Rockland Branch Discussion

MEC407's point is very valid and, there is more. What is not being presented publicly and never will be due to uncertainty are unforseen dynamics that can affect such decisions.

I am employed by a world wide conglomerate and due to confidentiality/non disclosure policies, I cannot mention who it is. However, having been exposed to such public announcements and proceedings, I can tell you that often dynamics surrounding these planned events can change unexpectedly and suddenly causing a direct affect or, impact to whatever was initially planned meaning the closure wouldn't happen exactly along the timeline as announced.

Add to this the FLRR mindset of not relying completely on Dragon is a reminder that the notion isn't a simple soundbite put out there to appease railfans. Unless you're employed by FLRR, you don't know what they are doing to grow business.

This party isn't over yet so, I wouldn't be ready to write this one off .

F74265A wrote: ↑Fri Sep 08, 2023 7:20 am

JBlaisdell wrote: ↑Fri Sep 08, 2023 5:27 am If you're referring to BIW, they get nothing by rail now. Nothing strategic or secure about that. And Rockland isn't a viable enough seaport.

Now, if Emskip wanted a direct ship-rail transfer, Rockland might make sense. Stranger things have happened.

Are you saying the huge BIW fabrication facility near the former Brunswick naval air station is no longer an active customer? I’d be very surprised by that. Lots and lots of loads of steel have gone there over the years. I think the line at least to there stays as long as BIW is in the naval ship building business

They havent gotten a car in at least a year and a half. It all gets trucked from Saco now.

New Haven 1 wrote:MEC407's point is very valid and, there is more. What is not being presented publicly and never will be due to uncertainty are unforseen dynamics that can affect such decisions.

I am employed by a world wide conglomerate and due to confidentiality/non disclosure policies, I cannot mention who it is. However, having been exposed to such public announcements and proceedings, I can tell you that often dynamics surrounding these planned events can change unexpectedly and suddenly causing a direct affect or, impact to whatever was initially planned meaning the closure wouldn't happen exactly along the timeline as announced.

Add to this the FLRR mindset of not relying completely on Dragon is a reminder that the notion isn't a simple soundbite put out there to appease railfans. Unless you're employed by FLRR, you don't know what they are doing to grow business.

This party isn't over yet so, I wouldn't be ready to write this one off .

Exactly. FLRR saw the writing on the wall when the barge operation ceased to be. It’s part of the reason why they’ve been doing the bait loads, are exploring the idea of shipping bagged salt by boxcar, and tinkered with the passenger service. They knew Dragon Cement wouldn’t be around forever, and it’s a good thing they started exploring their options sooner rather than later.

I certainly hope there is room for optimism as the future unfolds. Having watched much of the same scenarios unfold in New England in terms of freight traffic for nearly 70 years (let's start with the paper/wood industry in ME, work down thru Essex County and Boston, and maybe quit in the Waterbury, CT area, as just a small example), I can only keep my fingers crossed and hope you're right - although I kind of doubt it.

So csx is dropping the BIW steel cars in Saco for transload instead of interchanging them with the short line. Interesting. Love to know why. There are several possible explanations

Multiple comments from early last year suggest that the track into the facility was paved over, and that was before Finger Lakes came into the fold.

bridpath wrote:I certainly hope there is room for optimism as the future unfolds.

I take the perspective of realistic optimism until proven otherwise. I will concede that the salespeople and marketers for Midcoast Railservice have their work cut out for them seeking new traffic, though. I'd be beating a dead horse saying that they're not throwing in the towel quite yet.

BIW hadn't got direct shipments to the shipyard in a long time. They received rail at their metals fabrication site in Hardings. Last year Hardings stopped getting shipments and they started going to American Steel & Aluminum in West Bath. An interim step before ASA's siding was ready involved transloading in Saco, but that is over with (for now).

As for Dragon, when the barge stopped going to Boston they didn't truck to Boston, they sourced cement from Spain instead. The excess cement production at the plant went to the southeast this year. Not exactly a sustainable supply chain. The parent co. has been investing in expanded import capacity in the Carolinas, so for those who were involved it wasn't hard to see this coming. Dragon's plant is maybe the highest-cost plant in the US since it is old, on a less-than-pure limestone vein, and doesn't have access to natural gas (it burns petroleum coke). When McInnis built their plant up on the Gaspe peninsula - a low-cost; high-production plant, the writing was on the wall for Thomaston as it wasn't going to be able to compete on price.

It's hard to imagine the remaining traffic being able to sustain service on the line. The only bright side here for rail in the region is that Maine is now going to have to import much more cement, so there may be a new transload operation or two that pops up to handle it. We'll see.

It’s absolutely unsustainable if they can’t get new traffic on the line. I wonder if Finger Lakes would try to market the property that’ll free up soon for transloading purposes? I wish I knew what they have in mind, guess we can only sit and wait.

I have heard that the Bath lift bridge is in need of major structural repair. This might be the tipping point which means that the bridge gets removed, and the Rockland branch (at least east of Bath) is no more.

Then they can reconstruct the rail ferry service on the Kennebec that preceded the Carlton Bridge that ran from Bath to Woolwich.

9 loads west today.

The one item not mentioned about service being unsustainable without Dragon is that the line is owned by the state. That goes a long way towards lowering the ton/mile threshold.

What are the chances that this is just a play to get the gas line from Belfast back on the table?

I was not aware that BIW stopped getting cars at Hardings. It seems ridiculous to transload not far away and truck in when you have service right to the location.

15 cars west today.

Finger Lakes management says they're holding out hope for the Rockland Branch for the time being....

https://railfan.com/operator-of-maine-b ... etZQ_G4Cw8