• Maine Northern Railway (ex-MMA lines operated by EMR/NBSR)

  • Discussion of present-day CM&Q operations, as well as discussion of predecessors Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA) and Bangor & Aroostook Railroad (BAR).
Discussion of present-day CM&Q operations, as well as discussion of predecessors Montreal, Maine & Atlantic Railway (MMA) and Bangor & Aroostook Railroad (BAR).

Moderator: MEC407

  by CPF66
 
One of my former coworkers on MNR said that they will also be reopening the line to East Millinocket to service the warehouse that recently opened. They already have brush cut the line and are stock piling materials so a contractor can replace a culvert at Dolby and fix the washout by the mill. Both stations at Millinocket and East Millinocket were knocked down a few weeks ago. The plan is to build a new one at Millinocket Yard to house the MOW department and have a space for crews to bunk. EMR is already planning upgrades on the Millinocket Sub to undo 3 years of differed maintenance under CP's occupation. The plan is to get the sub back to 25 MPH as well as to reinstall the siding at Packards to facilitate meets. The side of the yard which was mainly removed by CMQ is getting some attention too, with a big tie job and some switch replacements.
I know EMR wants to reopen the engine facility as well so stuff doesn't have to go all the way to Saint John for servicing or for a 92 day. There will also be a car shop in the future, since Oakfield and Saint John are backlogged with 3 years worth of contract work.

In other news, EMR is relaying the siding on the Mattawamkeag Sub at Knights (just east of BVJ). It will be used to store MNR bound cars so crews don't have to add an extra 30 mile trip to Hardy Pond onto their schedule. The siding will also be used to store CP bound trains when CP is unable to take an inbound (which is almost daily). Other upgrades to the Keag as reported by Worldwide Railfan on YouTube include: siding expansions at Hardy Pond, Kirby, Bancroft, and extending the second track at McAdam to the DD at MP5 and two miles east of the yard on the McAdam sub to the new cautionary limits. They also have tie projects planned on the Keag, Madawaska, Presque Isle, and Houlton Subs to get everything back up to 25 MPH. Woodland is also getting some attention in the next year. Then they also have the grant to redo the McAdam sub with CWR and ties. Undercutting (Irving just bought an undercutter last year) and ballast work is also apart of that project. That will bump the McAdam up to 40+ MPH. With most of the meets happening on the Keag sub, the folks at Saint John don't want it to be upgraded to more than 30 MPH so chasing will still be easy.
There is also talk of building a new 3 track yard at Kingman or the top of the hill at Mattawamkeag, since EMR doesn't want CP or CSX units traveling onto their territory, the word on the street is that they will be keeping a power set at Keag, which will run a turn job to the new yard where they will drop those cars and return with CSX bound traffic. Last I heard with the lack of traffic going to CP, they will have enough capacity to bring back 907/908 which will handle chips, McAdam, and CSX traffic. But that is still a few years away.

As many of you know, they have purchased a ton of power in the past few months. 12 more SD70M-2's of which, 5 have been delivered bringing the total on roster to 11 plus a part unit. They also received the GP40-2/GP30 slug set which still needs to be painted and has a ton of bugs. They have two more GP40-2's being rebuilt at ONR plus three at CAD of NS heritage which have all been rebuilt and painted but are awaiting parts still. AFAIK, one of the PRLX SD60M's is still on roster and I think they bought the PRLX GP38-2/GP35 slug set that was sent to them last fall.
Per the Facebook experts (take it as you will) they have purchased another six GP40-2's, six more GP38-2/GP35 slug sets, nine more GP30 slugs, and are buying 31 GP41ECO's. The GMTX GP38-2 fleet will largely be gone by the end of this year, while the GP40N's I think they intend on buying. As for retirements: The two SW1200's have been sold to AIM and were supposed to be scrapped two years ago with two NBSR caboose(s) but they have yet to meet the torch. GP38-3's 9801-9803 are officially done and it sounds like AIM is currently removing the major components. Although I think I remember hearing that those three plus the two 2600's will be used for the GP41ECO program. SD40-2's 6200, 6318, and 6332 are all retired. 6318 is the worst of the worst, but if they wanted to it has enough parts to get the 6200 (needs a turbo) and the 6332 (suffered a crank shaft failure after a rebuild) going again. GMTX 2666 was returned and is now on a tourist RR down south, GMTX 2657 (Conrail patch) is currently oos, MP15's 211 (heavily damaged in a logging truck crash ) and 205 (subleased to Pan Am where it burnt up and was sent for rebuild by NHCR) have both been returned to GMTX. MP15's 203, 204, and the one they keep at the Potash facility are all still on the property. CIT/CEFX GP38-3's 414 and 419 were returned two years ago.
  by CPF66
 
