St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad (SLR/SLQ)

Hello,
Last night SLQ ran a Richmond-Island Pond-Richmond turn that left about 50 cars on the siding in Island Pond.

This morning the tie and surfacing gangs were not working, but the SLR GP40 3004 pulled 8 loaded ballast hoppers west from East Brighton to dump ballast starting around MP 3.2 on the Sherbrooke Subdivision. The crew arrived around 0830 and were pulling west out of East Brighton at 0910. They were just starting to dump ballast at 10 on this gloomy morning.
Best,
Fritz

I caught Wednesday morning's 393 near Lennoxville, QC, so I went to Sherbrooke to get ahead and take some pictures. I had to wait for a while - in part because all trains recently have had to stop at the SLR - CP diamond in Lennoxville (seems to be some signal issue).

Had the same units as I saw a week ago (4024 - 3047 - 3805 - 805) and about 75-80 cars (lost the exact count while taking pictures).



More photos:

https://trainiax.net/mephotosearchresul ... %2C11%2C20

I am new to this board. I live in Berlin with a clear view of the tracks by the Notre Dame Arena. My mother was born and raised in Berlin so I have been coming here my whole life. I recently took over my grandfather's house. It seems that the SLR is running 393 and 394 twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I would appreciate any info in regards to the railroad's health and if the new track laying program has had any impact on business.

393 and 394 just staged a meet in Berlin, 11:52 11/26/2024

The local traffic around the Lewiston Junction area and between there/S. Paris has held steady, and there's always a seasonal LPG uptick around this time frame.

I believe one of the main goals of the recent track upgrades was to allow for 286k pound cars to be able to traverse the line, which is what shippers are looking for.

Thank-you for the response. So I take it there are shippers waiting in the wings to add traffice when the project is complete.

trainiac wrote: ↑Fri Nov 22, 2024 7:46 pm I caught Wednesday morning's 393 near Lennoxville, QC, so I went to Sherbrooke to get ahead and take some pictures. I had to wait for a while - in part because all trains recently have had to stop at the SLR - CP diamond in Lennoxville (seems to be some signal issue).

Had the same units as I saw a week ago (4024 - 3047 - 3805 - 805) and about 75-80 cars (lost the exact count while taking pictures).



More photos:

https://trainiax.net/mephotosearchresul ... %2C11%2C20

CPKC is replacing all the signals at Lennoxville so lots of crews working.

I saw propane shoved out stored on the Rangeley branch-- first time I can recall seeing cars there since it was installed a while ago.

Definitely lots of propane stored all over the place around Lewiston Jct.

SLR has allowed 286K cars on waiver, not sure exactly the limitations (maybe only so many per year?) or stipulations but I shipped loaded pulp from Matane, QC to Skowhegan, ME CN-SLR-ST (now CSX) in 60' hi-cubes at 286K.

Hello,
Another late report but ...

Due to the holiday (I presume), no road trains ran Thursday night but they ran Friday night instead.

Saturday morning's SLQ westbound 393 departed Island Pond at 0730 with the following:

SD70MAC 4024
GP40-2 3047 (still burping dark black smoke every few seconds)
6 boxcars
2 hi-sided gondolas
5 covered hoppers
29 tank cars

That's 42 cars total, including 5 loads and 37 empties.

In Island Pond, the tie gang is gone, but the surfacing gang (tamper, regulator) was still parked on the house track, and the 8 ballast hoppers were still spotted in East Brighton. With the cold and snow, I do wonder how much more surfacing work they will be able to do.
Best,
Fritz

Thank-you for the car count. Interesting to compare what is coming through Berlin.

Why is there a long string of tank cars parked in Columbia NH?

Westbound (393) just went through Berlin 12/02/2024 11:30. Quite small. Followed by 394 a lot of tanker cars. What is with these trains? Was not expecting anything until Tuesday.

Coos93 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 02, 2024 11:29 pm Why is there a long string of tank cars parked in Columbia NH?

NH Central stores empties there, as well as loaded storage for other outfits that can't accept all the cars at once, or at least that practice has occured in the past.

Not sure if that has changed since VRS took over NHCR operations up there in May, I am aware they are no longer doing contract repairs at the shops.

Thank-you that makes sense. Not to go off subject but my last trip to St. J. I noticed the yard was full of tankers and hoppers. How is the traffic along the Conn River Line?

Those are all storage cars. VRS has added customers along the line in the 20+ years they've been running it, but also lost a good majority of the through traffic when CP acquired CMQ and routed all the VRS bound traffic via Whitehall, NY.

I have been forwarding car counts on the Conn River to the VRS thread from a FB group with several local, consistent posters:

https://railroad.net/vermont-rail-syste ... l#p1656768

Getting back to the SLR, tonight's 394 hit Bloomfield, VT about a half hour ago, and should be heading your way.

393 just came through, it looked big, but I still don't have my light set up so I don't have a count.