The Maine Central Railroad Mountain Division

b&m 1566 wrote:

gpcog wrote:The track reconstruction is underway. I've seen it in person. There was no delay.

Are there any pictures?

There was a video posted last week on Youtube showing crews laying track somewhere in Westbrook. They are working westward from that point. I don't know how far they've laid new rails? I haven't been in that area for a few weeks.

Mountain Division Track Reconstruction. July 1011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5m6jbPr8yM

The American Journal has two stories on the Mountain Division in today's edition.

The first, "Falling off track: Mountain Division line project put on hold", tells how any progress in the line's restoration beyond what is currently funded will be delayed due to the Legislature's decision not to send any bond issues to the voters this fall. The article discusses the F.E. Wood plant in Baldwin that has been mentioned in this thread as well.

Falling off track: Mountain Division line project put on hold wrote:However, Gov. Paul LePage and Republicans in the Legislature, who campaigned on promises to curb government spending and borrowing, nixed any talk of bonds for this year, setting aside a reported 29 bills seeking bonds for a variety of infrastructure projects. The decision puts the Mountain Division project on hold for now, at least once the Westbrook-to-Windham section is complete, and affects both the Western Maine companies pushing for rail access to help their businesses, and the recreational groups seeking a new addition to the state’s trail offerings.

The second article, "Trails group to state: ‘Stop the spraying’", is pretty self-explanatory regarding herbicide use along the rail-trail.

Trails group to state: ‘Stop the spraying’ wrote:A local trails group is taking steps to halt state spraying to poison weeds along an inactive portion of the Mountain Division rail line, where hikers, bicyclists, nature enthusiasts and pets all enjoy the rail trail from Gorham and Windham to Standish.

roberttosh wrote:I'm too lazy to read through this whole thread, but am wondering that with all the millions they are spending to upgrade this line, is there even one legit customer lined up? If not, this has to be one of the more questionable expenditures I'v seen made in an awful long time.

Nothing in stone that I am aware of. The one somewhat promising shipper is still in the planning stages and has not even built the plant yet as far as I know, let alone find suppliers and a market for the pellets. Selling Pellets in Portland would make more sense to ship by truck. Just a fact. Trucks move good cheaper when short hauling.

Mike

miketrainnut wrote:

roberttosh wrote:I'm too lazy to read through this whole thread, but am wondering that with all the millions they are spending to upgrade this line, is there even one legit customer lined up? If not, this has to be one of the more questionable expenditures I'v seen made in an awful long time.

Nothing in stone that I am aware of. The one somewhat promising shipper is still in the planning stages and has not even built the plant yet as far as I know, let alone find suppliers and a market for the pellets. Selling Pellets in Portland would make more sense to ship by truck. Just a fact. Trucks move good cheaper when short hauling.

Mike

They are much further along than that.

gpcog - your comment has sparked my interest, do you care to elaborate some more?

The impression I get (and I could be way off base) is that the pellet manufacturer has major aims at the export market. I envision them loading shipping containers in Baldwin, putting them on railcars somehow, and then those cars being hauled to Merrill (Sprague) Marine Terminal to be transferred onto ships. I could be wrong on the packaging, largely because AFAIK MMT doesn't handle containerized loads, but I don't know how else it would work. Pellets that need to stay dry don't strike me as a likely break-bulk cargo for a bluewater ship, and I know I heard Merrill mentioned somewhere (plus the container operation at the old Scotia Prince dock doesn't have rail service).

b&m 1566 wrote:gpcog - your comment has sparked my interest, do you care to elaborate some more?

It is not my place to announce the details of a multi-million dollar project. But some of you are on the right track. There are at least two other significant deals in the works along the line.

If it's a matter of "build it and they will come", then why didn't these potential shippers just locate on an existing, in service PAR, SLR or NHN line? As far as Pellet plants, I guess it's possible that they could source their fiber from a rail served location in New England, but the problem is that the fiber needs to be dry, so unless they do that on-site, there are few if any people that could supply that material. You also aren't going to do much better than a 2 to 1 truck to railcar ratio and unloading railcars is a lot more time consuming and costly than dumping a truck. As far as outbound finished product goes, I would imagine that this material would stay in the Northeast, if not New England, so again, you are talking about major truck competition, especially when you consider that most of the distributors and stores don't have rail sidings. There's also been discussion about LPG receivers, but again, if existing LPG companies that have sidings on in service tracks aren't using PAR, what makes anyone think someone on the Mountain Division will? They will probably eventually find someone to ship some cars, but it just seems like an awful lot of money for that type of traffic.

It has become quite obvious that something is in the works and public knowledge is being kept at bay, for reasons unknown.

b&m 1566 wrote:It has become quite obvious that something is in the works and public knowledge is being kept at bay, for reasons unknown.

Well, that clarifies things!

Yeah, I thought so too. It's nice that we're all on the same page, it kind of reminds me of Who's on First.

Still sounds fishy to me. The only way to gain public support of using their funds is to be honest.

Oh, wait a minute To be honest, you would have to say that all the studies are purely speculation. The material to be transported is not moving to the destination yet because the destination or even the shipper has not been established yet.

Honestly, land is much cheaper in the area and could be a draw for a business, especially if there are future plans for rail nearby.

But I still say without a business already being established in the area and already shipping to a location, they may never do either! This economy is not the best to start a totally new venture.

Mike

"They are much further along than that."

Heck, the article posted by markhb states that "F.E. Wood, maker of wood pellets for industrial applications...is already hauling his product via truck to Portland to be shipped to spots on the East Coast."

Well, as of May there was no evidence of facility construction, so "planning stage" sounds pretty accurate.

GPCOG, while I respect the confidence provided these prospective new businesses, I'm sure you can share at least some of the analysis/findings GPCOG and the businesses collaborated on to determine that rail will work for them operationally and economically. Given that not one professional railroader (to my knowledge- if they have, I'm sure the forum participants here would be interested to know who they are) has come out in favor of the line's reopening, I think you can understand why the touted potential of this line is so perplexing to many.

Well, most of us are (rightly it seems) assuming that if they (re)build it they will NOT come. Well, to be "a devil's advocate", what would make "them" (online business) come? Any ideas folks?

I do not and have not worked for a railroad but I have been part of planning city/county growth plans and working to attract new business. I agree its a risk reworking the railroad to attract new business, but I can say that trying to attract business buy promissing to build after they build will not work. Same for roads, sewer, and other utilities. You dont have to have the services up to the building site but it has to be close.