Railroad Forums 

  • Paper Related Traffic and Cars

  • 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

 #1002792  by gokeefe
 
I don't know how much Mellon paid for the MEC or the B&M but I have a feeling he could not have afforded to purchase one of the "major" paper mills (Jay, Bucksport, Rumford). I don't think their value has ever been as low as the MEC or the B&M were when he bought them in the early '80's.

Strictly speculation on my part but it certainly makes me wonder especially since the paper mills have been consistently profitable for so long unlike the railroads.
 #1002836  by TomNelligan
 
Paper mills may well have been a good investment in the early 1980s, but Mellon's interest at the time was to get into the railroad business, not the paper business.

(The B&M was purchased for $24 million. I don't have the MEC sale price handy.)
 #1002864  by KSmitty
 
From general consensus here, the D&H sold for $500,000. Thats a pretty good price that I'm sure is well below the going price of a paper mill in '84.
 #1004884  by ihdavis1
 
On my way back from a basketball game at Maine Maritime Academy in Castine (we won 85-43), I noticed that B&M GP40 #340 was switching the paper mill at Bucksport. This was around 8:30 tonight and I was surprised to see it switching this late. Is it common for Pan Am to switch out the mill this late?
 #1004897  by KSmitty
 
I don't know times, but I was surprised to learn that the Buckie mill has its own switch job with a unit at the mill all the time. I suppose that would lead to service "as needed" and would explain a late switch.

Grats on winning! Who do you play for?
 #1005130  by KSmitty
 
Today 1/7/11 there were 7 more pulpwood load on the siding at Leeds Jct. waiting to head up the branch. Again they were CN cars, 6 WC marked and 1 AC marked car. Whatever the reasoning, its nice to see them back!
 #1006468  by bar358
 
NEW FLASH! WC/AC wood cars have been going to Rileys for YEARS! This is nothing new. Like wise the only new thing with the Bucksport mill switcher is that their is now only one instead of two as had been the norm the last 20 years.
 #1006475  by KSmitty
 
bar358 wrote:NEW FLASH! WC/AC wood cars have been going to Rileys for YEARS! This is nothing new. Like wise the only new thing with the Bucksport mill switcher is that their is now only one instead of two as had been the norm the last 20 years.
If its been happening for years they must have invented some really awesome invisible bulkheads! Two months ago when I saw the first pulpwood loads on the siding at Leeds Jct. was the first time in 5+ years I'd seen a bulkhead. Not saying it hasn't happened before, dad always talks about being able to smell the trains when they would go through from all the pulpwood. But of recent I remember no pulpwood loads and certainly nowhere near the current level of, from what I see, about 7-10 loads every couple days. While not bulletproof proof, various satalite imagery of Rileys over the last 10 years shows almost no bulkheads and recent pictures posted online also show a lack of bulkheads on trains in the Leeds area.

As for the Buckie Mill switcher, when I learned there was a job I also learned it had been a long standing job, I never implied it was new. I just mentioned it was a pleasant surprise that the mill warranted its own switch job!
 #1006560  by bubbytrains
 
BAR358 is correct. The WC/AC wood cars have been going to one of the mills on the branch for at least a couple of years. It should be noted though that this traffic does not amount to a lot of cars and does not make an appearance on most of the Rumford Branch trains, so it would easily escape notice. Seems to come and go in little spurts. I even saw a couple of black cars a year or so ago that were from (IIRC) GMRC.
--ARS
 #1012298  by gokeefe
 
Among several other significant updates in Trains magazine (March 2012) Fred W. Frailey has a "Commentary" section (adapted from a blog post on TrainsMag.com) titled "Pan Am Southern is coming of age" which discussed Pan Am Southern's continuing improvements and expansion.

Of note for PAR's paper traffic service:

1. As part of the article Mr. Frailey interviewed the President of PAR, Mr. David Fink, Jr.. Mr. Frailey indicates that PAR is "...working closely with the Maine paper mills to design new services." and then quotes Mr. Fink saying, "Things we really didn't go after before, we are going after now."

I have no idea what the logical meaning of this in the context of paper service is but apparently something is going on and PAR is apparently rethinking their paper mill service model for the first time in decades. Given the importance of Maine based paper related traffic to PAR I found this quote to be a very significant comment by the President of PAR in regards to their current state of mind regarding their business in Maine.

Here is a link to the "storefront" webpage for the March 2012 issue of trains.
 #1018855  by festis
 
mick wrote:Still saw pulpwood on trains in 90's-early 2000's, then none, then some, then none, then some more, ya never know. The big clay slurry uber-conglomerate now is IMERYS, JM HUBER is still around but because of some legal thing they don't put the logos on the cars anymore, also many paper co.'s have switched to limestone slurry, which comes from OMYA.
Any boxcar with GMRC reporting marks is actually owned by GE Capital, they switch around reporting marks on cars all the time for legal reasons, some get changed to EEC, MSDR, NOKL, YKR, etc., but it is all legal mumbo-jumbo by uber-super-huge-multi-billon-dollar corporations that own most railcars now.
IMERYS cars do not cary a company logo either...generally GATX or UTLX leases. HUBER, IMERYS, and BASF (former Englehard) are all basically digging out of the same clay deposit in Georgia. Their mines are not more than 25 miles away from each other. Properites are considered to be essentially the same, and manufacturers jump from one to the other on a cost basis frequently.

One does not switch from clay to limestone....two very different materials imparting very different properties to paper. try writing on a chalkboard with clay instead of Chalk (limestone)....you will see the difference!
 #1019419  by roberttosh
 
While I'm not 100% certain, I was under the impression that Limestone Slurry can be used instead of Kaolin. I'm sure they have to modify their machines, but in the end, they are both a filler and it seems to me that a lot of the mills up in Maine have changed their Limestone volumes over the years.
 #1068374  by gokeefe
 
Heard this past week that Verso is now in bankruptcy. I will look for an article (if there is one).
 #1068377  by gokeefe
 
Apparently Verso has proposed a merger with NewPage. Coverage from Bloomberg
Verso Paper Corp. (VRS), a U.S. maker of coated paper used in magazines, jumped the most in almost four months after saying it proposed a merger with NewPage Corp., a rival that filed for bankruptcy in September. The shares rose 48 percent to $1.73 at the close in New York, the biggest gain since March 8. Verso has held discussions with some holders of closely held NewPage’s 11.375 percent first-lien senior secured notes, Memphis, Tennessee-based Verso said today in a statement. Under the terms of Verso’s proposed deal, the holders of the notes would get $1.08 billion of new Verso notes, $150 million of new Verso stock and $200 million in cash. NewPage doesn’t support the bid, which poses “significant downside risks” for its “stakeholders,” workers and business, the Miamisburg, Ohio-based company said today in a separate statement. NewPage said it doesn’t anticipate further discussions about the proposal. Verso and NewPage have struggled financially amid declining demand for magazine paper while tablet computers such as Apple Inc.’s iPad become increasingly popular. Verso has posted net losses for nine consecutive quarters, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.