St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad (SLR/SLQ)

Hello,
This morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0747 in squally snow with the following:

RM-1 806
GP40-3 3806
SD70MAC 4023
QG GP40-2L 3014
13 centerbeam flats
2 bulkhead flats
3 hi-sided gondolas
10 boxcars
41 tank cars

That's 69 cars total, including 4 loads and 65 empties.
Have a great day,
Fritz

Hello,
One of the interesting things in today's SLQ 393 were two loads of scrap metal of a curious type. I have seen these occasionally before but not often. Here is a photo:


I have no idea what you would call this type of scrap. I have also seen pulverized/ground metal, shredded metal, and, of course, the rather ubiquitous pieces of almost identifiable scrap metal (car bumpers, appliances, etc).

If anyone knows anything about this type, I'd be interested to learn more.
Thanks!
Fritz

Hello,
This morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed chilly Island Pond at 0745 with the following:

GP40-2 3007
GP40-2 3047
RLHH SD40-2 3403
6 centerbeam flats
5 bulkhead flats
2 covered hoppers
13 boxcars
51 tank cars

That's 77 cars total, including 8 loads and 69 empties.
Have a great day,
Fritz

Hello,
This morning's SLQ westbound 393 crested the summit at Summit (VT) at 0805 with the following:

QGRY GP40-2L 3014
SD70MAC 4024
GP40-2 3007
RLHH SD40-2 3403
24 centerbeam flats
1 bulkhead flat
4 covered hoppers
7 boxcars
33 tank cars

That's 69 cars total, including 4 loads and 65 empties.

This might be the maiden run of the 4024 on the SLR/SLQ. Meanwhile, the 3403 had waybills taped to the cab doors, but I have no idea where she is going.
Best,
Fritz

Just saw 394 an hour ago in Sherbrooke and followed it to Waterville, QC. It was the first time I'd ever seen and photographed an SD70MAC of any kind - I've covered almost every other recent EMD and GE model.

Anyway, here's what it had:

RM-1 804
GP40-3 3804
SD70MAC 4023
6 boxcars
2 scrap gondolas
4 centerbeams
6 various tank cars
62 LPG tank cars

That's 80 cars total - might as well call it the SLR tank train! The units were put through their paces, cresting the Waterville grade at about 10 mph. I don't see nearly as many SLR trains as I used to - but still, this was the longest train I've seen in a while. Evidently the SD70MAC is a decent puller as it was comparable to what I remember from similar-sized trains with 2 slug sets many years ago.

I haven't yet downloaded photos from the camera - it wasn't ideal lighting and was too dark by the time I got to Waterville. Still, I hope to have them uploaded soon (I focused almost entirely on the SD70MAC).

Thanks, Michael!
It is great to get a report from Waterville hill ... it's been a long time!

After some delays, this morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0752 with the following:

RM-1 805
GP40-3 3805
SD70MAC 4022
GP40-3 3806
10 centerbeam flats
6 boxcars
1 covered hopper
22 tank cars

That's 39 cars total, including 1 load and 38 empties.
Have a great weekend,
Fritz

Thanks Fritz! I don't get to the Waterville hill very often even though I'm only a few miles farther away than I was 20 years ago. It's always fun to watch a heavy train on the grade.

I've uploaded yesterday's pics on my site - not the greatest lighting but I did get some detail shots of 4023 and a pan shot of 804 near Lennoxville. It's exciting to have new motive power to photograph - I've got enough photos of the slug sets to fill an archive on their own!





More photos here:

https://trainiax.net/mephotosearchresul ... 2024,03,01

Another update about something I noticed in recent weeks: Most of the rail around Sherbrooke and the surrounding towns is still 100 lb jointed, with a few longer and heavier (though still jointed) sections on curves. But about a 1.5 mile stretch through the middle of Sherbrooke has been redone with welded rail and new ties - stretching from just North of the intersection of Elgin St / Rte. 143 to the end of the yard just South of Aberdeen St. I snapped some pics a few days ago:

Old rails stacked South of Aberdeen St.



Looking South from Aberdeen St. to the yard (the South end of the new track)



Looking North toward downtown Sherbrooke from Aberdeen. There's a set of crossing signals just visible at the top left corner - they were installed last year between Aberdeen and King streets, but there's still fences on both sides with no street passing through. I'm curious to see what develops.



The North end of the rail replacement near the intersection of Elgin St. and Rte. 143.

4023 leads last night's/this morning's 393.

Thanks for the heads-up, Casey!

This morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0737 with the following:

SD70MAC 4023
GP40-3 3804
RM-1 804
7 centerbeam flats
1 covered hopper
16 tank cars

That's 24 cars total, all empties. Here's a foggy photo of the SD70MAC leading this morning:


Best,
Fritz

Hello,
Due to a very late arrival last night, this morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0927 with the following:

QGRY GP40-2L 3014
GP40 3004
GP40-3 3806
14 centerbeam flats
3 bulkhead flats
1 covered hopper
12 boxcars
36 tank cars

That's 66 cars total, including 5 loads and 61 empties.
Have a great day!
Fritz

RLHH 3403 is off the property and apparently bound somewhere in BC. Sounds like the SD70MACs have assumed the role of the departed SD40's.

Went by Danville Jct. this afternoon and QG 6904 was sitting at the end of a cut of cars on the former MEC
mainline where CSX leaves deliveries for SLR.

Hello,
It is interesting that the gray goose (QGRY SD40 6904) is back on the SLR. I had heard that it and its sister (QGRY SD40 6908) were going to the Berkshire & Eastern after being repaired by CSX at Selkirk. Who knows???

This morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0748 with the following interesting pair:

SD70MAC 4023
SD70MAC 4024
12 centerbeam flats
1 bulkhead flat
6 hi-sided gondolas
3 covered hoppers
16 boxcars
36 tank cars

That's 74 cars total, including 4 loads and 70 empties.

So far that's only two sets of road trains this week. I wonder if they will run again tonight with the impending storm (15"+ forecast here in the Northeast Kingdom), but today is sunny ...
Have a great day,
Fritz

Hello,
This morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0741 with the following:

GP40-2 3047
SD70MAC 4022
6 centerbeam flats
7 hi-cube boxcars
4 covered hoppers
23 tank cars

That's 40 cars total, including 5 loads and 35 empties. It seems like a short train for a Tuesday, especially since they didn't run since last Thursday night.

It sounds like the 3804-804 duo are now working on the Guelph Junction Railway and the 3803-803 duo continue working on the Quebec Gatineau Railway. The 3035 has been in Lewiston Junction since December 23rd, maybe in need of repair?
Have a great day,
Fritz