New or old customers that have returned

LPG in Maine all over the place -- Rigby and Biddeford mostly.

How about a much increased P&W interchange? I believe the 190 job started around the start-up of PAS.

It seems EDPL/PLED have grown in length. Has Amerigas propane increased volume?

I wonder if there is any chance that the Hannaford Supermarket warehouse in
South Portland or Shaw"s warehouse in Wells would start using rail again. Are
both switches still intact and are the sidings usable? I think both businesses
stopping using rail by the mid-80's. It does appear that few, if any, major
supermarket chains use rail any longer.

My first job was stocking shelves at Dan's Supermarket in Dover in 1956.
They used to get a carload of Campbell Soup now and then at the "Second
Street Yard" in Dover (now the Downeaster parking lot) and took a bunch of
the stock crew down to unload the car.

fogg1703 wrote:It seems EDPL/PLED have grown in length. Has Amerigas propane increased volume?

Amerigas's siding has room to tap 8 tankers at a time, so that's the maximum-size load they could ever get. There's been a bit of a new-home boom in Southington and Bristol the last few years, many of them using propane heat. So business at Amerigas and Forestville Lumber across the street are probably both up. But since each of them has finite siding capacity the length of trains on the Canal Line probably is the same as it ever was. They just may get deliveries slightly more frequently than they did during the housing crash. There's quite a bit more being done at Plainville Yard-proper since EDPL scaled up about a year ago. That's where most of the new loads are heading.


Not sure what this is about...but are those new track panels on the J.W. Green Co. property a few doors up from Forestville Lumber?: http://goo.gl/maps/98rWK" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. I wasn't aware that customer was still a going concern.

Dick H wrote:I wonder if there is any chance that the Hannaford Supermarket warehouse in South Portland or Shaw"s warehouse in Wells would start using rail again. Are
both switches still intact and are the sidings usable?

I didn't look around Hannaford, but with Google Earth (imagery date 09/2013) the switch to the line in behind Shaw's Distribution Center appears intact. It also looks like there's a derail (the type with an operating stand) not far from the switch.
The switch to the track alongside the DC is in shadows on the Google Earth image, so I couldn't tell if it's still there.

What's the other place that has a spur off that siding, the one by the intersection of Tivoli Dr. and Spencer Dr.? It looks like there are truck trailers parked where the track runs alongside that more distant building. Another former customer, apparently.

I don't have access to Google Earth at the moment, but I assume what you saw is the old Spencer Press building. They were the last company in Wells to use rail. That facility is now partially occupied by a candle manufacturer.

It's unfortunate. I remember sitting at the old Wells depot and watching a Rigby switcher doing all kinds of work there. Hauling empties out of Spencer Press, pushing loads into Spencer Press, hauling empties out of the propane dealer, pushing loads into the propane dealer. You could hear the switching noises over a 1-mile radius, which was fun for me as a kid because I could lay in bed and listen to nice EMD sounds all night long in the summertime...

MEC407 wrote:I don't have access to Google Earth at the moment, but I assume what you saw is the old Spencer Press building. They were the last company in Wells to use rail. That facility is now partially occupied by a candle manufacturer.

I just Googled "Tivoli Dr. Wells" to get back the the map, and the top results under Web were for a UPS Customer Center at 40 Tivoli Dr. The street is pretty short, so that might be what it is. (Street View shows Spencer, but not Tivoli, so I can't see what's at the entrance to it.)
I thought Shaw's was the building closest to the main line, but Street View shows "Wasco Products" for that one. The building further up the road (and track) that I thought was something-other-than-Shaw's seems to have more stuff on the roof that could be refrigeration equipment. There's a sign near where Tivoli splits from Spencer that says "Shaw's Receiving--Pull off pavement to the right--CB channel 4." :dunno:

It's unfortunate. I remember sitting at the old Wells depot and watching a Rigby switcher doing all kinds of work there. Hauling empties out of Spencer Press, pushing loads into Spencer Press, hauling empties out of the propane dealer, pushing loads into the propane dealer. You could hear the switching noises over a 1-mile radius, which was fun for me as a kid because I could lay in bed and listen to nice EMD sounds all night long in the summertime...

Good times. Hoping we might get them back.

