"Up North" Gawking (District 1 sightings)

Being relatively new to the area, I am pleading ignorance before I ask this question. Has there been any talk of NBSR getting rights to use PARs right of way? A little "green" birdie mentioned it in passing when I spoke with them. But I wasn't sure if they already had them for some areas.

There has been plenty of talk, mostly railfan induced, about Irving running (and/or purchasing) to Northern Maine or even Waterville. I remember hearing this talk as far back as 2011, and nothing has come of it yet. Nor will it in the short term either. The ST job sheet had MA-1/MA-2 on for next week. These will be ST crews reporting to Mattawamkeag to run PAR trains down the old Maine Central.

So are these jobs replacing NMWA / WANM?

Yes.

POWA is stuck between Holland Street and 161 in Lewiston. Back of train is in Auburn by a Court St.


http://www.wmtw.com/article/train-break ... ts/8262127" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Rescued by 518 and 3003 off WAPO

WAMA/MAWA have replaced NMWA/WANM as of Sun. 11/13. Reports I've seen say the run is mostly nocturnal east of NMJ, with the exception of the eastbound which has been daylight from milepost 30ish to 'Keag. EB into 'Keag by 10:00. Train sizes look to be in the 30-40 car range, down 25-50% by my rough car counts from pre-CM&Q haualge deal. With the current crews there are 5 round trips/week. With EB's Sun-Fri and WB's Mon-Sat. Don't know if they cab everyone home or rest them in the Bangor area, but they are definitely using the 4 crews to run the service.

It also appears Irving has adjusted their schedule, as their jobs between Brownville and McAdam were routinely meeting in Bancroft of 'Kirby ('Keag) in the late afternoon, and have been meeting in the morning this week. Rumor hazit Irving was displeased with the transit times using an EMRY-CMQ-ST routing, and a schedule change would imply they are trying to cut transit times on the ST routing.

Is Irving still working on tie installation on the Keag to Bangor segment? Any speed limit upgrades or is the work predominately focused on getting the line passable? Will be interesting to see if the 85lb rail on the line is replaced sometime soon with heavier rail if the return to the Mattawamkeag interchange is permanent.

WA-3 Sun-Thur 1400
WA-4 Tue-Sat 0300
MA-1 Mon-Fri 1900
MA-2 Sun-Thur 2200

Local crews no rest, they protect each other.

I know they don't normally rest local crews. But I know in the past they used to hotel people at 'Keag.

It just seems stupid to be taxiing all 4 crews an hour each way every trip. Especially the MA-crews, because they have to call Dick's from Bangor to 'Keag to pick up the crew to haul them back west as far as the train made it east. At least the WA-3 crew is going off at the same time WA-4 is coming on, so in theory they only need 1 roundtrip cab WTVL-NMJ and back. When you figure in the hourly rates for the crew, plus the taxi bill, its hard to imagine its cheaper this way.

CPF363 wrote:Is Irving still working on tie installation on the Keag to Bangor segment? Any speed limit upgrades or is the work predominately focused on getting the line passable? Will be interesting to see if the 85lb rail on the line is replaced sometime soon with heavier rail if the return to the Mattawamkeag interchange is permanent.

Tie crew was in Bangor last I knew, that was a week ago. Surfacing started much later, still well behind, but I don't know where. No speed increases, and while the surfacing isnt done yet I doubt there will be many if any increases. The line was passable, but should now be reliable. Any major rail replacement would indeed indicate a long term dedication to the Mattawamkeag interchange. Whereas the current project would suggest they may be waiting until such a time that B&A is up for sale again, or another better alternate the current Mattawamkeag interchange exists.

Kevin do you know how long its been taking for crews to go Waterville to NMJ?

Video by drc930:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lawdh05wD7A" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Is that CWR in the last scene?

Pretty sure it isn't. I know the tracks up in that area fairly well, in particular those right behind Hammond Lumber as pictured. I think it was an optical illusion of the low light conditions.

KSmitty wrote: It also appears Irving has adjusted their schedule, as their jobs between Brownville and McAdam were routinely meeting in Bancroft of 'Kirby ('Keag) in the late afternoon, and have been meeting in the morning this week. Rumor hazit Irving was displeased with the transit times using an EMRY-CMQ-ST routing, and a schedule change would imply they are trying to cut transit times on the ST routing.

On Monday November 14th, NBSR Westbounds ( Trains 907 )began departing Saint John 3- 4 hours earlier than what was prior. In early October, I was viewing a YouTube Video by a Maine Railfan, of a Sunday CMQ Southbound from Brownville to NMJ. There was a 27 car block on the CMQ Train, that I recognized NBSR had brought into Brownville J'c't the Friday prior. So, that traffic sat for a day and a half at least, before getting forwarded to PanAm at NMJ. As KSmitty stated, I was also told by a NBSR employee awhile ago, that the company was not pleased with the traffic interchanges.

POWA from New Gloucester to Waterville by drc930:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzbol5O_FP0" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;