St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad (SLR/SLQ)

toolmaker (Gary),
Thanks for asking. Yes, I am doing well, just overly busy these days on multiple fronts (work, family, etc.). I've been catching a few trains now and then. SLR 393/394 have been running fairly consistently 40-60 cars but often only run three days per week (most often missed night is Friday, as happened this week). Hopefully, things will settle down and I'll get back to some more detailed reports! I hope everyone's summers are going well.
All the best,
Fritz

LPG is the story of the time for the SLR, Irving is up and going and Dead River is expanding.

One is curious, if/when the CSX deal takes hold will SLR increase overhead traffic from the SLQ paper mills in Canada (Domtar and Kruger) that currently may route out CN.

Conceptually there is likely some traffic that goes/comes from the West or South off SLQ but could be competitive to CSX. Adds more options direct to the toolkit anyways, probably nothing seismic but would be be nice to see more overhead traffic going south to fill out the 90s south of the border. The 90s north of Richmond of course being 6-days a week and quite large, it's basically a whole different RR on SLQ.

Plans are advancing to redevelop the East Deering-Danville RoW into a regional recreational trail. The Town of Yarmouth has voted to support further study of repurposing the corridor. Falmouth, North Yarmouth and Cumberland are also expected to vote on this in the near future.

https://www.pressherald.com/2021/07/20/ ... ail-trail/

In order for the trail to be considered, the rail company Genesee and Wyoming must formally abandon an easement maintained at no cost through MaineDOT, although the rail hasn’t been in use since 2015. The state would then be able to seek input through an advisory council on future uses for the land.

393 has run Mon-Wed-Thurs this week. Here is 393 rolling through greater downtown Bryant Pond tonight
at 2010 with Eng 3035-3803-803-3046 and 10 boxcars.

Hello,
Tonight's eastbound 394 arrived in Island Pond at 1959 with the following:

GP40-3 3805
RM-1 805
GP40 3004
8 centerbeam flats
1 bulkhead flat
4 covered hoppers
14 tank cars
17 boxcars/hi-cube boxcars

That's 44 cars total, all loads. No nice photos like Greg's photo of 393 tonight!

Starting next week, there will only be one regularly scheduled crew running Monday and Thursday nights; other trains will be run off the spare board.
Best,
Fritz

Thanks Fritz- seems like every evening I head out with a camera the clouds start rolling in about an
hour before sunset. How is just one crew going to work? Are they going to make the complete round
trip the same day or go one way one day and back the next?

Greg,
Yes, that was my experience last night: beautiful evening night until I rounded the bend headed north to Norton Pond and then clouds and rain. Only a brief glimpse of sun and rainbows as 394 approached Island Pond.

Sorry that wasn't clear. One crew will work from Richmond to Island Pond on Mondays and Thursdays and (after an overnight) work back to Richmond on Tuesdays and Thursdays ... just like they do now. However, they are eliminating the second crew that used to work east on Tuesdays and Fridays (and back west on Wednesdays and Saturdays). They will still run at least one more train each week but the crew will be off the spare board. The Island Pond and Lewiston Junction crews will still run their turns on Monday and Thursday nights as well as whatever other nights they run trains. Hopefully, that's a little more clear.
Have a great weekend,
Fritz

Thanks for the explanation Fritz. I wasn't sure how the Canadian side worked- I knew the crews used
to overnight in Island Pond back in the CN days but didn't know if they still did or had a different arrangement
as it's only 70 miles. The US side is completely changed from what it was as a seven day a week operation
used three crews in rotation in a three day cycle- east day one, west day two, third day off, repeat cycle.
Makes me wonder about the long term sustainability of this operation as the primary traffic base is LPG and
with the big government/environment lobby push to electrify everything.....!

Greg,
Yes, Canadian crews still overnight in Island Pond. Going forward there will be one crew working two round-trips (Monday and Thursday overnights in the Pond), and any other trains will be worked off the spare board. Before there were two regularly-scheduled crews working four round trips (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday overnights). The Island Pond crew works/worked those same nights, whenever a train arrives from Richmond.

Yes, I too wonder about the future. There's basically no customers, except New Hampshire Central, between Island Pond at South Paris. That's a lot of miles to cross. Primary traffic is propane as you noted, wood pulp inbound to South Paris, and lumber to Island Pond. I think that Canadian side keeps busy between Waterville and Richmond (with a few other customers farther east and farther west).
Best,
Fritz

I am in agreement with CN that the CSX-PAR transaction has real potential to change traffic patterns. Should be interesting to see if that happens. I don't think CN has had to worry about anything happening in Maine for a very long time.

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Hello,
Tonight's SLQ eastbound 394 arrived in Island Pond around 1945 with the following:

GP40-2 3007
RM-1 806
GP40-3 3806
9 centerbeam flats
26 hi-cube boxcars
6 tank cars
7 propane cars
1 covered hopper
9 hi-sided gondolas

That's 58 cars total, including 28 loads and 30 empties. Interesting were that 24 of the hi-cube boxcars were empties, mostly LW reporting mark but a few TR. I wonder where these are going.
Have a great night,
Fritz

Hello,
This morning's SLQ westbound 393 reached the U.S. Canada border in Norton, Vermont at 0829 with the following:

GP40-2 3035
GP40-3 3803
RM-1 803
9 centerbeam flats
1 bulkhead flat
13 boxcars
2 tank cars
2 covered hoppers
1 high-sided gondola

That's 28 cars total, including 9 loads and 19 empties. Some of the loaded boxcars were of the same make and model (LW, TR) as the empties that went east last night. Maybe there's a surge of paper traffic on the way.
Best,
Fritz

The paper market appears to be picking up ... (seeing that elsewhere)

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SLR 393 Eng 3806-806-3007 by South Paris at 1955 with 29 cars with about half being boxcars and the rest mostly
tanks with an mt center beam at the rear. It's not unusual for 394 to set off boxcars in the two sidings east of the
Little Androscoggin River bridge at South Paris for NEPW, sometimes filling one or both tracks, so I thought some
of the cars Fritz saw might have been dropped here but tonight the yard is empty. 393 rarely lifts cars here- instead
513 takes them east to Lewiston Jct. where they are either added to 393's consist or taken to interchange with PAR.
The NEPW traffic is often 4-6 cars in each direction daily but I've seen them leave with 10-15 eastbound from time
to time.

Hello,
Tonight's SLQ eastbound 394 arrived in Island Pond at 2001 with the following:

QG SD40U 6904
GP40-3 3804
RM-1 804
18 centerbeam flats (16 for RCP)
3 tank cars
3 propane cars
5 hi-sided gondolas
6 boxcars

That's 35 cars total, including 26 loads and 9 empties.

I traced a few of the boxcars from last night's train, and they show being delivered to Danville Junction this morning, so I am guessing they maybe spotted for loading somewhere on ST.
Best,
Fritz