St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad (SLR/SLQ)

Hello,
Tonight's SLQ eastbound 394 arrived in Island Pond at 1940 with the following:

RM-1 806
GP40-3 3806
GP40 3004
15 centerbeam flats
1 covered hopper
2 hi-sided gondola
13 boxcars
15 tank cars

That's 46 cars total, including 38 loads and 8 empties.

To add to the recent westbound load of Hancock Lumber, today's train had a couple of interesting new cars:

1) An eastbound load of Forex Oriented Strandboard (OSB) - I've never seen one of these before. Actually I don't think I've seen any loads of OSB before eastbound or westbound, and

2) An empty CSX boxcar presumably headed back to the paper mills in Maine. I guess this is a sign of the future now that CSX owns Pan Am.

Have a great night,
Fritz

Was the CSX box one of the smaller ones? I've seen them on 393/394 before, don't think I've ever seen two on one train.

Casey,
Yes, it was a standard 50' boxcar. And you are right: We used to see loaded CSX moving east until about four years ago, but this is the first empty that I have seen going east. Just wondering if we'll start to see more of those coming out of the Maine paper mills.

Tonight's SLQ eastbound 394 reached Norton at 1940 with the following:

GP40-3 3805
RM-1 805
QG SD40U 6908
22 centerbeam flats
1 covered hopper
12 boxcars
20 tank cars
2 hi-sided gondolas

That's 57 cars total, including 51 loads and 6 empties.

Greg,
I also noted that there was another load of Hancock Lumber ready to be pulled from RCP Transit tonight, so I guess they are still loading lumber there as well.
Best,
Fritz

Greg,
So your load of Hancock Lumber unloaded in Madras, Oregon. That is the same place that the loads from RCP Transit also go. Hopefully, we'll see more of those moving west out of Maine (as well as from Island Pond)!

Tonight's SLQ eastbound 394 arrived in Island Pond at 1916 with the following:

GP40-2 3007
GP40-2 3035
QG SD40U 6908
6 centerbeam flats
1 bulkhead flat
16 boxcars
28 tank cars

That's 51 cars total, including 49 loads and 2 empties.

I've been seeing quite a few trains with one or two Ontario Northland boxcars lately (it used to be like one or two every six months), and tonight's train also had an old MEC Pine Tree boxcar. It's always nice to see the "heritage" cars.
Have a great night,
Fritz

Interesting to see Maine white pine lumber being shipped to the pacific north west, an area
well known for lumbering although not the robust industry it used to be. I seem to remember
a siding at Hancock's Bethel mill so dug out my CN New England Lines track diagram book from
1971 and it's shown as X130 P. H. Chadbourne- no idea when it was removed but a lot of sidings
were removed when the big track jobs were going on in the early-mid 70's. I wonder how much
traffic would have to increase to warrant a new siding as opposed to using a traffic forwarder?

A little off topic vs. current train movements... My wife and I visited the Gilead, Maine Historical Society on Saturday (6th), on our way to the Maine Coast. They own the original Gilead Depot which has been made into a small museum. That building has a fascinating history! Built in 1851, repurposed by the Grand Trunk several times, saved from demolition and moved to Auburn, Maine, then moved back to Gilead.

Wikipedia Entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Former_Gi ... ad_Station

Hello,
Last nights SLQ eastbound 394 arrived in Island Pond at 1815 with the following:

RM-1 806
GP40-3 3806
GP40 3004
8 centerbeam flats
6 boxcars
16 tank cars
15 AIMX gondolas

That's 45 cars total, including 28 loads and 17 empties. Interesting were the 15 AIMX, and I am curious if they are going into storage like happened a couple of years ago or returning to Maine for loading.

This morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0752 with the following:

QG SD40U 6904
GP40 3004
QG GP40-2L 3014
3 centerbeam flats
3 boxcars
21 tank cars

That's only 27 cars total, including 3 loads and 24 empties. Among the loads was another load of Hancock Lumber loading out of RCP Transit in Island Pond.

There'll be no trains on Monday night due to Labor Day / Fête du travail.
Have a great weekend,
Fritz

Over the course of the summer I've often seen AIM gondolas in the cut of cars that SLR delivers
to Panam at Danville Jct. Not having seen them in 393 I wondered if they were something Panam's
Danville switcher added to the cut after SLR made the delivery. Apparently it is just another curious
one-way routing.

Greg,
That is an interesting observation and question. I too have wondered about the AIMX gondolas: many empties go east but loads rarely go west. I have wondered if they might load on ST, then unload somewhere offline, reload there for a CN destination, and then return empty to ST. Sort of "circle trip", but I have no idea.

Tonight's SLQ eastbound 394 arrived in Island Pond at 1903 with the following:

QG GP40-2L 3014
GP40 3004
RLHH SD40-2 3403
9 centerbeam flats
1 bulkhead flat
1 AIMX gondola
1 covered hopper
25 boxcars
24 tank cars

That's 61 cars total, including 52 loads and 9 empties.
Have a great night,
Fritz

Hello,
This morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0756 with the following:

RLHH SD40-2 3403
GP40 3004
QG GP40-2L 3014
6 centerbeam flats
2 covered hoppers
5 boxcars
13 tank cars

That's 26 cars total, including 1 load and 25 empties.
Have a great weekend,
Fritz

Last night’s 394 departed Island Pond at 19:23 after setting out one load of lumber. The power was 806, 3806 and 3047. The departing (not in this order) consist was 16 boxes, 23 tanks, two loads of lumber and a hopper.
Mike

Found GMTX MP15 #205 in Groveton, NH today. This is one of four ex-Alaska railroad units that are part of a small lease fleet. I believe sister 203 has operated on the SLR - has the 205 done so as well? The 205 was parked, not running, on the former B&M/MEC lead. Does anyone know why it’s there?

Thanks,

Dave
N. Woodstock, NH

NHCR is leasing that unit, it was brought down to deliver Conway Scenic's new dome car to Hazens last month.

Hello,
This morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond around 0715 with the following:

RM-1 805
GP40-33805
QG SD40U 6908
8 centerbeam flats
1 covered hopper
16 tank cars
11 boxcars

That's 37 cars total, including 2 loads and 35 empties.

Fresh ballast has been dumped along the ROW around MP 3 on the Sherbrooke Sub (west of Island Pond).
Have a great weekend,
Fritz

Hello,
Today's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0735 with the following:

GP40-2 3047
GP40-33806
RM-1 806
1 scrap gondola
3 centerbeam flats
9 boxcars
17 tank cars

That's 30 cars total, including 3 loads and 27 empties. Of interest were both the load of Hancock Lumber out of Island Pond and, given our recent discussions, the loaded AIMX scrap gondola headed west.
Have a great day,
Fritz