I know this is about Pan Am customers, but wouldn't more freight on ex-MEC lines like the Rockland Branch mean more traffic for PAR? (Yhe mention of propane made me think of that, but I doubt LP will be coming back to Waldoboro by rail anytime in this century.)
Food for thought; we can kick that around some more, or I can stop dragging the thread away from its original topic.

All of the products sold at Shaws and Hannafords are trucked to the DC,there's 1 item that could be shipped by rail,
Recycled Cardboard back to the paper mills,the stores send the broken down,baled cardboard back to the DC for
disposal/recycling,perfect for boxcar movement back to the mill,both DC's could fill 2-3 boxcars easy of this material
in a week.

If memory serves,Shaws sent recycled cardboard to a mill in Quebec,just over the US border.

I remember about 10 or 12 years ago the Fore River warehouse complex in Portland was getting a steady supply of insulated west coast boxcars set at their outdoor transload dock. Thought i heard it was all canned goods for Hannaford. Wonder what happened to that scenario, haven't seen one there in a long time.
The warehouse on the east side of Rigby is definitely in the permanent new customer category, and an extra special one too since it is all reefers going in there ! Cant remember when the last time a customer on ST/GTS/PAR received steady, or any, reefer cars. I do recall that particular siding getting insulated Santa Fe boxes in the early 90's, and assuming those were canned goods for Hannaford.
The Turner Island spur is also on the serious upturn, constant tank cars and gondolas going in and out of there. There are at least 7 or 8 tanks in there right now, visible from the Broadway crossing, and prior to that there were almost a half dozen gondolas visible. That spur also happens to be where the old Hannaford switch & siding was located, so the track it leads from is definitely seeing steady usage, why not bring Hannaford back on board too ! They could be getting insulated carloads of all their various canned goods, flours, sugars, rices, soda, beer, and reefers of so many of their frozen/refrigerated items, the possibilities are endless.

Bulkheadflat wrote:Cant remember when the last time a customer on ST/GTS/PAR received steady, or any, reefer cars.

The only other one I can think of is High Liner Foods in Portsmouth.

Anyone know if they still get reefers?

MEC407 wrote:

Bulkheadflat wrote:Cant remember when the last time a customer on ST/GTS/PAR received steady, or any, reefer cars.

The only other one I can think of is High Liner Foods in Portsmouth.

Anyone know if they still get reefers?

Yep, all the time.

C&S Warehouse in Hatfield MA get's an occasional reefer when certain things are in season - definitely not regularly though.

I meant in Maine, should have specified. Yes, a lot if not all, of the reefers destined for Portsmouth come into Rigby now, and are brought down there by a switcher. I was trying to recall any reefer customers in Maine. Do recall back in 1998 they had an UPFE brought thru Bangor, for potato seed loading up north from what I recall. Heard later that the load shifted en route west and that was the end of it. That was a bummer to hear. Also the BAR in the early 90's would sometimes get reefers for McCain foods in Easton I think it was.

Bulkheadflat wrote:They could be getting insulated carloads of all their various canned goods, flours, sugars, rices, soda, beer, and reefers of so many of their frozen/refrigerated items, the possibilities are endless.

What's left in boxcar is the highest density freight moving longer distances. Shorter haul traffic moves over the road and medium and lighter density freight moving medium and long distances has shifted to intermodal (it's faster and cheaper, more reliable, provides less damage). Of the products you mention, bagged sugar and flour could be the one possibility, but, then it could very well make sense keeping it consolidated in larger moves to distribution centers in MA for truck move to Hannaford's. Canned goods have shifted to intermodal as have packaged goods. Soda production is generally distributed close to consumption and, therefore, is short haul traffic. Beer has some of the same elements of soda with much production distributed close to consumption, and, for those products that are not, like the bagged sugar and flour it may make sense to keep it consolidated for distribution by truck off a southern NE distribution center. In terms of reefer traffic, generally only the densest and least perishable traffic remains, like potatos, and for the lighter-loading frozen foods that remain in reefer, likely the logistics of consolidation and truck distribution rules. So, though it appears the possibilities are endless, in reality they are limited.

H.E. Flechter quarry in Westford has been receiving occasional gondolas in the past year. First rail shipments in a very long time..