Danville Jct. to be "reconfigured"--finally!

Go to www.sunjournal,com for most of the story!

Bud

I was at Danville today and BIG things WERE happening. Both ST and SLR crews were very busy cleaning the entire area. The CN Boxcar that lay dormant on the SLR side was wide open and being cleaned out. A bucket loader was being filled up with junk and was than put into a dump truck for transportation out of the area. The lawn adjacent to the SLR station had little orange flags marking out where the addition would be built. Also it may be related or it may not but the SLR had a welded rail train come down today and they started laying down rail in the Danville/Lewiston Junction area.

The welded rail train was working Danville from the curve past Cote Rigging down the to turnout at the Route 100 bridge. My understanding is that this is the same train that was up in Vermont/Quebec, and that they only dropped 5 sticks of rail (which, at 1000 feet or so, is a fair amount of rail!). They dropped the crew of about 6 guys off at Danville around 19:30 and the train went west, at which point we went home.

The new connecting track is going to come across part of the field off the SLR and run down what is now station road - while we will lose the access down the road it will actually create better photo ops with better light when its done.

The old boxcar is leaving and apparently the siding and the track it is sitting on are both going to be rebuilt and extended.

So looking at Windows Live Local aerial photograpy, I can see that removal of the diamond and connecting the SLR to PAR east of where the diamond current is looks straight forward. Does PAR keep their existing mainline around the yard or does it get removed and a signaled main track get added to the yard? Will there be some ladder track reconfiguration at the east end of the yard? $5M seems like a lot of $ to remove a diamond, redirect a small amount of track, and add a remote controlled switch. Is the Danville West connection to PAR mainline a remote controlled switch?

http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&F ... &encType=1

Danville WEST (and East) are BOTH manual. PAR refers to this track as "The Danville Runner", and it has a wide variety of uses, from sets and pick ups, to a place for "canned trains"-alibi short ones!

Have a helluva lot of work to do around the house today, but plan to do a recon of Danville tomorrow.

Gonna be an interesting "yard", requiring Co-operation of BOTH railroads, and the "long crossover", at extreme WEST of yard limits(unable to be seen from actual junction area), that connects the 2 railines on the west, will get more use.

With only ONE truly active customer in East Deering(B&M Baked Beans; "raw beans"), SLR has only been making the 25 mile, or so trip once a week, so there shouldn't be much SLR activity on the west end.

I agree, with the SSSSS--seems a LOT!

Bud

I have heard two scenarios. One is that the GRS main will swing out and down teh SLR yard access road, outside of x237. I have also heard it will be on the other side of the main.

Both stories I have heard have a new long drill lead being put in with a couple more tracks, 9 new turnouts, and power crossovers under Billerica's control for moving between the two lines. The new SLR line is going to cross the field and into station road and hit the GRS line over by the brick ramp.

Guess we will all have to wait and see! Next time I am at town hall I will ask planning if they have any permits on file, and if so try to get a track map.

Will there be any changes to track 231? This is the SLR doubletrack from the station office up to the switch under the bridge at rte 202.

Anyone been there lately? Any updates on the work being done?

Will try & get up to Danville on Wed. Anyone notice how the weeds have been allowed to grow up on the ramp on "the wharf track", that Morin Brick uses to get cars of 'fire brick', and other type of brick that they don't manufacture, at their nearby facility??? Most of these cars were from Pine Hill Brick, out of Pine Hill, N.C.; usually took 3-4 weeks to reach Danville!

I did, and saw in last Friday's Lewiston Sun Journal, that Morin has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Will still keep the Danville, and Gorham(Morin-LaChance) open. They blame the slowdown in construction industry.

Bud

I was up there saturday morning and nothing has been done. I was told that they are starting the work in the spring since its so late in the year and they don't have their design finalized yet.

As far as I know, Morin brick is closing.

Warren

Morin is filing, but they are going to keep Auburn (danville) open.

Today Danville Junction was a very busy place. I arrived around Noon after missing the Business Train (So frustrated) but it was alright. There were many trucks around the junction. Flatbeds that were carrying track equipment were being unloaded by a giant truck crane. There were probably around 8 or 9 equipment pieces. Basically if you guys want to get pictures of Danville junction you gotta go now or you will be too late.
DJ-1 was 381 (Odd ball GP40) and was parked far away from the "station"
Also one thing I forgot to do but meant to was to check out the West end of Danville. This accessable from a dirt road just pass morin brick. The road gets a little wild but its worth the trip. I believe that track work on the west end will be one of the first matters of business. Getting the Controlled Switch installed and turning the interchange track into a mainline. If anyone checks it out please report back! Also I missed the opportunity to take a picture of the Expanded Bisson Warehouse but that place is now HUGE!

They are already working the other end at the long crossover.