Grafton & Upton Railroad (G&U) Discussion

Well it's their $$$$$ to waste on a LOST cause.

GP40MC1118 wrote:https://www.stb.gov/decisions/readingro ... enDocument

The Gang Of Seven Returns...

D

They've lost before the STB once, went to court and got it sent back to the STB for them to reexamine (only for the STB to confirm it's previous ruling), and now they're going back to court because the STB came to the same verdict a second time? Dear lord, don't these people have anything better to do? They remind me of children who have never been told no...

I won't be surprised if the court just throws this one out.

HI all

Managed to catch the G&U a little Friday. Curious, any update on the power situation? GMTX #326 was working in Upton and I am curious now as to what power is usable these days.

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NellsChoo wrote:HI all

Managed to catch the G&U a little Friday. Curious, any update on the power situation? GMTX #326 was working in Upton and I am curious now as to what power is usable these days.

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I believe the leased MP15AC is the only unit that G&U has used for the past year or so. The F7 has been parked on a siding in West Upton for a long time, apparently needing repairs according to reports from over a year ago. The other Geeps/slug sit at N Grafton and to my knowledge have not been seen operating by anyone in quite awhile. My guess is that given the hilly interurban-style profile that G&U has to operate over, a single engine with AC traction motors has no problem lugging the handful of loads that go south to W Upton and Hopedale, versus using multiple Geeps and/or slug.

Just for clarification, MP15ACs don't have AC traction motors; they have standard D77/D78 DC traction motors just like the MP15DC and the MP15T. The AC in the model name refers to an AC alternator (vs. a DC generator in the MP15DC). The AC power from the alternator is converted back to DC before it is fed into the traction motors. This is the same arrangement used in all of EMD's DC-traction locomotives from the 40-series onward: AC alternator --> rectifier converts AC to DC --> DC is fed to DC traction motors.

From a traction perspective, I wouldn't expect an MP15AC to perform much better than a GP9 — their starting and continuous tractive efforts are almost identical — but the MP15AC would be more fuel efficient and more reliable.

NellsChoo wrote:HI all

Managed to catch the G&U a little Friday. Curious, any update on the power situation? GMTX #326 was working in Upton and I am curious now as to what power is usable these days.

http://rrpicturearchives.net/pictures/20990/9.1.17.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If it says Grafton and Upton on it, well it won't be running any time soon... As I understand it (and I could very well be wrong, or something could've changed) they do the basic maintenance on the power, and figured that they'd hire someone out for the heavy repairs as and when they came up. Now that comes down to the annoying little fact that the entire roster essentially died inside of a month... Some need power assemblies, others need some new traction motors, and then there's the assortment of electrical gremlins that always crop up on older power. When it rains, it certainly seems to pour.

Almost wonder if it is worth them biting the bullet and selling off the old stuff to fund one "modern" loco that works. I'd hate to see it, BUT sometimes such things need to happen.

That's exactly why Pan Am is going GE — not because they want to, but because they have to. Eventually you simply cannot keep a 50 or 60 year old locomotive running efficiently and effectively in anything other than a museum or heritage railroad situation. I'm sure G&U is feeling similar pain with their ancient fleet.

MEC407 wrote:Just for clarification, MP15ACs don't have AC traction motors; they have standard D77/D78 DC traction motors just like the MP15DC and the MP15T. The AC in the model name refers to an AC alternator (vs. a DC generator in the MP15DC). The AC power from the alternator is converted back to DC before it is fed into the traction motors. This is the same arrangement used in all of EMD's DC-traction locomotives from the 40-series onward: AC alternator --> rectifier converts AC to DC --> DC is fed to DC traction motors.

From a traction perspective, I wouldn't expect an MP15AC to perform much better than a GP9 — their starting and continuous tractive efforts are almost identical — but the MP15AC would be more fuel efficient and more reliable.

Apologies for my mis-information on the AC designation. And I appreciate your correcting the record.

No apology necessary! EMD's designation is confusing, especially since they used the letters AC in later models to designate AC traction motors.

It's too bad they never introduced a modern end-cab switcher with an 8-cylinder 710 engine and AC traction motors; that would've been the ultimate switcher.

Does anyone know the status of G&U's N Grafton propane transload facility? Is it operational? If not why not? And if not when might it take its first loaded LPG tanker? Propane season is upon us!

Thanks.

They must be pretty close I'd think.. They have established a tarriff for transloading LPG..
EDIT 11/3/2017 1846EDT - View or download the entire tarrif at: http://www.graftonuptonrr.com/wp-conten ... -17-12.pdf

Thanks for posting that. The wording is interesting: charging $0.0575 for transfer from rail car to truck - there's no mention of the storage tanks that are to be used for offloading the tank cars. I wonder if this language is used to prevent those opposed to the facility to argue the LPG transload isn't a railroad operation a la the wood pellet bagging operation in W Upton, where opponents allege bagging is a manufacturing operation that isn't protected by interstate commerce rules?