POSE / SEPO (Portland - Selkirk trains)

POSE went west of South Meadow Road in Clinton at 1221 with CSXTs 729, 5102, 705, and 874, totalling 17,600 hp and hauling 30 (yes, only 2 digits) cars, most seeming to have pretty high-riding bolsters. Given the lack of speed and load, there wasn't much visible exhaust, so it was hard to tell if any units were isolated. Maybe. also, it was a combined light train and light power move, as much of a contradiction in terms as that is.
The talker at that location also seemed to be OOS

On Wed. Nov. 3, Amtrak Downeaster #684 was delayed about an hour and a half waiting for SEPO to clear at Newfields, NH. On another board there was a report that SEPO had hit a moose - wondered whether there was any truth to that. I know that moose are quite common in northern Maine, but in southern New Hampshire???

Andy

Unfortunately, this might be the moose in question. Epping is not that far from Newfields...

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx ... 081d24e99a

EPPING – A young bull moose that was relocated to a wooded area in Northwood after being tranquilized when it wandered into busy downtown Hampton recently may prefer coastal living. The 2 1/2-year-old moose has headed east once again, causing a stir in parts of Epping on Tuesday when it showed up just as parents were trying to get their kids off to school.

twropr wrote:I know that moose are quite common in northern Maine, but in southern New Hampshire???

Moose are pretty common in southern Maine, and I assume in parts of southern New Hampshire as well. I grew up in Wells and saw moose all the time. One of the town's school buses hit a moose when I was in junior high.

The Downeaster has had several collisions with deer over the years. Turkey collisions are pretty common too.

Are there any standard/required procedures for striking animals? Just wondering what's up when that happens. Or is it only stop if it's causing a problem with equipment/track?

When the Temple Street, West Boylston, talker gave its "no defects" to SEPO, I headed to Oakdale because I thought with all the trackwork this summer and fall, SEPO would cover its one-mile-less-train-length distance to West Boylston quicker than I could go 2+ miles. This was not the case. SEPO dropped down the grade to Oakdale like a 20-mph stone, The lightning-bolts emblazoned on CSXTs 572 and 666 (Spooky -- Mark of The Beast!) lent some heavy-handed irony to SEPO's otherwise dignified passage, which got even slower as the power presumably approached the Prescott Street crossing. A couple of interesting sights included in the 91 cars were a BCLR boxcar about midtrain and a white Big G boxcar carrying the EOT as well as whatever lading it had.

CSXTs 5113 and 576 plus only 79 were east of Gates Crossing in Sterling on 03-03-2011 at 1206. There was a mix of corn products, drywall, structural steel, LPG, and boxes, which -- given the amount of detail -- gives you some idea of the stately slow progress through the town of Sterling. If the speed gets lifted to 30, will the "Caution - High Speed Trains" signs make an ironic appearance?

CSXTs 591 and 590 got 84 west of the Prescott Street, West Boylston, crossing on 01-03-2012 at 1114 after dropping 10 at the Hill Yard to keep CSX happy. The probability issue of the reverse numerical order would be only mildly interesting, but what elevated this sighting a bit on the Huh? Scale was that in between the Bolts and the largely boxcar make-up was OldPaint 373. Anybody looking for an interloper on the Boston Line today should get rewarded.

I saw the same train about six hours later tied down at New Bond Street. Rather rare to see a "home road" locomotive on the Worcester Main!

That long? Must be that any PAR unit slows down a recrew.

CSXTs 590 and 591, in reverse reverse numerical order this time, were on the 01-06-2012 POSE. The new crew called on the move at Graniteville at 1011, but because of the upcoming MBCR meet at Ayer, held east of Town Farm Road at 1016. By 1116, it was off the main and into the yard with 96. It was supposed to pick up the 608 and 3 loads before continuing west. Given the numbers of Sappi-labeled cars, it must have been fairly heavy. Things got a bit complicated because an extra-long hose would have to be pirated for the 608. Having things to do, I wasn't around for the great extra-long hose exchange, probably with 601. And once again, I had cause to be thankful I hadn't gone railroading.

Air horns signaling for grade crossings in Sterling at midmorning are not usual, so I rearranged my agenda and got to Gates Crossing in time to see a POSE with CSXTs 8834, 5346, and 5116 plus only 21 get west at 1018. There was a good representation of grain-service covered hoppers, but the car-count did seem more than a little light. Anyone know if this was cleaning out cars left behind at the Hill Yard for acceptable length?

I know they had a 3 (1/2) car p/u off the west end of 9 this morning...

Once MBCR 417 got west of the East Wye on 2 at 1001, POSE on the East Wye got onto 2 with CSXTs 583 and 581 and NewBlue 617. How long and how far 617 had been part of the power, I don't know. There had been -- per radio -- a good amount of work at Ayer, so mebbe it was picked up there. The 99 cars were east of the East Wye at 1011 and included a short, non-well, and MT 8-axle KLR flat and a scattered half-dozen-or-so Pan Am à-la-Smurf boxes, most with their black bands tag-obscured. Mebbe the 8-axle flat means another OD move is coming. Mebbe the Smurf collection means more NewBlue dips are coming.

Apologies to those of you who had read this earlier: I transposed and did not catch the symbol letters.

Does CSXT power no longer run through to Rigby now? Seems the railroad is back to the practice of swapping power now.