Portsmouth Branch Activity

The current trend lately is to arrive at Rockingham late afternoon, runaround train and head to Portsmouth. If they get in town early enough they may do some work or just can and go home. I guess they have been parking the engine at Gosling overnight now days. Either way they finish up next day and head back to Rock and then back to Portland.
This week they came in Monday night worked Tuesday and went to Rock on Wednesday as far as I could keep track of.
Its hit or miss, usually in twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays but you never know.

Very helpful info, and I appreciate it!

No recent updates on Sea-3? The big tie pile still in Portsmouth yard?

From what I've heard the big pile of ties is for the Sarah Long bridge project supposed to be a ballasted deck so we'll see. As for Sea, a friend of mine works on the waterfront and said he heard Sea-3 was for sale and nothing has happened up the in regards to the expansion. I think they have had approval to build now for almost two years. I'll keep my eyes and ears open.

DO-1 arrived Portsmouth last night around 17:30 ish. This morning at 11:15 they headed out of the yard to Newington with 2 centerbeams for Boise and 5 Propanes for Sea-3. A private contractor is replacing ties on the Boise spur.

Heard DO-1blowing for crossings in Greenland around 15:30 headed to Rockingham

Sarah Mildred Long Bridge Replacement Project wrote: As the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge continues to be built, the opening ceremony, scheduled for Friday, December 1st has been postponed. Due to weather constraints, the opening celebration will be held in the spring of 2018. This will allow additional time for planning and coordination with the communities of Kittery, ME and Portsmouth, NH.

The Sarah Mildred Long Bridge is still scheduled to be opened to traffic by years’ end.

From their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/SarahMildredLongBridge/

Re: the tie pile in the yard,
There was a plan to rebuild all the crossings in the city during the 2017 track work season. Doesn't look like that's gonna happen now.

BM6569 wrote:No recent updates on Sea-3? The big tie pile still in Portsmouth yard?

I questioned David Fink Jr. last week (at the TRNE meeting) about Sea-3. He said Sea-3 was bought out by Blackline Midstream and will installing pumps to reverse the flow of oil to ships, rather than the other way round. When that is done, PAR will upgrade the track on the Portsmouth Branch.

PS - Fink Jr. is a real nice guy and very eager to talk about his railroad.

arthur d. wrote:Re: the tie pile in the yard,
There was a plan to rebuild all the crossings in the city during the 2017 track work season. Doesn't look like that's gonna happen now.

The Maplewood Ave rebuild is in the NH 10-year plan (preliminary). Due for construction in 2026.

artman wrote:PS - Fink Jr. is a real nice guy and very eager to talk about his railroad.

He is indeed.

My buddy reported to me as of this morning the 354 and 21 cars are sitting at Rockingham 8 of them were there since the 14th. So there's now 12 propane 2 reefers for Highliner and 6 Boise and an 1 empty gon. Should be a busy day on the Portsmouth branch.

DO-1 left Rockingham for Portsmouth with 3 Boise 2 Highliners and 5 propane at 14:02


DO-1 idling the night away on the pads at Gosling road in Newington.

artman wrote:

BM6569 wrote:No recent updates on Sea-3? The big tie pile still in Portsmouth yard?

I questioned David Fink Jr. last week (at the TRNE meeting) about Sea-3. He said Sea-3 was bought out by Blackline Midstream and will installing pumps to reverse the flow of oil to ships, rather than the other way round. When that is done, PAR will upgrade the track on the Portsmouth Branch.

PS - Fink Jr. is a real nice guy and very eager to talk about his railroad.

So, it will now be export instead of import? How does this play out for the railroad now?

No idea. One correction. Pretty sure Sea-3 is propane only. That being the case the export possibility is interesting. There apparently is more volume than import based on the capital investment being made.

Given that I and many if us here are not exactly avid readers of LP Gas Magazine (no joke) I can see how this was missed. Outlook for Pan Am is excellent.

Article:

Sea-3’s assets consist of 530,000 barrels of propane storage, a five-lane 24/7 truck-loading rack, an ocean-access marine vessel receiving/loading dock and a six-spot rail-receiving rack. In addition, Sea-3 has a fully approved upgrade project, which will significantly increase the rail-unloading capacity of the terminal, giving it access to both domestic and international markets, Blackline Midstream adds.

“With the rail expansion project, we will be able to remain competitive under any market supply scenario,” says David Herr, vice president of marketing at Blackline, who will manage product commercial operations for Blackline Midstream.
...
“Blackline’s deeply experienced operations management team combined with TSSP’s financial strength and expertise position us to integrate Sea-3 into a strong, well-equipped midstream growth platform,” says Mike Day, CEO of Blackline Partners. “We will immediately commence the rail expansion project at Newington in order to position Sea-3 as the most flexible and reliable propane supply terminal in the Northeast United States. On a personal note, as a native of New England, it is a privilege to be able to invest in the people and infrastructure of New England that serve the energy needs of the region.”