Crude Oil #606 19-9-2012

A loaded crude oil has departed Farnham for Saint John N.B this afternoon. Power, MM&A 758 ICE 6450 6400 MM&A 8202 5026

http://steelribbon.smugmug.com/Other/60 ... &k=pDFs3dp


Frank

Great shots as usual Frank. It will be interesting to see what power if any runs through to Saint John. Also with the new unloading racks done, if a quicker return of equipment happens.

Excellent shots. Thanks for posting them. I am in the Eastern Townships regularly, but don't get lucky enough to see the oil trains. How many cars did this one have and what is the usual turn around time for the empties. Thanks.

Thanks for the feedbacks. Sorry, for the late reply. Loaded trains usually has 80 cars and a buffer. As for Empties, it depends. It could be well over 100 cars. The turn around is about a week, I believe. Another one has departed Farnham tonight. It came from Montreal yesterday. I snapped few shot near Montreal as the power leads # 1 to Montreal, then #606 east before sunset yesterday.


http://steelribbon.smugmug.com/Other/58 ... B&lb=1&s=A
http://steelribbon.smugmug.com/Other/58 ... 3&lb=1&s=A


Frank

To follow up the last post, about how many oil trains are there per week (not counting the empty returns)? I'm guessing 1 or 2. JS

About 2 but they run enough of it on general freight that some weeks the equivalent may be almost equal to 3.

Does anyone know if the sources of the crude are the same place for the unit trains as for the "loose" car shipments?

Does anyone know if the sources of the crude are the same place for the unit trains as for the "loose" car shipments?

CN9634 wrote:About 2 but they run enough of it on general freight that some weeks the equivalent may be almost equal to 3.

Wow, so that is something like almost 200 to close to 300 cars per week coming down from Quebec. Could be more than the rest of the freight on that route put together. JS

Probably more like 150-250 but yes it is quite a bit.

It was announced that Irving has made a deal with CP Rail, that the Bakken sourced crude will be delivered to the Port of Albany and then transported by ship to Saint John. Two tankers would be used to transport the fuel. It is said that this arrangement will begin in November.

This is from a reliable source.....

Perhaps the oil trains on the MM&A are safe, since Irving just completed their large rail tank car unloading facility in St. John. Perhaps the contract to move Bakken crude through the port of Albany is a way to crush down the price of what the Pan Am and MM@A charge. This is typical of Irving, to get the last nickel.

I was thinking the exact opposite actually. The PAS/R trains were safer as they are loaded on BNSF, whereas the MMA trains are CP originating and may go the way of Albany. Not sure how the haul works with MMA and NBSR with CP overhead traffic and rate structures as opposed to a straight CP haul down the D&H to Albany or BNSF/CSX/PAR/NBSR routed trains. Way beyond my scope of knowledge. Interesting times especially with the potential amount of traffic at stake for all roads involved.

Once again, crude isn't new business in Saint John, the source is what is different. This is going to replace other tankers that ALREADY come into Saint John from foreign sources. That's because Bakken is cheaper. The rail and the ships supplement each other.

http://www.sjport.com/english/port_serv ... report.asp

Look at this URL and count all the crude oil ships from foreign ports.

The discussion raises the question of a potential loss of any or all of the railed oil through New England in lew of using tankers from Albany to Saint John, not that domestic crude is replacing foreign crude.