Railroad Forums 

  • Pan Am Coal Trains

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1400785  by eustis22
 
>because if the wrong person becomes the next POTUS, there won't be any more mining done in this country

Why do you think this?
 #1400800  by newpylong
 
I have no idea why more trains were ordered except months ago I was told one was ordered roughly per month for the foreseeable future.
 #1524145  by R&PEditor
 
Seems to me that keeping the lights on in NH this winter requires either a small mountain of coal, or a big mountain of candles. Trains might be starting this week. Anyone watching Barbers Station?
 #1524227  by KSmitty
 
Coal trains have historically run over D3, either via NS at Mohawk or via CSX at Rotterdam. The routing for these is CSX via Barbers.

The only coal that has traditionally moved over the Worcester main is coal sourced from the port of Providence and brought up to Worcester by the P&W.
 #1524229  by gokeefe
 
When is the last time coal moved via Worcester?
 #1524246  by Dick H
 
Just a reminder that even when Bow is not on line, it is kept hot and ready to go, as a hiccup or worse at the nuke at Seabrook could put NH in the dark otherwise.
 #1524256  by johnpbarlow
 
Given CSX interchanges the Ayer-bound 10,000 ton unit grain trains with PAS at Rotterdam Jct that use the B&M's approximately 400 ft (?) lower crossing of the Berkshires v. the B&A via Washington Hill, I would have thought CSX would do the same with heavy coal trains. Is Barbers the coal interchange point because Bow is on PAR and a routing via Worcester avoids sharing much (any?) revenue with PAS?
 #1524261  by johnhenry
 
I used to see coal trains from CSX at Barbers all the time in the 1990's. I can't say exactly when they stopped.
 #1524264  by roberttosh
 
The grain trains are routed via ROTTJ because they terminate on PAS, the coal trains on the other hand terminate on ST, so by running via Barbers, you have a direct CSX-ST interchange and avoid adding an additional carrier, PAS. It’s the same reason the ST traffic runs on Q427/AYPO via Barbers, whereas PAS traffic is routed over ROTTJ on RJED. That all being said, with the Fitchburg’s lesser grade, it’s not out of the question that they would still decide to run it that way and make the economics work.
 #1524265  by roberttosh
 
johnhenry wrote: Tue Nov 05, 2019 7:41 am I used to see coal trains from CSX at Barbers all the time in the 1990's. I can't say exactly when they stopped.
Don’t think they ran much past the early/mid 90’s as the B&A was a lot busier back then and it was pretty quickly determined that it would be much more efficient/practical to run them over the Fitchburg with it’s lesser grade and greater capacity.
 #1524357  by newpylong
 
They stopped running via the B&A because CR put a weight restriction on eastbounds due to the grade. Bow coal trains have slowly but surely shrunk over the years from 105 down to 88 (I think) cars when they largely stopped. If such a restriction were still in place, sure it will fit under it.
  • 1
  • 9
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 20