Lewiston Industrial Track/Lewiston Lower Rd/Branch status

bubbytrains wrote:

miketrainnut wrote:Thanks Alan. 38.8 must be pretty close to that loading dock. It's just about a mile by road from the station to McD's. May be a little more. I never clocked it.
Mike

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe the loading dock is NOT beyond the state-owned section. It wouldn't make sense to stop just short of it. Certainly is close.

I wrote to Nathan Moulton, Rail Program Director for the Maine DOT, and he confirmed that the loading dock IS within the state-owned section. Good news!

-Alan S.

bubbytrains wrote:

bubbytrains wrote:

miketrainnut wrote:Thanks Alan. 38.8 must be pretty close to that loading dock. It's just about a mile by road from the station to McD's. May be a little more. I never clocked it.
Mike

Maybe I am wrong. Maybe the loading dock is NOT beyond the state-owned section. It wouldn't make sense to stop just short of it. Certainly is close.

I wrote to Nathan Moulton, Rail Program Director for the Maine DOT, and he confirmed that the loading dock IS within the state-owned section. Good news!

-Alan S.

About that loading dock - when I open the Bing link (on page 5), it opens to a point (labeled Grimmels - OK) on Pejepscot Village Main St, close to its intersection with Whitehouse Ave., near what looks like an (old) water tower - no loading dock. I've tried scanning the area, following the tracks, and cannot find that loading dock - could anyone provide better directions to find it? (Grimmel and the wood processing plant are easy to find)

This link should give you a good look at the loading dock. http://bit.ly/8FhIUg

pinwizard1971 wrote:This link should give you a good look at the loading dock. http://bit.ly/8FhIUg

Thanks, that explains it - the first link was nowhere near that location (instead, it was close to Grimmels)

Sir Ray wrote: About that loading dock - when I open the Bing link (on page 5), it opens to a point (labeled Grimmels - OK) on Pejepscot Village Main St, close to its intersection with Whitehouse Ave., near what looks like an (old) water tower - no loading dock. I've tried scanning the area, following the tracks, and cannot find that loading dock - could anyone provide better directions to find it? (Grimmel and the wood processing plant are easy to find)

Sorry about that, I updated the link on page 5 to the correct link. Sometimes I have trouble with bing links, I think because I am using Chrome as a browser, or it could just be operator error.

To clarify............can someone give a link on Bing Maps, that views the exact location where the Grimmel loading is presently being conducted ?

I've aerial viewed the spur to Grimmels and it does appear to have track removed on the lower end toward the plant. Was the lower end of the spur re-habbed and as mentioned in a previous post..........the spur is nearly 7000 feet...........how much of the spur is actually being used ?

Thanks beforehand with any info.

Can you comment on high-sided versus low sided gondolas, and what applications would require use of each type? I am sure that weight is the over-riding factor, which would lead me to believe that the Grimmel's material is "light"

I'm no big expert on this car type, so others, jump in to correct me if need be. To your point, car size is commodity density-related. Gons for scrap steel have traditionally been ~55' with 5' sides; "mill" gons are 65' with similar side heights, and are used more for structural steel, coils, etc. Two things have been changing the landscape - the advent of 286k gross weight loading and new loading rules that prohibit product from being mounded above the height of the car sides. Both translate into the need for higher cubic capacity, i.e., longer length and higher walls.

Ok, why I don't understand Grimmel's move to get cars, and these cars in particular:

Size: Grimmel's cars are 60' (interior length), 9' 5" high sides, 6,800 cu ft, 82,800 lbs tare, 286k gwl... in other words, a big mother of a gon. First of all, to the best of my knowledge, that line (and connecting lines) are, and will remain restricted to 263k gwl. Secondly, Grimmel's ships ASR, no? The optimal material density for these cars is ~30 lbs/cu ft. Scrap steel is in the 50-75lbs/cu ft range and I believe ASR is close to that, no? If I'm right, why would they need such a high cap'y car?
Car supply: Along the lines of the old adage, "why buy a cow when you can get the milk for free..." Ok, no car is "free," but there is not exactly a gondola shortage. Perhaps they wanted cars built to their exact spec, but why buy new equipment when there's soooo much surplus equipment available in the market (then again, based on the cars' build date, the order may have been placed prior to the the bottom falling out of the market when car supply was tighter, but still...). If PAR wouldn't supply, there must have been leasing alternatives. Then again, maybe these cars are triple net leased or some such arrangement - which could explain their "personal" reporting mark. But net leasing a small fleet is an administrative hassle. Does Grimmel's ship from other, non-PAR locations???

Again, I might be all wet, but on the face of it, it doesn't seem to make sense.

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Highball wrote:To clarify............can someone give a link on Bing Maps, that views the exact location where the Grimmel loading is presently being conducted ?

I've aerial viewed the spur to Grimmels and it does appear to have track removed on the lower end toward the plant. Was the lower end of the spur re-habbed and as mentioned in a previous post..........the spur is nearly 7000 feet...........how much of the spur is actually being used ?

Thanks beforehand with any info.

In 2008 when Maine awarded the money to repair the spur it was described this way in the press release

Proposed project would rehabilitate a 5000’ lead track into the Grimmell facility to facilitate the shipment by rail
of shredder residue and shredded metal to locations throughout the country.

The work was completed in April of 2009. Source, Atlantic Northeast Rails and Ports Newsletter, various issues

MEC 374e/376w were up there yesterday 1/16 as light engines and picked up the nine cars that were delivered on 1/6. Also dropped off two hoppers for Maine Eastern in Brunswick. Grimmel's should now be empty of any cars.

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Some new photos have show up on NERAIL taken on 1-16 with the Grimmel cars:

http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=161060

http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=161061

http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=161062

http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=161063

http://photos.nerail.org/s/?p=161060

Are some of those people 'fans, or did PanAm really need a 5 man crew for this move?

bwparker1 wrote:Are some of those people 'fans, or did PanAm really need a 5 man crew for this move?

The two on the left are fans. When the train goes on the Lewiston Lower Branch, they pick up an extra crew member in Brunswick for some reason. So there should be three on the trip to Grimmel's.

drcrf93 wrote:

bwparker1 wrote:Are some of those people 'fans, or did PanAm really need a 5 man crew for this move?

The two on the left are fans. When the train goes on the Lewiston Lower Branch, they pick up an extra crew member in Brunswick for some reason. So there should be three on the trip to Grimmel's.

I like how the one guy has the neon safety vest on. Always railfan responsibly! One other question, where exactly was that photo taken in Brunswick? Are we looking south down the lower road towards Freeport?