Rigby Yard — Activity, Sightings, and General Discussion

"Does it smell bad?"
"It smells like gas"
>would've been dead from laughter seeing that live

True. Even with it in the yard they'll be lucky to get once-a-week service.

Even if the propane terminal gets switched a dozen times a day (you know, in the future, when a different railroad takes over), it's not like it's going to sound any different than the switching already taking place at the yard.

It's already the most industrial area in South Portland. As a South Portland resident I don't foresee any major opposition to this proposal. It's a permitted use for that zone, and any incidental odors aren't going to be any worse than what we already smell from the waste oil reclamation plant a few hundred feet away.

There probably isn't a more ideal location in all of Maine for such a facility.

From the Portland Press Herald:

Portland Press Herald wrote:City officials say the proposal from NGL Supply Terminal Co. would be an improvement over the way liquid propane is handled now at the rail yard...
. . .
NGL wants to build a storage facility at Rigby Yard because its terminal on Commercial Street in Portland will be squeezed out by the state’s planned expansion of the International Marine Terminal near the Casco Bay Bridge.

The Rigby Yard proposal would increase NGL’s fixed storage capacity by 80,000 gallons – from six tanks that hold a total of 280,000 gallons at its Portland site, to six 60,000-gallon tanks at Rigby Yard, said Steve Puleo, community planner.

Rigby Yard also would allow NGL to bring more railcars into a secure, fenced-in terminal. The 4-acre terminal in Portland has track capacity for eight cars, while the 10-acre terminal at Rigby Yard would have track capacity for 24 to 30 cars, Puleo said.

Read the rest of the article at: http://www.pressherald.com/2015/03/04/s ... -facility/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I noted a reference to a suggestion by the city of South Portland to add to the conditions of approval of the project, that Pan Am allow a right of way for a cross town road project.
Does anyone know where, or what, this project may involve? The only thing I can think of is a bridge crossing the tracks from the industrial park to main street near the turnpike on ramp? Huge money! Railfan bridge, north???

S

There's been talk of a cross-town road the entire 9 years I've lived here, and perhaps even longer than that. We definitely need such a road but I don't know if they've gotten to the point of deciding where exactly to put it yet. It'll have to cross the yard no matter what, and the only sane way to do that will be with a bridge. So yes... Railfan Bridge North. Or East, in keeping with timetable direction.

Some sort of extension of the Maine Turnpike Approach over to Highland Ave might make sense. Eminent domain at the current terminus of the approach road would probably have to come into play, though.

Spotted a Pan Am engine working in the Turner Island trackage earlier this week, and again today sitting just before the Broadway crossing with another line of cars for Turner Island ! Haven't seen them up that far before, usually just the TI track mobile.
Also a solid line of about a dozen Elmskip containers rolled slowly west down the mainline with a single unit this afternoon.

Bulkheadflat wrote:Spotted a Pan Am engine working in the Turner Island trackage earlier this week, and again today sitting just before the Broadway crossing with another line of cars for Turner Island ! Haven't seen them up that far before, usually just the TI track mobile.
Also a solid line of about a dozen Elmskip containers rolled slowly west down the mainline with a single unit this afternoon.

Interesting observations. Did you see what type of cars they were bringing to Turner's Island? Google Earth imagery from September 2014 shows quite a bit of cars out there, including tankers, gondolas and even centerbeams!
Also where on the mainline did you see the unit pulling the Eimskip containers? Are they loading them near Commercial Street?

Bulkheadflat wrote:Spotted a Pan Am engine working in the Turner Island trackage earlier this week, and again today sitting just before the Broadway crossing with another line of cars for Turner Island ! Haven't seen them up that far before, usually just the TI track mobile.
Also a solid line of about a dozen Elmskip containers rolled slowly west down the mainline with a single unit this afternoon.

Thanks to Hayden Mcswiggin, here's a video of the Elmskip extra heading west thru N.H.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5dDqpH46ek" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wow. Pretty ballsy to trust that train to a single 300...

Could it possibly go any slower?
S

I'm imagining the 511 pulling that train and it looks awesome.

Have these things run before? Or is this the first one as they build the Portland facility?

MEC407 wrote:Wow. Pretty ballsy to trust that train to a single 300...

In the video, does the loco look as though it has its classification lights on?