Pan Am Southern / Patriot Corridor Discussion

Apologies for not being more clear - I was thinking that a Binghamton to Mechanicville crew might set out the Ayer-bound train (including power) at Delanson for a crew to take east over CSX to Ayer.

In my daily observations of 264's passage of the Elkhart live cam, in addition to the 25ish Taylor wells/spines head out, I typically see 50-80 single stacked Ayer-bound containers followed by 25-40 double stacked containers for Mechanicville - about 5,000 to 8,000 feet of consist. Perhaps NS would reverse the order of these blocks at 63rd St IM pad Chicago and put a DPU power set ahead of the Ayer block at Binghamton? And maybe add Ayer-bound auto racks (Mechanicville racks could still use 16R)?

Just wondering out loud....

....Just wondering out loud if the reason NS kicked up a last-minute fuss about CSX's handling of PAS operations was, at the least, toward getting flexibility to add non-intermodal/auto traffic to the trains at will, at least in the shorter-run when the pair will have plenty of capacity?

https://youtu.be/ttWqdV9z3I8?si=i7Y6YltSW-EG6h1-

https://youtu.be/9aPHNWtTnlA?si=p10GuxqZHWmBZgPq

New symbols? Didn't realize there wasn't anything beyond garbage/autos and P&Ws on this train east of Deerfield unless everything else is done by a local out of ED.

"SA" may simply be what PAS is using to replace what would have been "PO" in the past as a train origin point since Portland isn't a point on the PAS system. Whether it stands for "SAnvell" or "eaSt Ayer" is anyone's guess... Clearly they want to differentiate it from AY as an origin point.

Joshua

I was more surprised by the 95 loaded wells of "swill" on the "SAED". That can't be one days' cars out of that place can it? That's a lot of trash moving at once.

Before 11R arrived in Gardner on 12-20, the yard had a long string of trash. NewBlues 5943 and 502 -- the trailing power in the video -- had been the FI-1/2 power and mebbe were going W for inspection.

The Ayer traffic is going to have to split off into a separate train again, likely at Chicago. It's already a decent sized train now with all the autorack business that currently rides up on 16R.

The Taylor's will probably run on whatever the more convenient train is, maybe even alternating back and forth until NS finds the sweet spot for that schedule.

There's no feasible way to serve Mechanicville after the split without a separate train, since trying to do set offs and pickups at Delanson is a major bottleneck (not to mention blocking Main Street is generally frowned upon). CP probably won't allow any moves on their side either, so that's out of the question. The autoracks and intermodals back up quickly if they aren't picked up almost daily (maybe twice a week for the racks).

I'm going to assume that the 264/265 and Mechanicville trains will be stacks up front, and racks on the rear like the 205/206 used to be so the autorack traffic stays fluid.

Photos by Steve Sconfienza on Facebook CSX Albany Division Sightings page show completed connection at Voorheesville. No signals in yet. I am hardly the most qualified eye, but it appears all set to handle the planned track speed.

The existing manual‐turnout in the CSXT mainline will be replaced with a new dispatcher‐controlled power turnout, which will allow seamless train operation off‐of/onto the CSXT mainline from NSR line at speeds up to 25 mph.

10 on the ground, 2 in the river in Valley Falls NY. Route 67 closed.

Not containers so it wasn't 264/265. But one TV station is reporting that it's a CSX (!) train - maybe it's PAS RJED or EDRJ?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KX9erlQvJE

Another said CP will be coming to rerail... I wouldn't take what the news says at face value. Coulda been any eastbound but 264.

The reroute of the IM train is getting closer to reality. Track connected at VO (but csx appears to have some tamping work to do) and signals going in. Video appears to be from today, Feb 26 2024

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISas8_hj-Ew

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYZUUzVJXDc

So is there any indication yet (such as concrete signal bases) as to exactly where the new signals will go? I would guess that they're going to simply extend the limits of CP-VO to include the new connection, rather than creating a separate interlocking for it, but I could be wrong in assuming that.

No idea
As the videos from vo get posted we will have to watch to see what evidence shows up

New signals are up for all tracks with the heads turned field side. They moved the WAS for CP-VO further east in between Main St. and Voorheesville Ave and placed the EAS signal on the NS connection at the clearance point for the switch on Track 2.

The current WAS on CSX's Selkirk Branch, which are west of Main St, will be removed when the new signals are cut-in. So, it will be one big CP-VO, the NS connection will be a part of VO, not its own CP.