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  • Pan Am Railways (PAR) Maintenance of Way (MoW) Activity

  • 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.
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

 #1514034  by CN9634
 
artman wrote: Mon Jul 15, 2019 12:51 pm With new welded rail and crossings, why would the track speed be limited to 25? Wouldn't these changes bring it up to a much higher class?
Data proves limiting trains to 25MPH on track, even if it is rated for higher, has lesser annual maintenance costs. With low train density, ~4 through freights per day (2 past Leeds), or in reality, low tonnage per day throughput, it doesn't make sense to just blast through the the new rail and shorten the lifespan. If you had higher train density, and high revenue per ton / mile, then you'd probably make sense to go faster.
 #1514037  by newpylong
 
That is correct. Going to even 30mph means they still have to maintain to Class 3 standards. This is why you see a lot of controlled sidings at 25 when the track is much better. I will say (and I bet 690 will back me up), 25 is a horrible riding speed on freight. Things start to smooth out around 30.
 #1514074  by Hux
 
I would think the mental health of the crew would be put through the grinder having to bump, sway, and craaaaawll along at even 25, never mind 10 mph.
Last edited by MEC407 on Tue Jul 16, 2019 3:44 pm, edited 1 time in total. Reason: unnecessary quoting
 #1514156  by 690
 
So a point of clarification: Controlled sidings actually have slightly different rules than other main tracks. With main track, trains can't clear up at hand operated switches if the TT speed exceeds 20 mph and there is no electric lock at that switch. On a controlled siding, provided there are no intermediate signals within the siding, trains can clear up at hand thrown switches with no electric locks as long as the maximum speed isn't over 30 mph (Rockingham Junction is a good example of this, with the passing track being a hand thrown switch off the controlled siding, and TT speed not exceeding 30 mph). For the most part we still primarily use #1/#2 instead single tk, and controlled sidings.

Of course, if there is an electric lock then it doesn't matter, but both Pan Am and Keolis generally limited controlled sidings to 30 for this reason so they don't need to install electric locks.

As far as track speeds, 25 isn't awful when it's on welded rail. 40 is better, but 25 is still a lot better than 10. On jointed rail, doing 25 can make for an eventful ride over some of the track on District 1, but for what it's worth, in most of those spots, 10 still causes you to lurch and rock, it's just not as obvious. Mentally 10 is pretty exhausting though, especially in the middle of the night, or in areas where there's literally nothing to see, like east of Waterville.
 #1514173  by MEC407
 
In terms of boredom or losing your mind, 25 is not as bad as it might seem. 10 really will bore you to tears, though.
 #1519991  by PT1101
 
I stopped by yesterday and took a few pictures. However, when I try to upload them here, I keep getting a Http error message. I put them on the Pan Am Railfan site on facebook yesterday. Here is the link. https://www.facebook.com/groups/PanAmRailfans/ Scroll to the photos / Post by Chris Crangle. There were at least 20-30 people working. Only machines I saw were a tie inserter, cherry picker and tie cart, and a few front end loaders. Signal forces were working on and near the bungalow near Cassidy Point Road, West Commercial Street. It looks a lot better than just a few weeks ago.
 #1519995  by PT1101
 
Aw geez. I'm sorry. I'm not technically savvy enough to know how to fix it. It's weird, when I click on the link, it takes me to the Facebook Pan Am Railfan forum. Ill see about posting them via another method. Thanks for letting me know.
 #1520026  by MEC407
 
Here are the photos that PT1101 tried to post; you can click on the photos to make them bigger:
Cassidy Point 1.JPG
Cassidy Point 1.JPG (1.18 MiB) Viewed 2201 times
Cassidy Point 2.JPG
Cassidy Point 2.JPG (846.02 KiB) Viewed 2201 times
Cassidy Point 3.JPG
Cassidy Point 3.JPG (811.49 KiB) Viewed 2201 times
Cassidy Point 4.JPG
Cassidy Point 4.JPG (720.53 KiB) Viewed 2201 times
Cassidy Point 5.JPG
Cassidy Point 5.JPG (745.53 KiB) Viewed 2201 times
Cassidy Point 6.JPG
Cassidy Point 6.JPG (930.07 KiB) Viewed 2201 times
Cassidy Point 7.JPG
Cassidy Point 7.JPG (771.34 KiB) Viewed 2201 times
Cassidy Point 8.JPG
Cassidy Point 8.JPG (1.01 MiB) Viewed 2201 times
 #1520034  by PT1101
 
Thank you for posting them.

The first photo shows the track machine parked over a newly installed switch, which will be powered, (dual control actually) instead of hand thrown. The track leading to the right is the east leg of the wye which leads to CPF 196. The track to the left of the machine is the west leg and leads to CPF 197. The track in the bottom left is the track to Merrill's Terminal or Sprague (I forget what it's called these days.)

The second photo was taken from the same overpass looking in the opposite direction. This track leads to what was Yard 8 and now the Eimskip facility. The disconnected track on the right lead to Yard 5, which was on the opposite side of Commercial Street. Old timers told me the curve was so sharp that they often greased the rail in order to prevent derailing. The crossing mast in the background has looked like that (no crossing arms) for months. On this day, signal crews were running cable from the bungalow to the crossing protection. One sign lists the crossing as Cassidy Point Road. Another calls it West Commercial Street.

The third photo shows the new switches from ground level. As I said before, both used to be hand thrown. The one being powered looks as though they will mount a small signal mast near it.

The fourth photo shows the crossing and the track leading to the Eimskip facility. The area around the old Yard 8 continues to have new industry going in.

Photo 5 shows various signal equipment. Bungalow work, cable installation, etc all going on.

Photo 6 shows the "new" derail protecting the tracks into Merrill's.

And photos 7 & 8 are redundant, just with a different zoom, different equipment in sight.

Say what you want about Pan Am, the amount of crews on site, and the amount of work they accomplished during the time I was there were pretty impressive. Hope it carries over to the other numerous projects they have going on.
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