Pan Am Woodland Spur

I talked with one of the higher-ups in the Woodland mill last week and he said it's still in the works. He confirmed that there is a lot of track work to be done. Things are very upbeat and positive at the mill.

carchecker wrote:Finally he said the Chinese are seriously looking at installing a tissue machine to make paper. This means they would also start taking softwood which would make the wood suppliers very happen since there isn't much of a market for it right now in this area.

That is truly incredible. A new tissue machine in Maine? Probably hasn't happened in over a century.

Furthermore, I don't think there even are any currently operating anywhere in the State.

Don't they make tissue at Lincoln?
http://www.lpt.com/

Steamship wrote:Don't they make tissue at Lincoln?
http://www.lpt.com/

Looks like they most certainly do. I'm still surprised to see anyone attempting to enter this market. My personal assessment is that you have an overcapitalized Chinese firm that needs to put their money to work. Apparently the yields are good enough that the equation works for them. Signs such as these are to me indicators of resource exhaustion/depletion in China. Even if the tissue they're interested in making isn't destined for China, if these guys wanted to make tissue in China in the first place (for global export) they might not be able to for lack of a) clean water and b) sufficient fiber supply.

This is a strategic advantage that will serve Maine very very well over the next 100 years.

It's possible the deman is increasing. If I recall correctly, the mill in Gorham NH is also installing a new
tissue machine. And it appears that they may return to using rail service. People have observed track
and signal work on the Cascade spur.

merrman wrote:It's possible the [demand] is increasing.

I agree.

But if that's the case, why does it make sense for them to invest in areas with higher cost structures?

Obviously trade barriers between the U.S. and China are not the issue.

The WSJ had this article about the Gorham mill and tissue in general. It's a light density product so it doesn't travel far economically. And demand for it has been growing with population growth (can't digitalize it):

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 65390.html

JAJ

Is this off the SLR or the old B&M Berlin Branch? Or both?

The mills were served by both B&M and GT back in their heyday. Today, the SLR provides the only rail service to Gorham
and Berlin, as the B&M line was abandoned years ago.

Well it looks like the sale is finally official. According to the Eastern Railroad News website Pan Am has sold the line to the Woodland mill and it will be called Woodland Rail LLC with NBSR (EMR) being the operator. Lots of positive talk about a substantial amount of money invested in rehabilitating the line as well as increased traffic because of the mill having recently installed machinery for tissue production. NBSR continue to grow!

Nice

MEC407 wrote:http://www.easternrailroadnews.com/2012 ... -operator/

An interesting coda to the last remaining MEC (PAR) trackage on the Calais Branch. Remarkable how the most remote customer at the very end of the line outlasted the MECs ownership.

I wonder if they are still sending Pulp out in Boxcars like they were a couple months back or if everything is back to moving through Eastport??