again since CMQ did new rail in that section back around 2017-2018. From there to Packard will likely stay 10 MPH for the time being until new rail is installed. Its nice to see the sub get back to 25 after CP let things go.
Further north MOW season is in full swing. MNR has a tie gang at Sherman, which is redoing every 4th tie and they have a rail gang which is replacing 100 LBS stick with new 115 LBS stick about 10 miles out of Oakfield heading south. New ties have been laid out as far as Ashland and it looked like they are unloading more in the near future. I think they have so far redone all the rail which hadn't been done in years past, between Fort Kent and where they are at now. MNR rented a Herzog train which is being loaded several times a week at Millinocket and has been working with a surfacing gang on MNR and on the Millinocket Sub. The grand plan is for Fort Kent-Millinocket to be up to 25 by years end, as well as the Millinocket Sub aside from that stretch of 10 MPH I mentioned. Fort-Kent to Madawaska will be on next years agenda, as will the PI, Fort Fairfield, and Houlton Subdivisions.
Once the rail gang is to Oakfield they are hopping south and doing rail on curves between Sherman and Millinocket, and are then heading to NBSR to replace some rail around Freddy Jct, and Rooth. Likewise, the southern 10 miles of the Saint Stephen Subdivision will be back to 25 by October, which will allow 506 to make a round trip on two crews instead of two plus a recrew at McAdam. Long term, they will be undercutting quite a bit of track and doing a rehab on the northern portion of the line to get it back to 25 entirely over the next few years, to accommodate the increase in tissue from Woodland.
Some developments are being made on the abandoned line front too. The East Millinocket Sub, which hasn't seen a train beyond Dolby since MMA days, has had some minor MOW work done up to where CMQ used to load logs. Currently they are storing the new MNR chip cars just south of there, but I am wondering if the branch will be rehabbed this year since they redid the crossing at Dolby last week and the renovation of the rail barn at the warehouse wrapped up recently.
I was told yesterday MNR brush cut the line to Caribou and that they have a few customers looking at locating to that area. The main obstacle is the big bridge in Presque Isle which needs structural work and a new deck, which would allow them to load ballast at Lane and transload asphalt emulsion there. Last time they ran there was around 2017. The last train to Caribou ran around 2011-2012 and serviced Dead River before they moved to Presque Isle and AIM scrap. If the information is true, my guess is they will get grants this winter for the bridge and track rehab. I know there were some articles last fall about the biofuel plant at Loring which wanted to bring raw materials in by rail and ship them out via pipeline, however I haven't heard anything on that recently. I sent an email to them a few months ago but haven't heard back yet.
Link to the website they have: https://www.loringenergy.com/
As for more on-topic stuff, EMR is also going to replace some culverts after the washouts a few weeks back. They have also been working with contractors to armor up causeways with rip rap to prevent more washouts.
