Potential PAR/PAS Traffic Growth

Approx 2-3 cars per day I believe would handle 200 tons

Correct however there's also inbound chemicals (and empties in both directions). The process they are preparing for involves receiving cardboard bales by rail. The chip all comes in by truck.

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newpy 'Even if all of that by rail that's a small handful of cars/day.'

Going to agree with you. Unless my math is wrong that is a little over 440,000 lbs. Depending how it is loaded it does not represent a lot of rail cars, but I'll take it...

So inbound bails and chemicals (what chemicals are involved in this particular pulping process) and outbound pulp?

On an unrelated note, does anyone know what the Merrill Bulk terminal in Portland handles by rail? Is it a rail-to-ship facility or some other kind of transload point? I frequently see hi-cubes on the spur leading into the main warehouse complex, but to my knowledge the only regular marine traffic the Merrill terminal sees nowadays is road salt deliveries in the fall and winter.

An interesting tidbit off of Pleasant River's FB page states that by 2023 it's Enfield facility will be the highest producing sawmill in Maine. That combined with the Dover Foxcroft transload business that they've stated will going through Enfield should make for a significant new customer.

Correct-- it'd be 2 per day with a bonus car end of the week. The truck market in Old Town is garbage, so likely they'll rail out as much as they can to an off site RDC, export warehouse or customer direct, but you won't notice much difference in train lengths, certainly not a needle mover.

With the addition of Plate F clearance, PAR is now moving the larger reefers into the Chelsea Product Market. Not sure if I saw this posted elsewhere.

Really? Well that is interesting. I wonder where they are coming from.

Almost certainly from the West Coast, or ID.

I believe Idaho, they come up the Worcester line.

So potatoes?

In what look like recent images to me (hard to tell for sure), google maps shows 2 reefers in the produce center. In addition, there are approximately 80 other freight cars- lots of scrap gondolas and some cement cars—in and around the industrial park.

Ciment Quebec at Everett is also getting fly ash by rail, coming in CSX-ST.

Overall, Chelsea looks to have healthy business

This photo was published on NERAIL and I am guessing it's the first visual confirmation, at least I have seen, of what looks like the return of reefers for Chelsea:



MEC 518e lite power runs west thru Lawrence MA approaching the T station. They came from 17E
Photographed by Hayden Logan, May 18, 2021.