It really depends on the day and what traffic there is. It's been anywhere from a handful of cars to a full train since they started running to Mattawamkeag. For what its worth, 120/121 rarely interchange with CSX directly. Normally they drop cars at either Kirby Siding (west side of the Penobscot River) or at Hardy Pond which is between Seboeis Plantation and Lakeview Plantation. EMR 909 is the actual interchange job, which now reports at Mattawamkeag does the interchange work. They pull the cars bound for NBSR and MNR, separate them and swap them with the cars from Kirby.
I only spent half a day up there since they moved the crew report point to Mattawamkeag, just an educated guess but I think they are doing a live meet with 910 (Millinocket-BVJ turn) at the bypass/Eastern Maine Jct. before heading back to Mattawamkeag. I am heading that way, depending on if plan A. doesn't run so I will correct myself as needed.
MNR also redid some of the jobs up there. 901 now runs from Oakfield-Millinocket as a turn job on the weekends, I am not sure if they also do that during the week. Previously that job had ben a Squapan-Millinocket turn but could never make it in one shift due to speed restrictions. Prior to that it used to be a road job out of Squapan which would work Ashland, Skerry, and Portage before meeting Train 900 which was another turn out of Fort Kent at Nixon Siding where they would swap trains. 504 has been reinstated as the Squapan-Oakfield turn for the time being, my guess is once MOW season wraps up and speeds are increased north of Oakfield, they might be able to get 901 to do the full Millinocket-Squapan trip in one shift. But we will have to wait and see.
On the topic of MOW work, projects are still moving along. Not sure if the surfacing crew on the Madawaska Subdivision has made anymore progress, but I know they intended on dumping ballast north of Oakfield the day after I was up last and had a loaded Herzog train in the yard.
It sounds like they have also installed some new 115 LBS main line switches somewhere near Squapan. When I was up over Labor Day, MNR had their excavator and some panels awaiting assembly at the yard. They also improved some of the track at the mill at Skerry and reconstructed two tracks at Twin Rivers paper in Madawaska.
The EMR tie gang should have started by now, if you haven't seen my last post they are doing 10,000+ ties from Vanceboro to Brownville Jct on the Mattawamkeag Subdivision. They will also be doing some bridge work later this year.
It sounds like they are still working on Knights Siding and have laid some of the track panels. It sounds like they are still having issues with water and drainage at the site which has delayed things.
At McAdam they are doing a tie job in the yard. It sounds like they could be installing a new classification yard in the coming years, which is to the left of where the live camera faces.
The Saint Stephen Sub has seen some major work this summer. Crews surfaced part of the line and have bumped up 18 miles from 10 MPH to a mix of 15 MPH and 25 MPH track. They have replaced rail for part of the summer, with 100 LBS relay which is still in good condition off the main line. Like I said in a previous post, this cuts 1/3 of the time needed for a round trip. There will likely be more work done next year. I haven't shot that line in over a year, so I am not sure if they upgraded south out of McAdam, north out of Saint Stephen, or in sections.
On the McAdam Sub it sounds like the rail that was being laid out over the summer is either about to be installed or will be installed soon. So far it sounds like it is only a few miles worth on curves and a few other spots.
At Saint John they did some tie work at the various yards and will be doing some work at Bay Shore Yard in the near future.
Someone also spotted a cut of Herzog ballast cars heading towards Saint John on 120 yesterday or the day before, not sure if these are the ones off MNR or a separate set.
NBSR is also operating a fall passenger excursion from McAdam to Saint Stephen on 10/4, which at the time of writing is sold out.
