PAR Business Train (ST 100, 101, 102 & 103; PAR 1 & 2)

Headed back east this morning, through Tewksbury not long ago.

They tied it down at Rockingham for the night.

Just headed back past Rocky Shore Lane in Oakland. Should be back at Waterville by 3 pm.

Did they install a camera just below the headlight of PAR 1?

Yes they did.

Saw the train go through the Haverhill Train Station at about 8:30 this morning.

Assuming PAR is sold, what happens to this train? They can sell the engines to Boston Surface Railroad

The answer depends on the terms and details of the sale. All that stuff is negotiated pretty heavily before anything changes hands.

Hypothetical examples:

A) Railroad ABC buys all the lines from Mattawamkeag to Ayer, and buys all the PAR-owned rolling stock, including the business train. Railroad XYZ buys PAR's stake in Pan Am Southern.

B) Railroad ABC buys all the lines from Mattawamkeag to Danville Junction, and buys all of the PAR-owned freight cars but doesn't buy the locomotives or the business train. Railroad XYZ buys all the lines from Danville Junction to Ayer, and buys PAR's stake in Pan Am Southern. Locomotive leasing company 123 buys all the PAR-owned freight locomotives. Tourist railroad 789 buys the business train.

C) Railroad ABC buys everything. Railroad ABC puts the business train on the auction block. Auction bidder 123 buys the FP9s. Auction bidder 456 buys the observation car. Auction bidder 789 buys the other three cars.

...and so on and so forth. You get the idea. Lots of possibilities!

If it a Class I they're gone. If it's anyone else there is at least a chance they will stay. Option 3 is they are excluded from the sale, retained by the current owner and moved to storage elsewhere.

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

i didnt see the westbound but i did see the east bound looking very slick this afternoon running through Charlemont, ma

Northbound past Rocky Shore Lane in Oakland by Messalonskee Lake just now. Should be back in Waterville by 2:30.

Business Trains are subject to Passenger Train speed limits. So for example, they can run at 79 mph on parts of the main line west of Portland down to the NH/MA border.

Speaking of speed...

What is the gear ratio and top speed of PAR 1 and PAR 2? Some FP9s were built with the freight-standard 62:15 gear ratio, yielding a top speed of 65 MPH; I think I read somewhere that the FP9s built for CN had a more passenger-oriented gear ratio, but the interwebs are giving me conflicting information.

The FP9s were geared for something like 86/89mph when received at csrx. It was a concern whether or not they would pair well with 4266, which is geared more like 65mph. As far as I know they were never re-geared, but still ran reasonably well at the low speeds.