Aerial photos of Waterville Yard

Amazing. Wow.

I hate seeing those GP7/9s in storage.

MEC407 wrote:Indeed. What really surprised me was the number of 300s and 500s being cannibalized.

It is very surprising that so many of those 300s and 500s just aren't being fixed. Many of them have been relegated to parts-donor status. As the deadlines continue to grow I can't help but wonder how long it will be til they have no choice but to either start fixing them, or acquire more power.

345 just recently returned to service, and that one was looking pretty bad a few months ago. It would be great if they could repair some more of those though, since they are getting shorter and shorter on power every month.

I wonder if all of those recently removed from service geeps really had engine problems, or were just pulled because it was not worth the constant upkeep. It seems odd that they would all have problems at the start of the new decade!

It seems like a very foolish idea to voluntarily remove them all at once, even if they do need upkeep, it is better than nothing. If they are using the GP40's for switchers in Waterville, what will they use for road power as the other GP40's keep disappearing? They need more power either way.

gotta say, for a locomotive thats been dead for over a year, being stripped of parts, the 681 looked pretty good!

And I too was surprised by they amount of highly cannibilized 500 and 300's...

Ah PAR and motive power problems, a novel idea

drcrf93 wrote:I wonder if all of those recently removed from service geeps really had engine problems, or were just pulled because it was not worth the constant upkeep. It seems odd that they would all have problems at the start of the new decade!

It seems like a very foolish idea to voluntarily remove them all at once, even if they do need upkeep, it is better than nothing. If they are using the GP40's for switchers in Waterville, what will they use for road power as the other GP40's keep disappearing? They need more power either way.

The GP7's and 9's are done. More to come.

I hear they are looking at buying some engines from another carrier.

general rumor there robbertosh. do you have any specifics? Last time I checked the GP40 market is awful tight.
I can understand now more than ever that they need more power, but this is PAR...

roberttosh wrote:I hear they are looking at buying some engines from another carrier.

That rumor keeps going around and around and around.

thebigham wrote:

roberttosh wrote:I hear they are looking at buying some engines from another carrier.

That rumor keeps going around and around and around.

I too have heard rumors recently. I have no idea if there's anything to them or are if they just the latest round of the same-old railfan wishful thinking that's been circulating for years.

What I can see as a railroad outsider is, the deadlines at Waterville continue to grow and there doesn't seem to be any major effort to make up the shortfall created by those growing deadlines. This comes at a time when traffic is no longer in decline. If anything it's starting to rebound. So the question is, when will Pan Am reach the point that they have to do something to keep the railroad running, whether it's accept hand-me-downs from NS, lease power, buy power, increase foreign power run-thrus, or start fixing the deadline queens? Based on what I can see happening or not happening in Waterville, I'd venture a guess that the chances of something happening soon are greater than they've been in awhile.

Yes, all 15 Helm leasers are now running, but two of them (6216 & 6318) are now off the property working off horsepower hours on NS. Regarding Waterville's "overhaul" program, they've only done three (310, 380, 381). I don't know if they've yet started a 4th. That's a start but not enough to have much impact on fleet availability. I agree that beginning the use of NS power on trains MOAY/AYMO has had a significant impact and has freed up alot of PAR power for use elsewhere. Has it been enough to make up for the longer deadlines? Time will tell....

Hi All,

Hundreds of you have visited my Waterville Page. That's great. I hope you are enjoying it.

http://samayotte.com/PAR_Waterville.html

I've got 3 other similar reports from last year.

http://samayotte.com/PAR_West_End.html (Ayer to East Deerfield)

http://samayotte.com/PAR_Nashua.html (Nashua Yard)

http://samayotte.com/PAR_Bow.html (the Bow Coal Plant)

Steve Mayotte