CENTRAL MAINE & QUEBEC RAILWAY (CMQ) — New Owner of MMA

[CN9634]

Actually, you could probably do what the SLR did and paint one side English and the other side French. Notice how the MMA never wrote out Montreal, Maine and Atlantic.

[ferroequinarchaeologist]

In the "been there, done that" category, CN boxcars wore CANADIAN NATIONAL on one side and CANADIEN NATIONAL on the other - may still be that way AFAIK.

PBM

[fogg1703]

A nearly $1M project involving rail in Beattie Maine (Near the border by Jackman) involving EJ Carrier Inc will bring a large spur and operation to the Moosehead. With this as well as Jackman and potentially Greenville recieving biomass for the power plant, it is certainly possible a turn job could come to the Moosehead. Perhaps a bit of luck for the CM&Q

Any chance this will be on the old ROW of the Jackman Lumber Gulf Stream Spur? The spur came off a little east of Lowellton(Beattie) closer to Skinner on the north side of the Moosehead and used to run some distance north towards the border.

[BandA]

Looked at the MMA website earlier today for nostalgia. They forgot to scrub the profile for Burkhardt, but did update the contacts to have the bankruptcy administrator.

Wonder how CM&Q will present/market themselves. Will they recall employees, reactivate services, etc. Probably radio silence until the transaction closes, when?

[MEC407]

From the Bangor Daily News:

The company in the process of buying Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway plans to hire more people and regain business the railroad lost after last summer’s disaster in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, although it is unclear whether the company will return to transporting oil.

The Central Maine and Quebec Railway, which is a subsidiary of New York investment firm Fortress Investment Group, made the revelations in documents filed on Feb. 14 with the federal Surface Transportation Board as part of the regulatory process to buy a railroad.
. . .
Giles told the Bangor Daily News on Tuesday that recapturing lost traffic does not necessarily mean the Central Maine and Quebec Railway plans to immediately resume carrying crude oil through Lac-Megantic, Quebec.

Read the rest of the article at: http://bangordailynews.com/2014/02/18/b ... l-traffic/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[CPF363]

Getting closer to when the CM&Q starts up, any signs of what they will be using for power? What freight can they go after and will oil trains begin to run over the route later this year?

[Gilbert B Norman]

Mr. CPF, a review of the material immediately linked by Mr. Maine Central, would provide a reader with a good overview of the plans for CMQ operations.

One could hardly expect that a new railroad is going to start its operations with a big 'splash'; railroad transportation is not exactly a 'B to C' (business to consumer) service. The noted linked article would suggest that there enough on-line industries that are prepared to return to rail as soon as the 'pre-Megantic' interchange gateways held by MMA are reopened, as in a world of $4.50/ga Diesel and an absence of Interstate highways, there is simply no way highway transport can be rate competitive with rail.

At this and the related MMA topics and if I have properly read the material, it has been noted that there is wood chip processing plant that could potentially generate enough carloads to assure the new road's viability. However, that discussion has noted that CMQ had best have a fleet of cars to handle that product under their control, for one thing I learned during my railroad career, is that he who coughs up the car, will control the routing. Thus if, say, MEC/PAR can provide the cars, it is safe assumption that a 'Shipper's Routing' will have any such cars short hauled on the CMQ and a more favorable routing directed towards that road.

Now of course the big ?????? is oil. While at the time Megantic occurred, the incident could have dismissed (although the loss of 47 innocent lives is never dismissed) as a small poorly managed Class II playing in the Class I's sandbox. In short 'Eddie was playing with fire'. However, there have been several derailment incidents on well managed Class I's, which had they occurred in populated areas, would have resulted in fatalities. While I first held that oil shipment by rail was simply a stopgap until the pipelines could be built, it is becoming increasingly evident that oil is here to stay on the tracks. After all, should there be need to divert oil while en route for reasons such as the price is more favorable somewhere else rather than where originally consigned, that can be done much more readily than is same were being shipped by pipeline. However, if CMQ is to get back in that game, best be certain they have property, including operating practices, in state of condition to handle such - an that the citizens of Lac Megantic are well aware of same.

Finally, the Bangor newspaper has a heads-up Staff Reporter; maybe, just maybe, they will hang on to him, for the quality of his reportage is what I would expect to read in The Times or Journal.

[NE87]

http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/natio ... ice=mobile

The Lac-Mégantic official said Fortress consultant John Giles told Ms. Roy-Laroche that he was in an information-gathering phase because the company was still unsure whether it wanted to go through with the MMA purchase. The transaction is expected to close some time in March.

“They wanted to know what we expected from the new owner,” the official said Wednesday. “It might be them, it might not be them, because they’re not sure they’re going to buy.”

Haven't seen this reported before - the meeting in question took place anout 2/25. is Fortress getting cold feet?

[CN9634]

Yes that came up on a prior page -- my thought, American diplomacy. They are going through with the purchase...

[KEN PATRICK]

cbr has become the transportation method of choice. 71% of bakken crude goes by rail. the 740 mile pipeline from texas to california has been scrapped. KeystoneXL lost a potential customer to rail. it might not have the economic legs once anticipated. csxt moved 38 million bbls through selkirk yard last year. there is a 400 cars/day potential for this railroad to st. john. i'm sure this is in their plan. ken patrick

[murray83]

Just wondering where your getting the 400 cars a day numbers from? I've talked to a few friends that work for Irving and the refinery capacity a day is 300,000 of different products like acid gas diesel liquid asphalt not all are shipped by rail

The current pipeline spec is 1.1 million barrels per day capacity honestly from what I understand irving is using unit trains as a temporary fix until the line is in service

The railroad sees it's future in wood products, the 2 announcements of mill expansions on nbsr lines are good for the northern maine and New Brunswick economy

[NE87]

It was reported by ANR&P that CMQR failed to close today which had been set as the deadline. Did they get an extension? Also hearing they are telling some shippers the east-west service won't resume until next winter.

[CN9634]

It was reported by ANR&P that CMQR failed to close today which had been set as the deadline. Did they get an extension? Also hearing they are telling some shippers the east-west service won't resume until next winter.

April 1st. I wouldn't be surprised. I predict first year (at least) they operate at a loss.

[oat324]

I wish Irving would just assume the ownership. Tell Fortress that they will pay them the purchase price and get these oil trains rolling again after a nice upgrade in the track.

[NE87]

April 1st. I wouldn't be surprised. I predict first year (at least) they operate at a loss.

Startup is supposed to be 4/1, closing was 3/14 to give them 2 weeks to get equipment and people together. Reading the court docs shows they need to reach an agreement with Lac Megantic to use the shoofly until the old ROW can be remediated or a bypass built. Based on news reports I'd say that Lac Megantic is trying to make a comittment to build the bypass a requirement for using the shoofly which is an non-starter for economic reasons.