"Up North" Gawking (District 1 sightings)

[Mikejf]

I have heard rumors that the Rumford and Riley mills are gping to be serviced by someone else. The mills own the tracks, so instead of paying Pan Am to switch, they are going to pay someone else. Could be NBSR.. And maybe they will switch Old Town too.. Pan Am will still tun the RUPO and PORU trains..

[KSmitty]

From what I understand, the mills are looking for bids. Pan Am will be putting in bids, but it's very possible they won't win...Nothing changing till July 1 at the earliest.

Wonder if they regret selling the yard in Rumford? If they hadn't done that they'd have a monopoly on the switching contract.

Old Town is going to be switched "in house" by ND with a trackmobile. Volumes at startup will not necessitate a dedicated switch crew. Supposedly looking at putting track 1 1/2 back in service through the complex to the yard so they could make the move isolated from the main with the trackmobile. If they do all they are talking about to the mill a switch crew could very well be needed, and who gets the contract will likely be dependent on whether Pan Am sells the yard to ND or if they retain ownership. If they sell it, I'd imagine it would go to bid, but if Pan Am still owns it it would be pretty hard to have a contractor switch the facility.

[KSmitty]

Stud Mill is actually in Costigan, but like I said, switch is gone, but tracks are still there. iirc last time there was a move in there was in the early 2000s when they were unloading pipes or poles there. Westbounds could set them in, eastbounds would have to fly them in.

Pleasant River is on Hemmet Rd at MP23 where they've been for a while, like the better part of a decade anyway...

Costigan is an old IP facility long out of service, but I see rereading the thread that it mentions a facility they just purchased. Did they buy the Costigan facility?

[KSmitty]

I took at ride by OT today and the place looks like a ghost town. By the looks the station no longer has power, and I have heard that NBSR is now servicing the chipper at Mattawamkeg, and while making a delivery for the construction going on at the mill, I found out that Pan Am is reportedly not going to serve the mill, and by the sounds a outside contractor will be servicing the mill. I know someone on the Pan Am Railfans group on Facebook was saying something about NBSR either buying or leasing the line. I am not sure if it is true, but it is looking like it. If anyone has better information it would be appreciated.

They are working out of NMJ now since they have no reason to be in Old Town. Power is off at the office. NBSR is not buying or leasing the line. They have their own troubles up north right now, MNR is 10mph from Millinocket to Fort Kent with rare exception and they've had some derailments up north. They have plenty of money to spend elsewhere and aren't looking at taking on another troubled line.

Buried 4 pages back now was discussion about the reason for the close of the line. Speculation is that Pan Am Bridge and Building crews are supposed to be doing some pretty serious work on the e/e this summer, 286King all the bridges to 'Keag. Some other trackwork sprinkled into the mix as well. Because of this, the line is essentially severed and will be for most of the summer which would make getting NM-1 up there with any predictability pretty much impossible so NBSR may well be serving the chipper for now. I'm sure that will set well with the union.

[gokeefe]

Interesting news ...

Who owns the pulp/log yard at the West end of Mattawamkeag?

[KSmitty]

The log yard was an IP facility that transferred to Verso ownership. It was an active yard, but not rail shipper through the 2014 closure of Bucksport. After that its been quiet. Im not sure if Verso retains ownership or if it has since been sold.

[690]

Did they buy the Costigan facility?

Don't know, but the stud mill is in Costigan, so if they're talking about buying a stud mill, that's what I would assume. Looks like there's quite a bit of room for whatever they want to do there, plus rail service would be easy enough (just throw in a new switch on the main, and tie it back into the existing spur).

There is another facility (Madden Timberlands) at MP25 that used to have a spur, so that could also be what they're talking about.

[backroadrails]

In a recent video by "Maine Railfan" I noticed some odd looking box cars on NMWA, where are these coming from? Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdGN1gELPrQ

[KSmitty]

Which cars are you referring to specifically?

[backroadrails]

The CN cars at the start of the train.

[690]

Combo door boxcars? They’re regular boxcars with one plug door and one sliding door, basically the same thing as the ABOXs that frequent other parts of the railroad. Used for wood pulp primarily.

[A215]

From what I understand, the mills are looking for bids. Pan Am will be putting in bids, but it's very possible they won't win...Nothing changing till July 1 at the earliest.

It looks.like Pan Am may have lost the bid.

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[newpylong]

Now let's see how bad they put the shaft to them moving the traffic...

[gokeefe]

I doubt it. Notable to me that Watco, close associate of NS, got the job. Seems to me like they are doing this because they want more switching service and not less. Could be an attempt to increase throughput capacity on the railroad. If true I think Pan Am will more than have their hands full dealing with the possibility that they would have to 60+ cars per day from Rumford.

There is a lot of truck traffic that could be moved by rail if the mill was confident Pan Am could handle it.

[newpylong]

I was not referring to Watco.