Maine Trains

Thanks for the summary. Fascinating to think of so many trains running between Waterville and Portland.

Also interesting to think of the Rumford Branch as being so active. It never seems that way but in reality it is in fact busy.

Used to be 30 mph too. Most of the branches are still in the TT...some 35 as well.

How many trains (not including Downeasters) are currently running on eastern District 2? (for the sake of simplicity let's say Rigby to Rockingham Junction)

At a very minimum you would of course have POSE/SEPO, POED/EDPO and DO-1.

I believe the other likely entrants are AYWA/WAAY (if they're even running right now...).

Beyond that I'm stumped.

That pretty much sums up what's running on the ol' Western Route right now gokeefe. You do have PO-? a few times a week out of Rigby to work the Biddeford-Saco area in addition to DO-1

Are POSE, SEPO, POED, and EDPO each running daily? How frequently are WAAY and AYWA running?

POSE,SEPO,POED,EDPO are daily.Haven't heard a WAAY or AYWA in a while.They may run an extra POSE once in a while though.

pnolette wrote:That pretty much sums up what's running on the ol' Western Route right now gokeefe. You do have PO-? a few times a week out of Rigby to work the Biddeford-Saco area in addition to DO-1

Thanks!

I think we should feel lucky that PAR is able to operate using these two paired manifests and the infrequent locals. I think the Downeaster could have problems if PAR needed much more than that.

How much space do they have for additional trains, two more pairs, maybe three (six trains total)?

I'll add that speeds have been raised between Leeds Jct and Danville (and probably to Yarmouth). A few weeks ago, I heard on the scanner that WAPO was at Leeds Jct. About half hour later I was walking into Best Buy and heard the horn. Couldn't be them, right? Well it was. I went in to get my item thinking it would take them a while to get through town. I was only in there for 5 minutes, then drove right down Turner St. No sign of the train. Ended up just catching it just in time at Allied Rd! Leeds Jct to Danville in less than an hour!

And I also tracked a RUPO that made it from Leeds Jct to Danville Jct, added five cars to the train and was on it's way west...all in about an hour!!

Before this work was done, I remember waiting this summer for 30-45 minutes by the library in Auburn for a eastbound that I heard at Danville. Ended up taking closer to 45 minutes to travel the few 4-5 miles!

The higher speeds have affected the chasing around here and my timing is still off! haha

Now I just need to catch the train passing through downtown to see those speeds.

Warren

While this comment is about NH, rather than ME, PAR will likely be seeking
major track additions as part of any agreement for a sixth Downeaster daily
roundtrip. One possibility would be reinstalling the second track between
CPF273 (Plaistow) and CPF258 (Newfields), 15 miles and maybe a set of
crossovers at the halfway point. Also, possible reconfiguration of the track
layout at Rockingham, so that the Portsmouth branch could be accessed
from the second track, without going out on the main line, as at present,
especially if the proposed major expansion of the LPG facility in Newington
moves forward with greatly increased rail traffic.

gokeefe wrote:

pnolette wrote:That pretty much sums up what's running on the ol' Western Route right now gokeefe. You do have PO-? a few times a week out of Rigby to work the Biddeford-Saco area in addition to DO-1

Thanks!

I think we should feel lucky that PAR is able to operate using these two paired manifests and the infrequent locals. I think the Downeaster could have problems if PAR needed much more than that.

How much space do they have for additional trains, two more pairs, maybe three (six trains total)?

They can do more, remember they had the oil trains as well a year ago. But crews and train management can be an issue... at times taking a few hours to go from Rigby to Dover

That thought certainly crossed my mind. It's really strange at times watching them seem to struggle as much as they do. Do they have high turnover in crews? Hard to imagine the physical plant south of Rigby is the issue. Perhaps their motive power simple isn't as reliable as they need it to be. Thoughts?

Was talk of adding a second track from River Road-Arundel to Log Cabin Road Arundel. But that was a couple years ago. Also talked of rebuilding North Berwick to North Berwick East.

gokeefe wrote:Perhaps their motive power simple isn't as reliable as they need it to be.

This is part of the problem.

Dick H,would that 6th Downeaster RT trigger a PTC requirement for that part of the route??