Intermodal to Maine

They are rotting away in various locations if you know where to look.

I saw a BMZ in Maine not far from the Mountain Division several years ago, used for storage. Looked surprisingly good for its age!

Drove from Waterville to Portland and back yesterday and counted at least 20 containers (Eimskip and others) on the I-95 corridor. Things really seem to be heating up!

I've noticed JB Hunt movements every single day. I'm sure its only because I'm looking for them more often now but there is definitely a lot of intermodal movement in Maine right now. Plenty of opportunities for Pan Am if they startup 7 day a week service.

Nothing new about that but glad you notice it now.

A lot heading to points above Augusta as well. Clearly plenty of opportunity for the Waterville service if it starts/restarts.

gokeefe wrote:A lot heading to points above Augusta as well. Clearly plenty of opportunity for the Waterville service if it starts/restarts.

Auburn would be better in my opinion but I'll take anything at this point. Trust me, Hunt is aware of the current events.

If this Waterville service does well it will be interesting to see if the equipment will change to well cars to take advantage of double stacking in Worcester and/or Mechanicville.

Pan Am has received an IRAP grant from the State of Maine to make improvments to their Waterville intermodal facility.

From the Bangor Daily News:

Pan Am Railways received the second largest grant of $201,060 for intermodal track improvements in Waterville, where Poland Spring earlier this year started transferring shipments from truck to rail. The company estimated it would ship 4,000 containers of Poland Spring water by rail instead of truck this year.

The form D letters were from the old NORAC members A was a form D issued by Amtrak, B- Bay Colony, C- Conrail, D- Delaware and Hudson...G-Guilford, P- Providence and Worcester...... The first number was for the dispatching district, i.e. G401 would be the first form D of the day issued by Disrtict 4. They start back to 1 at midnight, so if G401 of yesterday was still active, there would be another G401 of today's date.

fogg1703 wrote:If this Waterville service does well it will be interesting to see if the equipment will change to well cars to take advantage of double stacking in Worcester and/or Mechanicville.

The containers are not going past Ayer at this point so I'm not sure it would make sense to use well cars. You can't have double stacks to Portland anyway.

BM6569 wrote:The containers are not going past Ayer at this point so I'm not sure it would make sense to use well cars. You can't have double stacks to Portland anyway.

My point was if the service was to grow to any markets beyond New England (Midwest, Southeast) we could see well cars loaded single stacked in Maine and then filet/toupee in Worcester (CSX) or Mechanicville (NS) a la 22k/23K.

fogg1703 wrote:

BM6569 wrote:The containers are not going past Ayer at this point so I'm not sure it would make sense to use well cars. You can't have double stacks to Portland anyway.

My point was if the service was to grow to any markets beyond New England (Midwest, Southeast) we could see well cars loaded single stacked in Maine and then filet/toupee in Worcester (CSX) or Mechanicville (NS) a la 22k/23K.

Minor point but 22K/23K don't get toupeed or filleted at Mechanicville as 205/206 handle all M'ville containers. Is there any intermodal terminal in the US where a RR does perform such a likely time-consuming operation?

johnpbarlow wrote:Minor point but 22K/23K don't get toupeed or filleted at Mechanicville as 205/206 handle all M'ville containers.

My expertise in that part of the world is showing, thanks for the correction. Did 22K/23K ever receive the fillet/toupee treatment in Mechanicville? I thought that was part of the operating plan and design when it opened.

johnpbarlow wrote:

fogg1703 wrote:

BM6569 wrote:The containers are not going past Ayer at this point so I'm not sure it would make sense to use well cars. You can't have double stacks to Portland anyway.

My point was if the service was to grow to any markets beyond New England (Midwest, Southeast) we could see well cars loaded single stacked in Maine and then filet/toupee in Worcester (CSX) or Mechanicville (NS) a la 22k/23K.

Minor point but 22K/23K don't get toupeed or filleted at Mechanicville as 205/206 handle all M'ville containers. Is there any intermodal terminal in the US where a RR does perform such a likely time-consuming operation?

Syracuse, I believe