Rockingham Racer wrote:Is The Bluenose service a dedicated one? That is, would it be on a certain Pan Am train such as WAAY to pick an example.
From the Pan Am newsletter,
The twice weekly train service is designed to bypass several rail yards, thus halting the delays and extra
handling that rail cars heretofore experienced. The freight now traverses the NBSR and PAR rail systems
in less than four days from Saint John to connect with the CSXT at Worcester, Massachusetts, and in
less than five days to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPRS) or Norfolk Southern (NS) at Mechanicville,
New York.
The NBSR pre-blocks those cars destined to Ayer, Massachusetts and CSXT for delivery to PAR at
Mattawamkeag, Maine on a train designated as SJWA (Saint John to Waterville). Roughly twenty-four
hours after leaving Saint John, these pre-blocked cars are added to PAR Train NMSE (Northern Maine
Junction to Selkirk) at Waterville, Maine. Dedicated exclusively to Ayer and CSXT traffic, NMSE makes
one stop at Rigby yard in South Portland, Maine to pick up additional CSXT traffic before going directly
to Ayer. At Ayer it sets off the traffic destined for the Ayer vicinity, picks up any additional CSXT traffic
available, and then runs the last twenty-five miles to Worcester for delivery to CSXT.
Traffic to other PAR, CPRS or NS destinations travels in this same service run to Waterville where it
is classified and added to a NMED (Northern Maine Junction to East Deerfield) train which follows
a similar routing as far as Ayer, but then continues west to East Deerfield, Massachusetts where it is
switched into a EDMO (East Deerfield to Mohawk, NY) train for delivery to Mechanicville.