Pan Am Southern / Patriot Corridor Discussion

But detour moves are different and don’t require conventional rights- merely cooperation
The detoured 264 had no rights over the water level route across NY

It wasn't run as 264. It wasn't even run by an NS crew (since they haven't qualified on the line).

Detour rights are actually something that are agreed to ahead of time so that there's a legal framework to exercise them under covering who pays for what, who has liability if something goes wrong, and and a whole host of other things. It's not simply a matter of calling up another railroad and asking "can we run a train over your line?".

Yes, I know detours are run by crews of the home railroad. The detouring RR wouldn't have qualified folks. My understanding is the class 1s generally have detour arrangements with each other - because disasters and derailments happen to everyone, so such arrangements benefit all parties in the long run. So what you seem to be saying is that PAS and G&W don't have a detour arrangement.

That would be my guess.

When the tunnel collapsed there was no existing agreement to run over from Whitehall to the VTR and down, but they put the framework together fairly quickly with all the different railroads and made it happen. The VTR stipulated all types of crap like the racks couldn't exceed 10 mph etc. I'll try to figure out what's going on there but it likely is something else.

As of this afternoon, the stalled 264 remains parked in royalston

A photograph of PAS EDAY freight passing CPF-335 Westminster Sunday afternoon 9/17/23 was posted on CSX / PAS FB page - I don't know if it tied down at CPF-333 Wachusett or continued east but another observation posted on FB said the washout at N Leominster appeared to be filled in Sunday afternoon but track/row work was still under way at that hour.

In other Patriot Corridor news, NS instituted a 36 hour curfew window this past weekend on the Lake Erie District to replace a few more spans on the trestle at Conneaut OH causing 264 to be detoured by way of Harrisburg and up the D&H Sunbury line to Mechanicville.

Good news: MBTA line through Leominster washout area re-opened for PAS traffic Monday evening. MBTA train service will resume to/from Wachusett mid-day Monday 9/19/23.

And somewhat related Patriot Corridor news: NS Lake Erie District has re-opened after curfew at Conneaut OH (bridge replacement) went a day or so longer than planned, requiring 264-16/265-16 to detour via Sunbury/Harrisburg/Horseshoe Curve on 9/17/23. And the CSX 8881-led (with NKP heritage unit) X427 (aka NS 265-17 that departed Ayer 9/17/23 via the Worcester Main and CSX B&A) continued west on CSX all the way to Berea before getting on NS.

Something I'm hearing today is a very active "Ayer utility" running around Ayer in a vehicle helping with shoves, radio comms, transporting conductors etc. Probably a B+E effort to keep things fluid.

...and Danny Donnellan, retired Ayer utility, just came to mind...

PAS submitted a filing to the STB to formalize PAS trackage rights over CSX/PAR for 1000 feet east of the end of PAS track at CPF-312:

Pan Am Southern LLC (“PAS”) submits this Verified Notice of Exemption pursuant to the class exemption at 49 C.F.R. §1180.2(d)(8) for limited overhead temporary trackage rights over a rail line owned by the Boston and Maine Corporation (“B&M”) and leased and operated by Springfield Terminal Railway Company (“ST”), generally between PAS’s existing connection to B&M/ST’s tracks at Engineering Station 215+89 at CPF 312 outside Ayer, Mass. to Engineering Station 225+00 outside Ayer, Mass., a total distance of approximately 1,000 feet (the “B&M/ST Line”). PAS’s use of the B&M/ST Line will be limited to repositioning locomotives. The temporary trackage rights are based on a written agreement and are not filed or sought in a responsive application in a rail consolidation proceeding

Excerpt:

Because of the lack of space on the PAS line between the facility and CPF 312, PAS/B&E currently does not have the necessary headroom to reposition PAS/B&E locomotives serving the facility, resulting in inefficiency and congestion on the PAS network. The parties have identified long-term and temporary solutions for this issue. As a long-term fix, PAS has agreed to install a “cross-over” on the PAS line that will permit PAS/B&E to reposition
locomotives without operating off the PAS line. Procuring and installing the cross-over will take approximately 75 days. In the meantime, B&M/ST has agreed to allow PAS/B&E to use the B&M/ST Line for head and tail room in order for PAS/B&E to reposition locomotives serving the facility. The limited overhead temporary trackage rights sought here will allow PAS/B&E to perform that move while the cross-over is installed.

Based on the schedule for installing the cross-over, the parties have agreed that the temporary trackage rights will expire on December 5, 2023.

Map of the temporary trackage rights is attached. Map does not show where the new crossover will be installed but I would guess it will be around 1,000 ft west of CPF-312. I assume CPF-312 will continue to exist after the new crossover is installed?

https://dcms-external.s3.amazonaws.com/ ... 307179.pdf

Yes, I would assume it would just be a pair of hand throws.

I posted this in the Stonybrook thread as well but for context about this strange agreement I'll repost here as well. A week or two ago there was a little spat where a local servicing Sanvel asked to run around, and CSX basically just said no, you don't have trackage rights. Apparently in retaliation there was a brief period where B&E was holding all CSX traffic at Harvard and 312. This filing is probably the end result.

Photo on CSX Albany Div Facebook page shows that as of 9/30/23 a RoW has been cleared and graded from current end of NS Albany Main track at Voorheesville to at least S Main St at Voorheesville. Getting closer to the CSX Selkirk main!

A half dozen pix taken by Steve Sconfienza on Thursday 10/19/23 are posted on the CSX Albany Division FaceBook page showing a turnout kit lying beside the CSX tracks at Voorheesville and CSX track crews puttering around with stacks of ties at the site as well. It looks like NS is ready to lay track up to S Main St on the newly graded connection approach.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=102 ... 4832756647