"Up North" Gawking (District 1 sightings)

[newpylong]

Behind a paywall sadly.

[codasd]

I was able to scroll past the login and read the article.

[newpylong]

I just tried again and got it.

Very cool, maybe it will continue next season with more planning.

[MEC407]

Brief fair-use quote from the article:

. . . this week Maine potatoes have left Aroostook County on rail cars, bound for big markets, for the first time in more than 40 years.

The 2021 harvest made history for its size — a roughly 20 percent greater yield than normal, thanks to near-perfect growing conditions. But that led to a few problems along the way: What to do with all the extra spuds, and how to get them to market in the middle of a trucking shortage.
. . .
“The Maine Northern Railroad and Union Pacific Railway arranged for refrigerated rail cars to be sent to Van Buren,” [Maine DOT] said via Twitter. “Thirty-three refrigerated rail cars are now loaded with spuds and bound for Washington state.”

[JayBee]

What I would like to know is what is the routing after the spuds reach Brownville, Jct. How did they get from there to PanAm. Did they go to Mattawamkeag.

[NHV 669]

Probably down to NMJ, as CP is part of the routing.

[petahgriff8316]

Random question and can't seem to find the answer anywhere: what's the difference between downtown Portland and downtown Auburn that makes the former have quiet zones but not the latter? I get not having them at Danville/Hacketts/etc. but it just struck me as odd that they blow their horns going through those gated crossings downtown whereas Portland (which you'd think is more populated/congested) has a number of gated (but not channeled) crossings where they go right through and you might barely notice.

[S1f3432]

The Deering Center/ Woodfords and North Deering neighborhoods in Portland through which Panam's
mainline passes are predominantly residential areas whereas the area in Auburn bordering the track is
mostly commercial with the edge of a residential area close only for 3 or 4 blocks between Court St. and
the Turner St. overpass and also not a high income area with a lot of people likely to complain.

[Trinnau]

Quiet zones are the responsibility of the municipality to apply for with the FRA and maintain the status (they expire). The railroad only stops blowing horns upon receiving notification from the FRA that a quiet zone has been approved. The sounding of horns at a railroad crossing is required under federal regulations, only a federal agency can relieve that.

More info on Quiet Zones on the FRA website

[petahgriff8316]

The Deering Center/ Woodfords and North Deering neighborhoods in Portland through which Panam's
mainline passes are predominantly residential areas whereas the area in Auburn bordering the track is
mostly commercial with the edge of a residential area close only for 3 or 4 blocks between Court St. and
the Turner St. overpass and also not a high income area with a lot of people likely to complain.

Good point -- that said, I saw a video of a train coming across Library Ave. at around midnight with what looked to be a brand-new looking apartment building in the background. I guess either they find what people will pay to live right next to the tracks (quite a bit, presumably) OR we'll be seeing a quiet zone application led by that building.

[MEC407]

In today's housing market, most folks can't be picky about where they live or what they live next to. Small 1 bedroom apartments next to the Portland Jetport are renting for over $2000 a month (NOT including heat or utilities). Considering the number of arrivals and departures at PWM every day vs. the number of trains that run through Lewiston every day, I suspect that new apartment complex near the tracks is a significantly quieter place to live.

[petahgriff8316]

Slightly off-topic but kinda funny: I've been a railfan for about 25 years and, as someone who grew up in the digital age, loved train sims but used to be "meh" about the railroads – there was never a PAR route that I was aware of other than Portland Terminal so being in Maine it wasn't very relatable. Anyway, I bought TS 2022 a week or so ago determined to figure out how to make a legit route. Turns out there is a Google maps overlay that's pretty easy to use and builds the models to scale, so I built the routes from Rigby to Waterville, the Lower Road to Brunswick, and SLR from Yarmouth to Auburn. Super bare-bones at the moment – I'm also working on the same routes with legit elevation (which will be like a year-long project) – and at present it's basically just a handful of crossings and Leeds/Danville/Readfield siding/Royal but I believe I built the first ever sim route between Portland and Waterville. Ran a Downeaster from WA to PO in 1h5m*...79 all the way!

* Even with perfect tracks, and recognizing that speeds fluctuate between 10 and 25 between Royal and Waterville, totally recognize this is a farce...there are some sharp switchbacks that prevent many straightaway tangent sections. That said, Walnut siding in North Yarmouth is on about a 3 1/2 mile straightaway track (MP 181 to 184.5). Also it's a game, so physics don't exist (as much).

As I write this, flying through Danville. ~25 minutes to Portland.

[CN9634]

Might want to recheck Walnut….!

[petahgriff8316]

Might want to recheck Walnut….!

* Relative term. Still, you can just about see from the overpass at 181 (Rt. 9) to the overpass at ~184.5 (Rt. 115).

[CN9634]

Maybe I read your post wrong… I took it is Walnut siding was 3 miles long… but yes the main track straightaway is that long