Q426 to start going strait to Maine

I heard June 4 a district 3 dispatcher say the Q426 will start going strait through to Maine. Does anyone know anything about this change coming for the Q426 or it’s schedule?

First one came into MA Friday morning with CSX power.... AYPO has been abolished, Q426 now terminates at Rigby.

Video by Dan Giaginis:
https://youtu.be/Xf_heDyn1c8

rustyrails wrote: ↑Mon Jun 06, 2022 2:40 pm I heard June 4 a district 3 dispatcher say the Q426 will start going strait through to Maine. Does anyone know anything about this change coming for the Q426 or it’s schedule?

Not straight through, as it still block swaps in Ayer, but the train has been extended yes.

I thinks it’s now called M426

Does the crew also run through?

Definitely not now and doubtful that they ever will. More realistic would be getting to Lawrence or perhaps Dover with the Selkirk based crew.

It's realistically a 2-crew job, especially with any work on-line and having to navigate Ayer, MBTA commuter territory and Downeaster service. Pan Am would occasionally slip a train all the way from Barber to Portland or vice-versa on one crew even with 10mph on the Worcester Main when they had a near-perfect run and no work on-line.

Also posting the job working limits all the way to Portland (or Selkirk going West) reduces the number of crews that CSX can use as their qualification requirements increase drastically.