Pan Am Railways (PAR) Freight Traffic Volume

I wanted to initiate this discussion thread because there does not seem to be a reliable place to get a good understanding of what the actual freight traffic is on the PAR system. Although this is somewhat due to the fact that PAR is privately owned, and therefore does not report freight traffic numbers, it would seem that there must be some way of making an educated guess as to what the actual traffic volume is.

I have noticed several other threads that occasionally occur with this exact topic in mind and few if any responses are given. I think a concerted effort really should be made on the part of those of us who watch PAR and are interested in the company and the areas that it serves, to understand how healthy the rail business portion of the company really is.

I would therefore like to open this thread for general discussion and for future discussions, generalized or area specific, about PAR freight traffic. Perhaps if we can consolidate our information the end result will be that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

For my part we are seeing about six trains a day right now, through Readfield Depot. Three in each direction. This is not a regular event with some days being slower than others however it does seem consistent. I haven't taken a car count recently.

"Carloads, intermodal loads remain way down for North American railroads so far in '09, AAR says."
http://www.progressiverailroading.com/1 ... p?id=19485
NMED only got as far as Ayer today with 27 cars. So called monster trains are very rare on Pan Am these days, it seems. Many spotters don't do car counts, so it's hard to tell, but Pan Am certainly must be feeling the effects from an industry wide downturn in volume.

The volume is way down now for several reasons. Aside from the economy, there are two mills not giving PAR any work right now. One is temporary, the other i heard is permanent. Coal is slow right now as well. Although, there will be a huge number of Bow bound coal trains next month. But then in April, the coal plant in Bow is shutting down for about 6 months which will hurt volume alot. Summers are the busiest season for coal.

Which mill shutdown is temporary, and which permanent?

consist wrote:Which mill shutdown is temporary, and which permanent?

One is temporary, the other is switching to another railroad or trucks. Basically they are not closing for good, they are just not going to use PAR any more.

By "which mills" I meant which customer, in what town...if it's not private info.

consist wrote:By "which mills" I meant which customer, in what town...if it's not private info.

Dont have that specific information. It's not secret in any way, i just forgot the names.

As for other traffic updates, thanks to the incredibly cold tempatures and frequent NS coal trains, PAR has been using NS 6 axles for all sorts of freight traffic between Nashua, Lowell and Ayer and all points west. Either in pairs of NS power or an NS unit with Guilford power. Well over 2 dozen trains in the past few weeks with that power.

New Page in Rumford shut down a machine, I read. Traffic seems to be picking back a up a little; some bigger trains around and more frequent extra symbol freights, NAED, AYNM, and others.

Saw a really long train headed north through Winthrop yesterday afternoon, had to be in the 70-100 car range. Lots of empty center spine lumber racks and the usual complement of boxcars. Somewhat surprising given that I had heard GRS/PAR traffic is down.

There's a good chance those empty center beams are headed back to St John. Wallboard goes westbound on them to a warehouse in Ayer, MA. Luckily, they seem to be getting some good volume from NBSR at Keag with this traffic.

boy traffic is waaaaay down on the portland division, rockingham jt always had something in the siding waiting for amtrak , and my son and i would make an afternoon of it on the weekends, but now we stand around forever and only see amtrak

Saw a pretty healthy looking freight northbound through Winthrop this week with the Omya Limestone Slurry cars, total count: 91 not including locomotives. Perhaps this particular run usually has a good car count but anything over 75 seemed pretty exceptional. I've certainly seen less. Perhaps two trains have been combined.

Ideas anyone?

Seems to me traffic in from Ayer east/north is slow. Due to my current employment status (none) I am in Ayer a decent amount from late morning to early afternoon, and lately I never see a train. BUT this may be due to the MBTA trains. I think there is more traffic at night... can anyone confirm?

Also, why is Bow shutting down for 6 months? Have the Green Meanies finally got their way?

JD

One other confounding variable --See there, statististics instructor! I did remember something! Ha! -- could be trackwork in other parts of the phar-phlung PAR/PAS empire.