St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad (SLR/SLQ)

The Berlin switcher is usually, unless at the shop, the Quebec Gatineau SW 1500, #1504.
It has been assigned there since the SW-1's were removed from service. As QG is a GW
road, the unit is in the Orange and black scheme. When 1504 has to come to LJ for it's
92 day or for repairs, they try to schedule it for a weekend. Otherwise they have to send
of the GP-15's. Below is the URL for a pic of 1504 headed east from Gorham to Allen's.

http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?photo ... 20Atlantic

Here's a better shot:


http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?20031 ... ODE=&POYE=

Lots of new looking ballast in the second photo. Does anyone know if St. L&A is maintained to Class II or Class III standards?

Appears to be class 3 in areas where CWR has been laid.

Won't take much to get that Portland-Montreal passenger service up to a Class IV Standard.

CWR has not been laid the whole length of the system. Not sure what sections
have and have not been done, but I know from E Deering to LJ has not. A long
ways to go to reach Class 4 the on the whole line. Wouldn't look for it anytime
soon.

Two SLR updates,

As reported on the SLR Yahoo Group GP15-1 1507 has left property.

Also on a very sad note a young man was killed when his truck was hit by an SLR train Early Friday morning.

http://www.sunjournal.com/storyupdate.p ... 1f5c56d73b\
fc9a#1822

BETHEL -- A 25-year-old Raymond man was killed this morning when he made a wrong turn down railroad tracks and was struck by an oncoming train.

Bethel Police Chief Alan Carr said Scott Libby, 25, of Raymond, took a left hand turn at Barker Road and Route 2 onto the railroad tracks, but the reason, he said, is still under investigation.

Read more at: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/newsu ... rain-crash

There was also an article in the Advertiser Democrat (2/12/09) last week about a propane tank being wedged in between the rails on the SLR tracks in South Paris. The propane tank was later found to be one of three stolen from a local storage area. The engineer stopped the train in time after seeing it farther down the tracks.

The paper only comes out once a week and I don't believe the article is listed on their website: http://www.advertiserdemocrat.com/

Warren

From the Colebrook Chronicle week of February 2Oth,2009 Stratford Received $392,000
To Upgraded Rail Track

By Charlotte Sheltry
The Town of Stratford announced
at a regularly scheduled
meeting on Monday that
the town has received a grant
in the amount of $392,000 for
railway installation.
Through the efforts of U.S.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, and
by using transportation funding
through the railroad administration,
the town was granted
rail safety upgrades to the
main line that connects to the
St. Lawrence and Atlantic
Railroad (SLA).
The award states that Shaheen
said that the award will
create jobs and lay the groundwork
for long term economic
growth in New Hampshire'sNorth Country, and help install
additional rail in Stratford.
The board was not sure
what the funding was for and
attempts to reach Jeanne Shaheen
as of press time were unsuccessful.
But the state created
a plan that included this
section of track back in the
1990s the state established a
regional plan and a revolving
loan fund and funded it partly
with $4 million in 1997. The
money was earmarked to repair
the St. Lawrence and Atlantic
track (SLA); to replace
the track so it could handle
286,000 pound carloads, create
a line for double-stack clearance,
and repair the 25 bridges
that are on the SLA.
In 2001, the state upgraded
its plan and dubbed it the N.H.
State Rail Plan, but the plan
stayed basically the same. But
it did state that the initiative
would result in a stronger
statewide rail system, and
should be considered seriously

Does SLR have signals on its system or is it dark?

If they do use signals then what type, CTC, or ABS?

Hello,
The SLR/SLQ is all dark territory except for a couple of interlockings [Danville Junction (PAR), Lennoxville (MMA)], which are protected by signals. I hope this helps.
Fritz

Fritz,
Thanks for the response. So for all intents and purposes SLR is runnning on Class III track as far as I can tell. I think that's very interesting in terms of what types of passenger operations may take place on their lines in the future. In essence we might be able to say they are ready now to run passenger trains perhaps with some necessary adjustments to their grade crossing signals.

I was up thru N Stratford on Sunday. There was 3 fuel cars on siding and 1 Covered hopper also. Must have been waiting for NHCR to come and get them. I wonder if part of that grant will go the NHCR to upgrade the track from the junction of SLAR to their shop in North Stratford.

Maine State Police join investigation into man's death on SLR tracks:

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/newsu ... estigation