Activity on the Mountain Branch (Portland to Westbrook)

deeptrax wrote:I've recently seen some red LW boxcars with a little blue Sappi logo on the side, often on SEPO. Are these headed to Westbrook?

Highly, highly doubtful as those cars are seen up at the Sappi Shawmut mill all the time.

gokeefe wrote:Can anyone speak to the condition of the Mountain Branch on this segment?

Obviously PAR is doing enough to keep it open and operational. Does it receive any regular trackwork at all?

What conditions are the ties in (especially past the Portland Transportation Center)?

lol, the condition from Westbrook to South Windham is near perfect...except for the fact it doesn't go anywhere....

seriously though, I walk the section between Main street and Larrabee road at lunch sometimes, previous comments were correct, 10mph max in my estimation. Pan am puts in mtce to keep it open, but that is about it.

On the other hand...nice relaxing half day of work for the crew coming out from Rigby for a switch at the mill...

Blistering speed on the Mountain Branch from Portland to Westbrook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acTVSf2CUbA

Suppose they needed a recrew to get back?

MEC407 wrote:Blistering speed on the Mountain Branch from Portland to Westbrook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acTVSf2CUbA

They don't do much by rail there anymore do they? I knew there used to be, or is substantial trackage still there...

newpylong wrote:

MEC407 wrote:Blistering speed on the Mountain Branch from Portland to Westbrook: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=acTVSf2CUbA

They don't do much by rail there anymore do they? I knew there used to be, or is substantial trackage still there...

I am sure, no certain that PAR is doing everything they can to encourage SAPPI to consider using them for more than just paper chemicals. Hopefully at some point those efforts will pan out.

I didn't get video (it was dark and I was driving my car), but I actually saw a train in motion on the Bishop St. line earlier this week. I'm not sure if the flashers on Forest Ave. still work; they hadn't been set off yet although the train was getting close to the crossing, and ISTR the last time I actually had to stop for a train there, they had a worker with a red lantern walking in front of it.

markhb wrote:I didn't get video (it was dark and I was driving my car), but I actually saw a train in motion on the Bishop St. line earlier this week. I'm not sure if the flashers on Forest Ave. still work; they hadn't been set off yet although the train was getting close to the crossing, and ISTR the last time I actually had to stop for a train there, they had a worker with a red lantern walking in front of it.

Interesting...that's the first time I've seen or heard of activity on this line in quite some time. Must be a very infrequent exchange.

Was this the Forest Ave crossing or the one further down on Bishop Street? Doesn't the Forest Avenue crossing for this line have crossbucks only?

I'm trying to quote markhb here, but for some reason I can't get the quote tag to take.

Are we talking about Forest St in Westbrook, or Forest Ave in Portland?

The MEC mainline (PAR Freight Mainline) and the WN&R/WN&P line (can't remember what PAR calls this now) both cross Forest Ave in Portland; the MEC Mountain Sub (PAR Mountain Branch) crosses Forest St in Westbrook. The WN&R/WN&P Forest Ave crossing only has crossbucks and requires flagging when trains use it. The Mountain Branch Forest St crossing in Westbrook has flashers.

He's talking about the WN&P crossing at Forest Ave.

Yes, I was discussing the WN&P crossing at Morrill's Corner. The train was on the compass SW side of the intersection, near Plasmine Corp., approaching Forest Ave. I was thinking that the crossing still had flashers, but apparently I was mistaken. I have no idea how many customers they still have along Warren Ave., but Google shows sidings at least as far as Bluelinx (former GP).

markhb wrote:Yes, I was discussing the WN&P crossing at Morrill's Corner. The train was on the compass SW side of the intersection, near Plasmine Corp., approaching Forest Ave. I was thinking that the crossing still had flashers, but apparently I was mistaken. I have no idea how many customers they still have along Warren Ave., but Google shows sidings at least as far as Bluelinx (former GP).

So the trivia question of the week is what does PAR call this now? I wonder if it has an alpha designator as with all the other branches (L being the "Brunswick Branch").

My guess would be that it's considered an industrial track of some kind, rather than a branch... but I'm hoping someone with an ETT will give us the scoop.

Mountain Branch, got that from a daily speed restriction report I found in the ground at Danville several years ago. Ironically, none were listed for it at the time (November 2009)!