Yes, they built a single bay one on the former RIP track around 2014. They mainly do wheel swaps as well as smaller work such as door repairs and renumbering services.
  by MEC407
 
CPF66, thanks for all the great information! It's amazing to see how Irving's little railway has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years.
  by fromway
 
Another proposed project for northern Maine. The developer of a proposed project at the ex-Loring AFB and the agency running the Loring facilities is proposing that MAYBE the unused rail line between Presque Isle(33 miles) and Loring can be rehabed to handle material that would be brought in for its proposed waste to jet fuel project. The Loring people are also saying that MAYBE this could also encourage other rail uses to MAYBE potential industries. We will see how far this proposal goes.
  by cbc6403
 
KuBand12 wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 2:49 pm I saw the CN geometry Budd car 1501 ran the McAdam sub on April 15 and I was just wondering if you had heard anything on the NBSR CWR upgrade. Do you think it will happen this summer?
On a visit to NB Southern in September I noticed that plenty of welded rail has been dropped and/or installed already on the McAdam Sub. Noticed particularly around Welsford, mile 24.

GTD
  by KuBand12
 
Credit: Railway Age Oct. 19, 2023
CSX 3Q23: ‘Improving Sequential Trends’
https://www.railwayage.com/freight/csx- ... al-trends/

"JOE HINRICHS: We’re putting more than $100 million into the former Pan Am network to get it to our speed requirements. We’re hearing from a lot of customers both in New England but also in the eastern part of Canada about being excited about the opportunity to take advantage of our network to get into the Northeast United States faster, because a lot of that Pan Am network is running 10 miles per hour, and we’re going to be able to run much faster speeds once we get everything finished. That will be next year sometime, not that far away. I can tell you there’s a lot. I was up in Worcester and Boston, and I went up to Portland for NEARS, and had a chance to talk to several groups. We’re hearing from customers that they’re excited about being able to access our network, and our marketing and sales team is ready to go. They’re waiting for us to turn the switch on to say, okay, we’re ready to go fast. I think we’re going to be pleasantly surprised by the opportunity up in New England."
  by KuBand12
 
cbc6403 wrote: Tue Oct 17, 2023 6:18 pm
KuBand12 wrote: Tue Jun 06, 2023 2:49 pm I saw the CN geometry Budd car 1501 ran the McAdam sub on April 15 and I was just wondering if you had heard anything on the NBSR CWR upgrade. Do you think it will happen this summer?
On a visit to NB Southern in September I noticed that plenty of welded rail has been dropped and/or installed already on the McAdam Sub. Noticed particularly around Welsford, mile 24.

GTD
NBSR is upgrading their rail in New Brunswick to 115lb CWR. From what I have seen, I think they are welding 40 and/or 80 foot pieces of sectional rail to achieve the same result as laying down the longer sections of CWR off dedicated work trains. Here's a video from early September showing the CWR. I think you can see the places where they welded the rail in regular 40 foot increments.
https://youtu.be/AMV2zOXeNjY?si=YxjFcMWZ025fnTlK
  by NHV 669
 
https://thecounty.me/2024/04/03/news/ro ... -masardis/
Paula Brewer wrote: A tractor trailer driver was injured when his vehicle struck two empty cars of a train in Masardis on Wednesday afternoon. The crash happened at the intersection of Blackwater Road and Route 11 at about 1:30 p.m., according to Paul Merrill, spokesperson for the Maine Department of Transportation.

“A tractor trailer on Route 11 hit the train about 15 cars in,” Merrill said. “It struck two empty rail cars and knocked them off the track, so it derailed.”

The truck is owned by Bartlett Forest Products of Amity and operated by 26-year-old James Tapley of Monticello who was traveling southbound on Rte. 11 when the tractor-trailer struck a train that was crossing Rte. 11 at a railroad crossing, according to Maine State Police spokesperson Shannon Moss. It appears the tractor-trailer, which was hauling woodchips at the time, was unable to stop when it hit the train causing the train to derail. Tapley sustained serious injuries and was transported via Ashland Ambulance to Northern Light Hospital in Presque Isle. Tapley had a dog in the vehicle at the time which was transported to a local veterinarian for treatment. The operator of the train was not injured.

It’s the second derailment in a week for the area around Ashland. Last week a minor derailment occurred at the intersection of Route 11 and Sheridan Road. Wednesday’s crash is about 9 1/2 miles from that site.
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