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  • CSX Acquisition of Pan Am Railways

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1565055  by BandA
 
I would assume that CSX would want to keep the "spine" up into maine as far as possible and to hit all the interchange points, especially towards the Irvings. End of the feud with the M&B? The stuff with the Boston Sand & Gravel / NHN is interesting.
 #1565063  by MECFAN
 
Home Depot is now unloading lumber in Portsmouth at the Boise Facility on the Newington Industial track. That started about two months ago.
 #1565066  by newpylong
 
As far as I know this is an appliance distribution center which would not have a need for a local siding - but intermodal service from somewhere definitely.
 #1565106  by jamoldover
 
Home Depot's eastern Massachusetts lumber distribution already gets rail service (from CSX, in fact) - it's in Westwood, MA, adjacent to what was once the Rt 128 industrial park. They get cars on a daily basis. It's one of the customers keeping the Readville job busy.
Last edited by MEC407 on Sat Mar 06, 2021 7:42 am, edited 1 time in total. Reason: unnecessary quoting
 #1565157  by roberttosh
 
I don't envision CSX handing off any of the work on the Rumford and Shawmut branches to another operator. Remember, the mills can ship upwards of 30-40 cars a day so it isn't like they're serving some type of ma and pa operation. CSX is happy to serve much smaller customers across its' system so again I just can't imagine why they wouldn't want to directly serve their big new bread and butter customers. In terms of Keag, I think one way or another they are going to want to have a direct interchange with the Irving roads. Whether CSX runs to Keag, or they lease or sell the line from Keag to Bangor or Waterville to Irving, I don't anticipate CSX wanting to put an additional carrier in the mix.
 #1565221  by newpylong
 
Yes PAR will move to Jacksonville with the rest of the CSX system. Despite the B&E job sheet showing created jobs in Billerica this may not be the case. It is still not decided where they will be dispatched from.
 #1565255  by Gilbert B Norman
 
Appearing today in The Times is this article about maritime port congestion:

Fair Use:
.Off the coast of Los Angeles, more than two dozen container ships filled with exercise bikes, electronics and other highly sought imports have been idling for as long as two weeks.

In Kansas City, farmers are struggling to ship soybeans to buyers in Asia. In China, furniture destined for North America piles up on factory floors.

Around the planet, the pandemic has disrupted trade to an extraordinary degree, driving up the cost of shipping goods and adding a fresh challenge to the global economic recovery. The virus has thrown off the choreography of moving cargo from one continent to another.

At the center of the storm is the shipping container, the workhorse of globalization..
Now what remains to be determined is if this present"overload" of maritime facilities is a "new normal" or if this present demand for home consumer goods will decrease as COVID becomes a memory. If the former, then Chessie, as she dreams away in her Pullman Berth, has visions that the year round Northern New England ports she will have access to as soon as the Maine Central becomes hers, will be developed, and she rebuilds her new railroad, will both become "players" in a consumer environment of continued demand for imported goods.
 #1565312  by PBMcGinnis
 
The back up and delays in the Asian-Pacific Trade and the ports on the West Coast will eventually go away, but even if they did not, that market has no affect on the ports in Maine. Traffic to and from Europe would impact Portland and Searsport.

On a similar note, traffic out of Maine is starting to back up. The major Shippers there are stuffing warehouses from Maine to Virginia with unsold goods. This and the delays noted in the West Coast ports and the Midwest intermodal hubs is an ominous sign that the economy is going to come to a crashing halt. No amount of printed money out of DC is going to stop it either.
 #1565328  by F74265A
 
Some South Asia products move via Suez to east coast USA ports in addition to regular trans Atlantic trade.

Not cool if Maine producers are building up a big inventory of unsold goods.
 #1565348  by CN9634
 
Depending on what it is, not all inventory build up is bad as long as it's managed.

A lot of manufacturers now have consignment and stock programs that customers can call off when they need it that include warehousing costs. Warehousing also allows you to work through production runs efficiently, the longer you settle into a manufacturing run for a certain product the more efficiencies and less waste/productivity losses between changeovers.

I disagree with the economy crashing to a halt statement. There are several lead indicators things are actually doing alright and as you see things like inflation and oil prices are ticking up with improved activity. Once people return to 'normal' and resume travel/vacation/tourist activity you'll see a very robust business climate for sure again.

Back to CSX, I'm wondering if they'll Day 1 introduce intermodal to Waterville. In reality, its ready to go within the existing footprint while concurrently expanding as needed, and CSX is one of the only Class I's that has their own boxes, so in theory they could start in quickly with their own product before tapping the IMCs. Then again I know Johnny B and Old Donny S are likely ready to make the move north. Again, I assume they'll demarket the shorthaul PS traffic until it prices out completely, opening more capacity for the long-haul domestic traffic. Single stack it down to Worcester and top 'em off headed west would work alright as well until a clearance plan is in place (I assume that too is in the cards)
 #1565351  by Cosakita18
 
CN9634 wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 5:35 pm
Back to CSX, I'm wondering if they'll Day 1 introduce intermodal to Waterville. In reality, its ready to go within the existing footprint while concurrently expanding as needed, and CSX is one of the only Class I's that has their own boxes, so in theory they could start in quickly with their own product before tapping the IMCs. Then again I know Johnny B and Old Donny S are likely ready to make the move north. Again, I assume they'll demarket the shorthaul PS traffic until it prices out completely, opening more capacity for the long-haul domestic traffic. Single stack it down to Worcester and top 'em off headed west would work alright as well until a clearance plan is in place (I assume that too is in the cards)
Still curious as to what exactly it would take to get Worcester - Waterville or Worcester-Keag cleared for stacks. What are the biggest obstacles? Would a few roadbed undercuts do the trick?
 #1565355  by roberttosh
 
The biggest obstacle from what I've heard is where the tracks run under I-495, more specifically the exit 44 off-ramps in North Andover just east of CPF Frost (see below link). Be a major, major reconstruction project to raise the roadway there and the other problem is that there's a grade crossing just East of the overpass so you'd have to lower the road (if it even can be lowered ) to undercut. There may be some other issues at that location that I'm not fully aware of but that spot may end up being a real game stopper in terms of getting DS service to Maine anytime soon.

https://goo.gl/maps/Z4MZnseLoXqjeLgs9
Last edited by roberttosh on Mon Mar 08, 2021 7:49 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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