by trainiac
CPF363 wrote:CP takes control of the CM&Q next week. What plans does CP have for track work on the line this summer? Any sign of materials or track equipment as of yet? Will a new intermodal train to be added in the short term? How will Searsport work into the system?I can't answer system-wide, but I can share observations from walking past the yard in Sherbrooke last night - namely, that it's being turned back into a yard again.
In the MMA era the yard had roughly 4 tracks (plus the mainline) in addition to a newly constructed spur at the East end for the Orford Express. I say "roughly" because some of the tracks were in extremely poor condition, and toward the end of the MMA there were concrete blocks in the middle of at least two of them blocking off an area where the track had subsided (meaning cars were stored at the ends without passing through the middle). I don't think the third or fourth were used in recent years - and at some point the switch to the third at the East end was removed entirely. There was also a short spur that angled off the West end of the yard, which from what I can tell extended over to Roy St. Those tracks were removed some time in the late 2000s but the remainder of the spur in the yard was occasionally used by the MMA.
When the CMQ took over, the first track was thoroughly rehabilitated while the others were blocked off (and possibly partly ripped out) effectively turning the yard into a single siding. That has been adequate for interchange traffic with the SLR or other cars awaiting switching - although only barely, since I've sometimes seen the local switcher (a GP20C-ECO) parked on the former Orford Express spur. (The latter is now based in Magog). The current Google Maps satellite image shows the state of the yard soon after the first track was restored and the others blocked.
Last night I saw that a second siding had been rebuilt and there was a huge pile of ties in the middle of where the next track would be. There were also several ballast cars in the yard when I passed through in mid-May. I'm curious to see the extent of the work as it continues.
--Michael Eby
--http://trainiax.net
--http://trainiax.net