CSX Track Upgrades & Infrastructure of Pan Am

[BM6569]

And I guess the rest of the rail arrived at Waterville. Maybe going east of there?

[CPF66]

Could also be for the main line in the yard. They have switches laid out for track 1 & 2 but only dropped rail from CPF-113 west. Which is anything needs rail, its those two tracks.

[CPF66]

The rail train dumped for track 1 & 2 at Waterville as well as a rail length in Benton, before heading to Orono to dump three lengths of rail, and the final one was dumped at ND in Old Town most likely to replace a small section of jointed rail Corman missed last year.

[hillsboyro]

MEC 507 and MEC 516 took 5 loaded ballast cars down the Hillsborough branch on the 17th. Not sure where they went with them because I don't think they had the cars with them when they left Wilton later that day. Maybe at East Milford? very cool to see 2 mainline locomotives doubleheading the Hillsborough.

[CPF66]

There should be another tie job this year, I am guessing to keep the tie gang busy once they finish on the Portsmouth Branch and the main, considering the amount of work which was done last year. There should also be some more work done when it comes to rail replacement, to fix the number of flying dutchmen, and broken rails on the Hillsborough this summer. I believe CSX is reusing rail from the rehab on the east end of D1 to do so.

[QB 52.32]

In light of recent discussions around new train start rumors, Maine's waste traffic potential, and as well transloading potential on Midcoast's Rockland branch, worth noting CSX's 2024 capacity and capabilities upgrading at subsidiary TRANSFLO's Rigby transload facility from 43 to 113 carspots as well as new heating and (waste container) lift capabilities.

[hillsboyro]

CPF66 what do you mean by D1? Deerfield?

[NHV 669]

Deerfield is D3... D1 is Rigby and points east.

[jwhite07]

More specifically, D1 refers to "District 1", which is a term originated at Guilford Transportation Industries in the 1980s to refer to the dispatching district then comprising the former Maine Central Railroad territory. So, here, if you see reference to D1 or District 1, the poster is usually referring to the historical GTI/PAR dispatching territory timetable east of Portland, Maine. Broadly, District 2 was/is the former B&M territory between Portland and Ayer, and District 3 was/is the old "West End" or Fitchburg Division west of Ayer and including the lines in Connecticut. There are changes and exceptions now that Pan Am has been sold to CSX and the former Pan Am Southern has gone to G&W/B&E operation (for example, CSX assigned the ex-MEC Brunswick Branch to District 2 and the former B&M Worcester Subdivision to District 1) but generally, if you think "Maine Central" when you see "District 1" or "D1" here, you're likely in the right place.

[hillsboyro]

Thanks guys!

[CPF66]

I forgot that CSX has been playing musical Districts over the last year. The rail I am referring to is from the Passadumkeag-Winn section of the main, the worst of the worst was sold for scrap, while most of the anchors and tie plates (which are no longer easy to come by) and the "good" rail were salvaged to use as patching material for the branches.

As a side note, for a while District 1/2 were being expanded and shrunk quite a bit. For a while District 1 also covered the Worcester Main and the main line to Plaistow. I am not sure how things are on the dispatching end of things, but having Rigby as the delineation point between the two seems like it would give better separation between dispatching desks. Does the Portland Sub run to Brunswick now as well?

[jamoldover]

Dispatchers and subdivisions don't line up on CSX with the previous PAR/GTI district divisions. The Portland Sub main line runs Royal Jct - Willows East (using the old names for the interlockings). The Brunswick Branch runs from Brunswick - Royal Jct. However, (to add to the confusion), the Brunswick Branch is considered part of the overall Portland Sub (when including both main and branch lines).
Officially (at least according to the December revisions of ETTs, the D1 dispatcher covers the Waterville and Worcester Subdivisions (and associated branches) and the D2 dispatcher covers the Portland Sub (and associated branches). However, as those who are listening to dispatcher radio transmissions regularly know, what's in place on the ground doesn't always match what's officially on paper.

Joshua

[bostontrainguy]

I know from personal observation that the B&M/Guilford railroad used Green over Green as their CLEAR aspect which I thought was rather unique. Seeing this recent photo, it appears that Pan Am Southern is still using it and probably CSX in New England.

I am pretty sure that most every other major railroad uses Green over Red or Green over Red over Red as their CLEAR indication. Was the B&M the only railroad to use this Green over Green aspect?

Always been curious about this.

Double green.jpg

[ExCon90]

The NYC, including B&A, used G/G and G/G/R in territory where they also used G/Y (Advance Approach Medium = Proceed approaching second signal at Medium Speed); I remember seeing it between South Station and Riverside in semaphore days. I was told by a NYC signal engineer that in territory where the blocks were so short that the usual sequence of G/R-Y/Y-Y/R-R/R still didn't give enough braking distance for a stop signal they would introduce the G/Y aspect in approach to the Y/Y. Using G/R for Clear in that territory would result in the following sequence in approach to a Stop signal:
G/R - Clear
G/Y - Advance Approach Medium
Y/Y - Advance Approach
Y/R - Approach
R/R - Stop

The Signal Department thought it was counterintuitive to pass a succession of G/R and then find that the next signal at G/Y is less favorable than G/R, so they used G/G in territory where G/Y was used.

I don't know what the B&M practice was, except for the traditional two-arm three-aspect semaphores, where the night aspects were G/G = Clear, G/Y = Approach, and R/Y = Stop, but I never heard of that being used on color-light signals.

[bostontrainguy]

Thanks for that information.