St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad (SLR/SLQ)

Cycling through Lennoxville today I caught a very late-running 393 passing through at 14:45, or about 4-5 hours later than usual.

RLHH 3403, SLR 3805 (with no slug) and 54 cars. A very diverse mix of car types - perhaps 40% were empty centerbeams and LPG cars, and the rest were a bit of everything.

A few days ago I went to check out the diamond signal. Hadn't been there in a while, but didn't see any changes. The CP track through Lennoxville got the new welded rail and tie plates installed recently - the old jointed rail is still sitting at the side of the roadbed.

Hello,
Tonight's SLQ eastbound 394 arrived in Island Pond at 2005 with the following:

QG SD40U 6904
GP40-2 3035
GP40-3 3804
RM-1 804
GP40-2 3007
14 centerbeam flats
17 boxcars
9 covered hoppers
24 tank cars

That's 64 cars total, including 58 loads and 6 empties. Of interest tonight were two Ontario Northland boxcars. They are rare to Island Pond.
Have a great night,
Fritz

Hello,
Tonight's SLQ eastbound 394 arrived in Island Pond at 1932 with the following:

GP40 3004
RM-1 806
GP40-3 3806
2 centerbeam flats
6 covered hoppers
20 tank cars
11 boxcars
3 hi-sided gondolas

That's 42 cars total, including 38 loads and 4 empties. Only 1 load for RCP tonight but 10 empties to be pulled.
Have a great night,
Fritz

Sitting in my kitchen this morning I unexpectedly heard a train blow for a crossing and after determining it was
headed west I grabbed my camera and went to investigate. What I found was SLR804_3804 with a 25 car rail
train of L.B.Foster equipment. I followed them west from West Paris but got hung up in road construction at
Locke Mills with the train getting ahead of me. I found it stopped at the Hancock Lumber sawmill east of Bethel
where several trucks were waiting with SLR and L.B.Foster personnel. After doing some prep work some of them
boarded the train, which then proceeded slowly west. I drove to the next crossing about a mile west and waited.
After about a hour the train reappeared accelerating and highballed for Berlin with no other stops along the way.
Studying my photos afterward they appeared to have unloaded four strings of rail west of the sawmill with the
rest of it going somewhere west of Berlin. They stopped at Berlin and I didn't follow any further, figuring they
would be unloading rail somewhere out of sight in the woods.

One more shot of the rear of the train

I wondered if there was any of the old jointed 100 lb left up that way; there's still about a mile of it
east of the ball field in South Paris along Oxford St. There is longer jointed 115 lb rail- perhaps 60'
sections- laid back in CN days here and there.

There are still patches of track up that way needed to be replaced as part of their 286K project. Right now they can move 286K cars by special permission by the GM, so you'll see some of those cars but they have to be careful not to open the flood gates until the entire line is up to snuff.

In other news, SLR re-upped their interest in the Auburn-Portland line that is the target of a rail-trail corridor much to the dismay and surprise of the trail proponents. While no opportunities have presented themselves, I could see in the post-CSX world there being renewed interest on the line, as no offense to the Class Is (we'll throw CP in there too) but the smaller carload opportunities in Maine will likely have better success on shortlines which seem to be dwindling.

https://www.pressherald.com/2021/10/20/ ... nd-auburn/

It's kind of hard to believe that in 2 years we'll go from several regionals to two major Class I systems, so again if I had to guess the SLR team is likely responding to the changing environment and thinking what opportunities there may be in future development. I could see an LPG or transload operation at East Deering, not to mention Eldridge Lumber who already shelled out some $$ to put their switch back in. I guess only time will tell.

An alternative route for a possible Portland to LA trail might be the old Portland-Lewiston Interurban RR
right-of-way which closely parallels Route 100 from West Falmouth to Danville. Several years ago when
Maine Narrow Gauge RR Museum was planning their move to Gray and using a segment of the P-I row it
was noted that CMP owned or controlled it and there hasn't been a lot of encroachment except the 1-2
miles north of Gray village. I'm really surprised that there hasn't been more commercial interest in the
area around the old East Deering Yard.

I could see an LPG or transload operation at East Deering...

Leaving aside the questionable market need for another LPG terminal in the area, I'd reckon that the chance of securing such a permit would be slim to none. That one vacant plot is pretty tiny (<3 acres) for transloading. Transloads require storage, storage requires secured/fenced track-ft.

Thinking back to Auburn, whatever happened to MB Bark Mulch as a shipper? Over seven years ago, SLR stated they were "four to six weeks" away from becoming a customer.

I disagree-- plenty of small patch LPG terminals, even on the SLR.

My thought if anyone were to build a new terminal would be a replacement of an existing facility. You have Amerigas at Rigby west end, slated to become an intermodal facility and downsized switch yard that basically goes direct tank to trunk. You have Dead River in Westbrook that is on an old branch with a poor arrangement. And you have CHS in Biddeford stubbed into an old site. I could any one of these guys building a more 'permanent' home on the SLR in East Deering, or even an expanded presence from Irving. If Dead River for example is getting a ton of cars to Westbrook out of CN or CP anyways, you might as well reduce carrier mix and modernize your facility at the same time.

Replacement is different than adding capacity, but the story ends the same. CHS in Biddeford is on the PAR main, Dead River is less than three miles in on the Mountain branch. Both will soon be able to receive CSX direct routing from some LPG origins. In contrast, a terminal in E Deering offers seasonal business at the end of a 25-mile branch with no other business potential other than maybe - maybe - the occasional carload of lumber. I doubt any gas distributors would take that multimillion dollar bet.

Hello,
Last night's SLQ eastbound 394 didn't arrive into Island Pond until 2150 last night:

RM-1 804
GP40-3 3804
QGRY SD40U 6904
5 centerbeam flats
2 bulkhead flats
30 tank cars
20 boxcars

That's 57 cars total, including 55 loads and 2 empties. Apparently, there's a lot of traffic backed up due to the Thanksgiving holiday (they did run a turn from Richmond to Island Pond on Thursday evening but didn't run on Friday night).
Have a great day,
Fritz

Hello,
Tonight's SLQ eastbound 394 arrived in Island Pond at 1942 with the following:

RM-1 804
GP40-3 3804
QG GP40-2L 3014
11 tank cars
6 centerbeam flats
26 boxcars!

That's 43 cars total, all loads.

As on Tuesday, the 3804 shut down upon arriving in Island Pond and had to be restarted before heading to the east end of the yard.
Have a great weekend,
Fritz

Hello,
After pulling empties from RCP Transit, SLR eastbound 394 departed Island Pond at 1948 last night with the following:

GP40-2 3007
RM-1 803
GP40-3 3803
30 tank cars
9 scrap gondolas
5 boxcars

That's 44 cars total, including 35 loads and 9 empties.
Have a great weekend,
Fritz