"Pan Am Clipper" Newsletter

gokeefe wrote:

jaymac wrote:The OOS-English-teacher part of me couldn't help but notice the recurring theme of "legacy," whether it was a discussion of legacy bandwidths or the legacies of implied goodwill in legacy color schemes and the legacy of the magic of Magic.

Seriously, given everything that's happening now it could just as well be 1983.

Better late than never though if they had their present new found outreach and improved attitude towards customers and improving ROW's etc back in 1983 we wouldn't be having this discussion. Happy holidays everyone!

jr145 wrote:Holy hell they posted a picture of Mellon.

Indeed - he looks just like a regular joe. Nice to see he dressed up for the occasion

There has been a new Clipper out for some time however there is no electronic copy. It is only print.

A long-overdue new issue of the Clipper is finally available online. Many thanks to Bill Gingrich for the heads-up. Here's the link:

http://www.panamrailways.com/PDF/901256_Issue1.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The issue covers many topics, including a very touching story about PAR employees who helped construct a Holocaust Memorial in Nashua, and an article about the rebuild of MEC 518 (and other locomotives in the future), so please do check it out.

MEC407-
Thanks for your link and to Bill Gingrich for the hedzup.
It's good to see that some of the 500s will be getting something more than cosmetic attention. It's curious to note that CN went unmentioned both for the cab design and for the extensive testing/break-in period before releasing the units to Guilford. It's also curious to note that there was no mention of what, if any, Tier the reworked power will meet.

Regarding EPA emissions tiers, I was under the impression that railroads under a certain size may be exempt (or partially exempt) from those standards, but I could be wrong... clarification would be welcome.

If the standards do apply to PAR, I would assume that the locomotives only need to meet Tier 0, which applies to locomotives built before 2001 but after 1972. (all the pre-Dash-2 stuff would be exempt, I guess.) My understanding is that Tier 0 is relatively easy to attain in a turbocharged 645 locomotive, especially if you were going to rebuild it anyway, because one of the things you need to do to meet Tier 0 is rebuild or replace the power assemblies and injectors — something most railroads would do by default during a major rebuild.

HELM, which PAR seems to have a good relationship with, sells kits to meet the various EPA tiers:

http://hlmx.com/bolt-on_emission-kit.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Similar kits are also available from NRE, GE, and others.

No tier standards... besides they don't have a way to do emissions testing in house anyways. The units are sold to and financed by.... GMTX. Leased back to PAR

CN9634 wrote:No tier standards... besides they don't have a way to do emissions testing in house anyways. The units are sold to and financed by.... GMTX. Leased back to PAR

Rebuilt to -3 or just rebuilt?

Nothing eletrically really... new power assembly I suppose. It means, using remanufactured or 'new' parts instead of used or salvaged parts.

The newsletter article states the following:

Pan Am Clipper wrote:
The project scope of work requires overhaul or replacement of every major component of the locomotive; diesel
engine and turbocharger, AR-10 generator, auxiliary generator, air compressor, and new radiators.
Trucks are being rebuilt with new wheels, reconditioned traction motors and journal bearings, and
all new springs. The cabs will be equipped with new electric heaters, new seats, floors, new window
glass and new bathrooms. We will also be installing SES units, which are designed for reduction of
emissions, noise and fuel.

In other words, no major upgrades (aside from the SES), but definitely a full rebuild.

Thanks for the clarification guys.

Didn't they have a GP40 rebuild program at one time? How many were done?

Although it is very short Mr. Fink's message says a lot with just a few words:

Our increased focus on customer service is paying dividends in new customers and some increases in
carloads for existing customers. The increase in Train and Engine Personnel has given us flexibility on
new customer initiatives and we are looking at increasing our successful take or pay system.

I think this is a direct acknowledgement of what some of us have been saying for several years now and that is that the company clearly is chasing every load possible. I'm not sure what the euphemism of "new customer intiatives" refers to other than possibly a blanket statement about new services in general (including Eimskip).

In June we welcomed Eimskip to Portland and have begun moving intermodal containers throughout
the system. The Marketing Department is working on inbound products for movement to Atlantic
Canada and Europe.

I found the extended mention of the Eimskip service notable and it seems to me there was some very clear affirmative language regarding this new opportunity.

While these new initiatives are helpful, we are continuing to see a fall-off in our coal business and it does
not look very promising for the future. The economy for the balance of the year remains somewhat
uncertain with freight changes occurring on a monthly basis.

I didn't realize that the Mt. Tom power plant coal traffic had been so significant for PAR but in hindsight its hard not to see this when we're talking about a customer that takes deliveries in unit trains of 100 cars at a time.

Hopefully the intermodal service in Portland will take off and deliver a substantial increase in business.

He is talking about Bow too - they have really backed off. Used to be a 100+ cars, now down to 87 when they run, which is getting rarer.

10 years ago Mt. Tom was getting unit coal trains from CSX. Then those stopped and they got ~50 car jobs from the P&W at Gardner. Then even those stopped.

Coal trains produced a lot of revenue.

newpylong wrote:He is talking about Bow too - they have really backed off. Used to be a 100+ cars, now down to 87 when they run, which is getting rarer.

10 years ago Mt. Tom was getting unit coal trains from CSX. Then those stopped and they got ~50 car jobs from the P&W at Gardner. Then even those stopped.

Coal trains produced a lot of revenue.

Interesting. I forgot about Bow. All the more reason to go after every load. Even more reason to develop this budding intermodal project in Portland. I'm sure it's no substitute for weekly unit coal trains but it can't hurt either.