CSX Acquisition of Pan Am Railways

BobbyT wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:24 am Sharp curves at both the switch off the B&A (at Union station) and to a lesser degree the one just west of Burncoat St will likely prevent much higher speeds along that corridor.

Even a solid 10 MPH and not needing to creep up to every switch or curve ready to stop is a world of difference if you're sitting in that seat and for getting trains over the road. It's just as much about the operating authority than the speed itself.

Yes, never knowing what's around the next corner. Might be 5 mph or less in fog or winter.

johnpbarlow wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 7:09 am These "new" CSX M426/M427 trains don't seem to be very long east of Worcester where P&W and/or Framingham traffic to/from Selkirk are picked-up and set-out. Eyeball observations show that train lengths east of Worcester generally run 30 to 70 cars, not including any Eimskip containers that are hauled on the weekends. Once B&E is up and running, I would guess it quite likely that EDPO/POED won't run east of Ayer with all or part of the consists being handled by M426/M427 east of Ayer. Just my opinion. But maybe in the future, CSX intends to fill out M426/M427 with domestic container traffic to/from Rigby?

When you actually have the train switched/together, with the power on, and ready to go for the crews OD time every single day then yes, your train lengths drop because there is less dwell time and they aren't needing to tack on tonnage that's been sitting there. There is also a cut-off point where you take what's made up and read to go. Pan Am is notorious for pulling an "oh by the way, 30 more from WAPO just came in" or something like that and making the outbound crew put them on their train and thus making them can down the road.

On the 426 side I can tell you tonnage is regularly being left in Selkirk. Anytime you see 426 with 2 engines tonnage has been left behind. Other times it may have 3, but still not full because the connecting trains never made it to Selkirk. Sometimes cars have to be cutoff due to over tonnage for the old GE's.

What you see on the road is not really a good indicator of traffic.

In that video, which was very nice, but it took about 5:51 minutes out of a 13 minute video for about 25 cars to pass. (someone knowing cars/mile calculate the speed pleez). At the end of the long video (which is the shortened video) you see the yard limit sign. Kitty-X has a need for more speed on this "worcester main line". [OT] speaking of invasive species, this is near ground zero for the Asian Longhorn Beetle, with 110 sq miles presently quarantined. Most likely started in Chinese pallets at Norton Abrasives / Companie St. Gobain, which I assume is no longer a railroad customer? Further OT, a university took some of those bugs in a SEALED CONTAINER to study if they can make an enzyme or something to liquify wood/biomass & turn it into fuel because those bugs are experts.

johnpbarlow wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 7:09 am Once B&E is up and running, I would guess it quite likely that EDPO/POED won't run east of Ayer with all or part of the consists being handled by M426/M427 east of Ayer.

How much of EDPO is bound for points east of Ayer out of Deerfield today? Does 16R, which now runs east to Ayer, have cars bound for points east of Ayer or is that all PAS manifest traffic from NS? Westbound, CSX will will have to generate a block of cars bound for B&E at either Rigby, Waterville or some where else so that M427 can simply drop that block in the Hill Yard for B&E to pick up before running west to Worcester and Selkirk.

taracer wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 9:34 am I'm not talking about speed, I'm talking logistics. It's a small but significant single-track bottleneck. Being able to keep moving at even 10 mph is better than having to stop and deal with the P&W.

The total cost in time for a train to make the run from Barber to Union Station is about 20 minutes. There's enough coordination between CSX and the P&W that when there's no P&W dispatcher on duty, the CSX dispatcher controls operation over that stretch of track. Unless there's a significant increase in traffic and significant decrease in cooperation, CSX isn't going waste millions building a duplicate track just to avoid some slow running for a total of 3 miles. It's NOT a significant bottleneck, especially compared with what needs to be done further north.

Apparently CSX is sending some of the former Pan Am ex CSX power for a system tour? Check the following video from Virtual Railfan on You Tube from Deshler, Ohio MEC 7534 and 7517 at the 8:00 minute mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR7KMUF ... WL&index=2

CPF363 wrote: ↑Mon Jun 27, 2022 5:33 pm How much of EDPO is bound for points east of Ayer out of Deerfield today? Does 16R, which now runs east to Ayer, have cars bound for points east of Ayer or is that all PAS manifest traffic from NS? Westbound, CSX will will have to generate a block of cars bound for B&E at either Rigby, Waterville or some where else so that M427 can simply drop that block in the Hill Yard for B&E to pick up before running west to Worcester and Selkirk.

EDPO has been running pretty heavy to Maine as I noted only a few posts up. M427/M426 may not end up handling that tonnage it may be a second job.

16R is all NS PAS traffic nothing East of Ayer.

Two things I wonder re: CSX traffic on its New England Division to/from Maine & Beyond:

1. Why is there no observable C&D and/or municipal trash business coming out of Maine headed for landfills elsewhere in the US? CSX trains M424/M425 and M436/I115 routinely haul lots of high sided C&D gons and, on the W Springfield trains, often have blue municipal waste containers, as well. And of course, PAS hauls lots of municipal waste out of Arrowhead and Republic at Ayer. M427 may haul C&D out of Devens re-cycling at Ayer on occasion but I don't see any such traffic east of Ayer (and that includes EDPO/POED).

2. I don't know the volume of traffic coming out of Maine and the Maritimes heading for southern New England via CSX (eg, Irving lumber to SE Mass, cement to Tresca at Millis, sheet rock, etc) but I wonder if CSX would consider blocking such traffic at Rigby for W Springfield and/or Westborough to avoid the round trip over the Berkshires to Selkirk and back?

johnpbarlow wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 6:22 am 1. Why is there no observable C&D and/or municipal trash business coming out of Maine headed for landfills elsewhere in the US?

Just a guess, but probably because Maine already has more than enough in-state landfill and waste-to-energy capacity to handle its own municipal and C&D waste without needing to ship it out of state.

Unlike MA (who banned the in-state disposal of C&D waste 3 years ago) Maine has not done so, and has capacity to handle their relatively small population.

May not have a large enough volume to bother blocking for Southeastern MA but time will tell as they grow the business. Backhaul is common if the cost (both in time and energy) is less than blocking to begin with.

There is another video by this same person that mentions Poland Spring water being shipped from Maine to Ayer and then trucked to the New York/New Jersey area. Would seem like a good opportunity for CSX to extend the rail haul part of the service.

Esp. because I can't imagine CSX being very interested in such a short haul.

bostontrainguy wrote:There is another video by this same person that mentions Portland Spring water being shipped from Maine to Ayer and then trucked to the New York/New Jersey area. Would seem like a good opportunity for CSX to extend the rail haul part of the service.

I remember CSX mentioning this but with lumber and not water. It was earlier this year. They said Pan Am was moving lumber to a certain spot and then it was being trucked to NJ from there. CSX said they could instead take the lumber loads by rail all the way to their Transflo yard in Newark.

I don’t know if they have started doing this though.