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  • 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

 #1613463  by Safetee
 
In the good old days, say 1975, if a railroad or transit company wanted to acquire relay rail they could call an LB Foster or an A&K type rail supplier and order anything they wanted to keep their rail inventory down. There were at least 35 different varieties of rail to be had. So if you wanted a mile or more of 100NH, or 85AS or 105DY etc etc, if a supplier couldn't get what you wanted directly from their inventory, they usually knew where to find it on the ground and then would remove it and ship it to your site.

In the 1980s, many overseas countries Including China discovered this easy source of steel ingots, ie US relay rail, and started buying it by the boatload. All of a sudden, rail suppliers had virtually no out of track inventory. If a railroad wanted 105 DY or similar the suppliers would look to see what they were picking up in the field and say "well we've got 17 miles of 100 RB in Staten island at such and such a price". And it was basically take it or leave it, because if it didn't immediately go to a railroad user, the 100RB went to the boat.

The bottom line on it is, as long as the head of the rail is in good shape and a minimum of other problems the would be rail needer would take the rail being offered along with all the necessary tie plates, joint bars, etc etc and buy a bunch of comp joint bars to match the new rail to the adjacent rail sections they already had in place.

If a railroad or transit company can afford to buy new rail they can typically get the standard sizes being rolled these days. But for the relay market, it's any port in a storm. The only real problem with the current relay rail market is if you have a major derailment on an obscure rail section. Finding replacement rail that exactly matches your obscure rail in a hurry can be a problem unless you thoughtfully bought additional rail for inventory.
 #1614164  by MECFAN
 
I suspect D0-2 may come back at some point. There has been no Propane to Sea-3 for almost 2 months, when that comes back on it will get busy again.
 #1614167  by MECFAN
 
They are getting everything from ship, There has been three ships since Thanksgiving.
 #1614170  by mrj1981
 
I assume there is an expectation that at some point, it will no longer be the case that Sea-3 is receiving everything from ship (and will revert to rail for at least a portion of their needs)?
 #1614171  by F74265A
 
Hmmmm. Rail transit costs generally are not competitive with ocean shipping costs. So presumably at times rail sourced lpg has a lower source cost otherwise the railroad has no chance long term
 #1614174  by mrj1981
 
Understood. Based on the cost advantage of shipping by water, it sounds like maybe one should expect Sea-3 to be an "on-again, off-again" type of customer for CSX... potentially with a bias towards the off-again side. Alas.
 #1614237  by A215
 
MECFAN wrote: Mon Jan 23, 2023 1:05 pm I suspect D0-2 may come back at some point. There has been no Propane to Sea-3 for almost 2 months, when that comes back on it will get busy again.
Unless they abolish something else it's unlikely. They traded that job for LA-4 which shuttles CSX traffic in and out of Ayer, and from the sound of it that's likely staying a job for a while to appease NS in not using Ayer crews to do that work as they're part of PAS. Manpower situation is at it's worst all time right now, they can't really add jobs without abolishing another.
 #1614245  by F74265A
 
i don't know. Somebody above said there has not been svc to sea 3 recently because they've been supplied by ships. So if they have capacity to move lpg from ship to rail the reports of no train would suggest that at least it is not happening now. Perhaps the weirdly warm weather in the eastern US is just changing demand temporarily.
 #1614253  by newpylong
 
CSX isn't replacing rail on the branch just for Tyco, Highliner, Boise and the occasional Avgas move. They're planning on LPG.
Last edited by newpylong on Tue Jan 24, 2023 6:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 #1614282  by Jonathan603
 
There are some tank cars at Rockingham on either the woods track or the back end of the passing track. DO-1 was at Highliner this afternoon with three reefers. Saw it on my commute home, didn’t stick around much to watch though.
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