St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad (SLR/SLQ)

Hello,
Tonight's SLQ eastbound 394 arrived at Island Pond at 1925 with the following:

GP40-2 3035
RM-1 803
GP40-3 3803
14 centerbeam flats (13 for RCP!)
8 hi-cube boxcars (4 loads and 4 empties)
5 tank cars
10 propane cars
2 covered hoppers

That's 39 cars total, including 35 loads and 4 empties.

I am curious: Does anyone have any idea what "NEOL" stenciled on one of the tank cars means? That same car (GLNX 23131) shows up the SLR about once every six months or year, so I am curious what cargo it carries. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Have a good one,
Fritz

Fritz - is that car placarded? Where is the NEOL stenciled?

Could anyone advise me when the 393 job goes on duty at LJ? And what days do they operate. Thanks.

I'm not a chemist so I don't know that this is the answer to the question what is NEOL but NEOL is apparently a synonym for Neopentyl Glycol - scroll down to section 2.4.2 Depositor-Supplied Synonyms in the link below.
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compou ... ntry-Terms

baldy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 16, 2020 11:45 pm Could anyone advise me when the 393 job goes on duty at LJ? And what days do they operate. Thanks.

They generally run Monday-Wednesday and Friday, depending on traffic they may operate a Thursday road job. 1700-1900 is a good estimate, as they have a longer run to the meet at Berlin than 394 does from IP, and also the speedo to deal with in South Paris. Last night they hit Gorham at 2210, if that helps.

Expect at least 2 hours for departure from the time they go OD. They have to conduct a safety briefing, fire up the power, haul down to the other side of the yard, get the train together, arm the marker, conduct a brake test and setoff any shops.

I'm surprised that the operation doesn't typically have the train tested and ready to go for the crew (from a productivity stand point that makes more sense to me), but thats their business not mine.... so don't get too excited when you see a crew roll in at 1800, that probably means you're still at least 2 hours waiting.

Thanks for the info, johnpbarlow. Given where the car loaded in Texas, I have to think that you are right.

Cowford, the car was not placarded and "NEOL" was stenciled on the side near the end (opposite end from reporting mark and number).

No 393/394 tonight. That makes for only two trains this week (Tuesday and Thursday nights).
Have a good weekend,
Fritz

A couple of recent trains to report:

- Wednesday I was biking through Sherbrooke and crossed the Terrill St. bridge as the Sherbrooke local was passing underneath, returning to Richmond. It had 804-3804 and 46 cars - continuing a trend of lots of interchange traffic from the CMQ (now CP).

- Last night I followed 394 from Lennoxville to Waterville, and it had the following:

SLR 3803
SLR 803
SLR 3035
RLHH 3403
3 centerbeams
8 various tank cars
31 LPG tank cars
6 covered hoppers (4 of them Trinity 5851 cars, a common sight recently)
19 high-cube boxcars (many 60-foot)
2 gondolas

That makes 69 cars, almost all loaded. All the units were running and they were in notch 8 from soon after Lennoxville all the way up the Waterville grade, which they crested at about 15 mph.

Veery good to hear. Nice to see the boxcar count inching back up.

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On July 17th Casey posted that 393/ 394 usually run Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Is this still the norm? I have been in Island Pond several times in the last few weeks and have seen nothing. I have even tried Tuesday and Thursday. Any information would be appreciated.

Mike

It appears they've run Monday and Wednesday so far this week. Some trains in the last two weeks have been earlier than usual. What times are you going to IP? I would generally wager against seeing anything on a Thursday, but it happens sometimes.

Thanks Casey for your quick reply. I am usually there evenings between 18:00 and 21:00.

Mike

I believe 394 goes on duty somewhere in that window, I don't think they generally get to Norton before then. Its roughly 2 hours from IP to Berlin, give or take. Last night's 393 hit Gorham before 10, and it's roughly a 3 hour trip for them, it was around midnight the night before.

I believe their departure times are reliant on 394s whereabouts, I could be wrong.

Mike and Casey,
They have been running 2-4 nights per week. Monday and Thursday are supposed to be the regular nights, but, so far this week, they ran Tuesday and Thursday nights, and they are running again tonight (Friday). They left Richmond at 1500 so should be to Island Pond around 1900. Last week they ran four nights (the regular schedule of Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday nights); week before they only ran two nights. Three nights per week seems to be most common, but the nights vary.
Best,
Fritz

On the east end they've been running a little earlier than the past norm of 2100-2300 west
thru South Paris- the past couple of weeks it's often been 1945 to 2030 thru South Paris
allowing me to get photos at West Paris and Bryant Pond and even once at Bethel. 393 was
thru South Paris tonight with 3014 and 3105 with 29 cars at about 1950.