Coal Dock in Bangor, Maine?

[Coalman]

Not sure if this is the place to post. Can anybody help me find out if there is a "Coal Dock" in or around Bangor Maine.

[Otto Vondrak]

Currently or historically?

[Coalman]

Currently, I'm interested in railing up some coal to Central Maine out of Pennsylvania. Trying to figure out the closest place to Dover- Foxcroft that they can get coal out of a rail car and into a truck. Someone I was talking to mentioned Bangor. Any help with this is greatly appreciated.

[Mikejf]

How much coal are you talking about? Car load or entire train, once or how many carloads a month.

[Coalman]

Coal is for retail. Just one 100 ton car to start. I would guess I can take three cars a year if gets going. Coal is too expensive up there due to trucking.

[wolfmom69]

Mileage wise, the best bet would be to have the car(s) unloaded at Milo, on the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic. It is only 13 miles via Route 16, but requires Pan Am to take the cars to N. Maine Jct, and interchange with MMA.

There WAS a branch that ran from Newport on the Pan Am to Dover-Foxcroft until the 1990 era, and car could be unloaded at Newport and trucked up to Dover Foxcroft-but it is about 30 miles over Route 2.

Good Luck

Bud

[Coalman]

I think Milo is just a Engine painting facility. I think they call that yard Derby. Brownville Junction would be best for me due to the local trucking companys and the ultra short haul to Milo. But somehow I have to be able to get the coal out of the car and into a truck. I don't think I can do that there. I think there is infrastructure where these hopper cars roll over a small bridge and deposit the load into a truck underneath. I have to locate something like that.

[NYC27]

Pan Am has a public delivery siding at East Newport, ME but no trestle for bottom unloading.

[scoopernicus_in_Maine]

This is more tangental to the conversation, but I hope it isn't regarded as off topic. I know my uncle in Pittsfield has a coal furnace, and would certainly be pleased if he knew there was a new and regular supplier in the area.

Also, there used to be a coal depot in Pittsfield that was managed by my great grandfather, and I used to play amongst the old equipment that was left behind near his back yard.

Sorry not really relevent to the conversation, but the thread just triggered some memories for me.

[Sir Ray]

Didn't almost all of those little local coal trestles (at fuel dealers once found in almost every town along a railroad) more or less disappear by the 1970s, when most homes and businesses had switched over to gas or oil heating? I suspect nowadays to unload a single hopper you'd spot it at a team track (or some wide space alongside a siding) and use a rented portable conveyor or auger system to unload the coal into a truck (I don't know if you could use a pneumatic system - do they make such a portable air system able to withstand the punishment of hard, sharp coal pieces passing thru it).
I suppose you could employ a Bobcat or front end loader (dump some coal on the ROW, scoop up with the loader, dump into truck or storage pile, repeat till the hopper's empty), or else a back-hoe (scoop up with the backhoe and right into the truck or onto a pile - you'll need some guy with a shovel for the last dregs).
BTW, is that what you're planning - unload the hopper, and create a storage pile somewhere to use/sell coal throughout the period...because even though unused hoppers are stashed on sidings everywhere, the railroad will still sock you with demurrage fees which quickly add up for every day that you retain the hopper car...

[Coalman]

Right on the money Sir Ray. I got to talk with rail people today and I found that they they unload with a conveyor now. Who ever thought? From Rail Car to truck and away. Looks like I'm headed down the right track! Thanks All! I'll send some pics when the train rolls in.

[atsf sp]

Right on the money Sir Ray. I got to talk with rail people today and I found that they they unload with a conveyor now. Who ever thought? From Rail Car to truck and away. Looks like I'm headed down the right track! Thanks All! I'll send some pics when the train rolls in.

Thats also how they do it with some modern day Steam Locomotive operations. But this would be the easiest way to unload the coal, especially if it is only one car. Building a new track for one car would be pointless, unless it was a major operation.

[Mikejf]

I was thinking conveyor if you weren't unloading a whole train. Also MMA has some overpasses in the Northern Maine Junction area that you could get a truck under if the ties were open. Too bad the coal silos weren't still operational.
Mike

[bwparker1]

Coalman, can't you just use a backhoe to unload the coal, as is demonstrated at this link? I know that there are other pieces of equipment too that can be used to scoop material out of an open hopper car for unloading purposes.

http://southern.railfan.net/coal/article.html

Also check out this demo of how to get a back hoe up onto a hopper car:

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=1ac_1217044118



Good luck, I thought single car coal transport was a thing of the past, but if you can make it fly, all the better for Maine!

[Otto Vondrak]

Coalman, can't you just use a backhoe to unload the coal, as is demonstrated at this link?

Yes, but the conveyor is more efficient. Used for grain transload, too.

-otto-