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Railroad Forums
Freight Operations on the "Northern" New Hampshire Mainline
- Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Moderator: MEC407
I guess Pan Am won't be stashing any cars on that track any more, like they did in the fall of 2015. At the time, they cleared out a bunch of stuff from Nashua Yard and brought it up to Concord and shoved a lot of cars onto the Northern well past the point of the abandoned track.
BowdoinStation wrote:I guess Pan Am won't be stashing any cars on that track any more, like they did in the fall of 2015. At the time, they cleared out a bunch of stuff from Nashua Yard and brought it up to Concord and shoved a lot of cars onto the Northern well past the point of the abandoned track.The abandonment only takes effect at the Horseshoe Pond Ln. grade crossing, so they still have 2500 ft. of active tail track storage going from the switch with the White Mountain Branch and stretching underneath the US 202 overpass.
I am very familiar with the geography there pal, gee thanks for the lesson.
BowdoinStation wrote:I am very familiar with the geography there pal, gee thanks for the lesson.You said. . .
BowdoinStation wrote:I guess Pan Am won't be stashing any cars on that track any more.The observation that 2500 ft. of tail track space remains is a perfectly valid observation re: logistics of shoving cars out of the way in Concord. There is absolutely zero reason to get all slappy about it.
My sincerest apologies, the point I was attempting to make was that the last time Pan Am really left anything on that section of track that was not connected to a locomotive, goes back the fall of 2015. That is where they brought about 40 or 50 cars that were stored around Nashua and they stashed them on the Northern, well beyond the abandonment milepost. The Military trains from 2014 were shoved even further beyond that point. Sure there's a small amount of trackage left, but I doubt it will see any use.
No one operates over legally abandoned track. Are you sure it just wasnt out of service? Or owned by NH?
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:The abandonment only takes effect at the Horseshoe Pond Ln. grade crossing, so they still have 2500 ft. of active tail track storage going from the switch with the White Mountain Branch and stretching underneath the US 202 overpass.Will the official end of track on the Northern be Horseshoe Pond Lane grade crossing? Wonder if they will install a bumper there?
CPF363 wrote:According to the hundredths-of-a-milepost readings cited in the abandonment, that it precisely the spot. Doubt they'd install a bumper unless they really do start shoving cars back there, and the line of cars gets long enough often enough to approach couple hundred feet of end-of-track. They aren't at a loss for storage on the NA-# locals with Manchester Yard still rusting away intact. It's not like NEGS interchange is a real hoppin' place. They just made their first move of 2017 a few days ago, carrying two whole tankers to 3M and one whole ballast hopper to Hobo.F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:The abandonment only takes effect at the Horseshoe Pond Ln. grade crossing, so they still have 2500 ft. of active tail track storage going from the switch with the White Mountain Branch and stretching underneath the US 202 overpass.Will the official end of track on the Northern be Horseshoe Pond Lane grade crossing? Wonder if they will install a bumper there?
newpylong wrote:No one operates over legally abandoned track. Are you sure it just wasnt out of service? Or owned by NH?The track in questioned was just abandoned on March 22nd. Anything before that was still active up to Penacook.
It takes real skill to choke on air, fall up the stairs and trip over nothing. I have those skills.
b&m 1566 wrote:Exactly my point.newpylong wrote:No one operates over legally abandoned track. Are you sure it just wasnt out of service? Or owned by NH?The track in questioned was just abandoned on March 22nd. Anything before that was still active up to Penacook.
Everyone is dying to get their expert analysis in here. If you read my words carefully, and most of you DID NOT, I wrote this:
"That is where they brought about 40 or 50 cars that were stored around Nashua and they stashed them on the Northern, well beyond the abandonment milepost."
The cars were stored prior to the official abandonment in the fall of 2015, they sat there for a few months, and at the time, about 40 to 50 cars were stashed from just north of the White Mountain Branch switch to just past the Horseshoe Lane Crossing on track that was still in service, though rarely used.
In regards to New England Southern, I'd rather see some movements than no movements and 3M wants the service. That hopper was taken back to their yard in Canterbury, it sat on the north end of the Merrimack River Bridge during the winter months.
"That is where they brought about 40 or 50 cars that were stored around Nashua and they stashed them on the Northern, well beyond the abandonment milepost."
The cars were stored prior to the official abandonment in the fall of 2015, they sat there for a few months, and at the time, about 40 to 50 cars were stashed from just north of the White Mountain Branch switch to just past the Horseshoe Lane Crossing on track that was still in service, though rarely used.
In regards to New England Southern, I'd rather see some movements than no movements and 3M wants the service. That hopper was taken back to their yard in Canterbury, it sat on the north end of the Merrimack River Bridge during the winter months.
newpylong wrote:No one operates over legally abandoned track. Are you sure it just wasnt out of service? Or owned by NH?What would happen if they did? It wouldn't make much sense, but suppose some outfit was desperate for temporary storage space after an abandonment.
PAR does not always play by the "rules", along with many other railroads.
BandA wrote:1. They aren't going to do that. There's a small trestle over Horseshoe Pond about 150 ft. after the grade crossing that makes it too hard for crews to get out and walk along the cars to set the parking brakes. This isn't like the Greenville Branch fizzing out into the woods after the last customer. The pond is a really lousy canning spot to begin with.newpylong wrote:No one operates over legally abandoned track. Are you sure it just wasnt out of service? Or owned by NH?What would happen if they did? It wouldn't make much sense, but suppose some outfit was desperate for temporary storage space after an abandonment.
2. It's Downtown Concord, on a lakeside that can be seen all around from the surrounding density. And there's city offices right on Horseshoe Pond Lane itself looking at the tracks crossing the trestle. Spot a car there and it'll be noticed instantly. The fire station on the corner of Horseshoe & US 3 one block away is the first responder for any incidents at the interchange and the former yard, so they are up on their FRA contacts. If they get a call, the chief can literally walk up the block and see for himself that there's a violation and phone the FRA on his cell. Billerica will get hit with fines before the home office can even ID which crew and dispatcher decided to can there.
Also, the hardware isn't going to be sitting in the ground for long. NHDOT is expected to close sale on purchase of both this and the Hampton Branch in a package before end of 2017, per some Seacoast news item about the Hampton from a couple months ago. PAR's only appraised the abandoned Northern at $8000, which appears to be a counterweight to the too-high price they were quoting for the Hampton that's stalled that deal for several years. At which point it'll be state property and they can begin removing the hardware. Since this is a short trail gap and some of the intervening riverfront has parallel trails, they've got incentive to act quickly on the first couple thousand feet from the grade crossing for quick access to the first bit of publicly accessible greenery at the shores of the Merrimack horseshoe.