"Up North" Gawking (District 1 sightings)

[KSmitty]

Yea, 'Keag south. Its interesting watching, many ties are so rotted that the machine can't pull them out. The claw grabs the end, but doesnt get more than a couple feet of tie, try pulling from the other side, same result...leaves the middle of the old tie stuck, dig it out by hand.

Apparently sometime in the last 5 or 6 years they did a tie job at least Keag-Old Town where they did 100/mile or so. I wouldn't be surprised if you're right about the stop gap this year. 500/mile is more than enough, if they come back next year and replace another 500/mile and come back the year after that and swap another 500 out. In talking with people up that way, many think its being done with money from that company with the funny green colored engines...If thats the case, I'd imagine they would expect a little more than stop gaps!

[newpylong]

thanks.

I can tell you the work is being self funded. I forgot the actual number but the Oil Trains bring in serious cash. For once they really have a revenue influx besides the pig train.

[downeaster]

Quick trip by Old Town this morning found 307 and the tie train with appox. 20 gon's tied down there. Most gon's looked MT. Found piles of new ties placed along the right-of-way in both directions. Some 13' ties also piled there.
Earlier found a ballast regulator and tamper at Bucksport, and signs that they had been working there along that line.

[KSmitty]

This week we had a 3 train day at the "Keag. The trip was 7 1/2 hours and 310 miles. Long day! Focusing more on the NBSR side of things this report will be a bit shorter than the last couple weeks. We arrived about 9:30, our now established "usual" time. Less then 20 minutes later 70 cars rolled east behind 3 leased HLCX SD40-2's. HLCX 6340, the bloody nose, led. Train was mostly oil, 51 cars I believe, they had either 8 or 9 "spacers" on the front end, 50 oil cars, about 10 more general freight behind the oil and a single oil tank on the rear end.
Down in Winn, 343, 345, 381, and 349 --> http://kevin_smith.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3229061 <-- were canned with SJPO, waiting for trackwork to wrap up for the day.
On a mission, we tested mathematics in a chase to Vanceboro. We caught the 6340 and followers in Vanceboro, with an 1+ hour buffer. There is NOTHING to do in Vanceboro while you wait...The station agent was nice, she talked between work and let us wait in the warm and dry station. They picked up 2612 in Danforth so had 4 units when they hit the border. On a psuedo-PAR note traces of the Maine Central remain in Vanceboro. --> http://kevin_smith.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3229070 <----> http://kevin_smith.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3229071 <-- Anyone know the origins of the speeder?
Also in Vanceboro, but one of my favorite shots today, oil rolls out of the fog --> http://kevin_smith.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3229077 <--
Back at Keag we caught HLCX 8144 and 3 more with a good sized train from Brownville, 100 or so cars mixed mostly oil and wood with a few auto racks. The dampness held the smells down and they cleared the crossing leaving a wonderful mixture of pulpwood and diesel exhaust hanging in the air! An added perk at Keag was BNSF! An EOT had made it that far... --> http://kevin_smith.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3229082 <--

Now back to the regularly scheduled trackwork report. A fuel truck was at Passadumkeag --> http://kevin_smith.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3229092 <-- with a loader/tie picker-upper --> http://kevin_smith.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3229093 <-- the crew has made it to Olamon! New ties are in and spiked to downtown Olamon, they are not staged very far beyond that, but the Kershaw cranes were working today. They are stacked into Old Town for staging later. They were returning to Enfield for the night, after what we gathered was a rough day. --> http://kevin_smith.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3229096 <----> http://kevin_smith.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=3229097 <--

You can see the whole adventure --> http://kevin_smith.rrpicturearchives.net/archiveThumbs.aspx?id=84429 <-- there.

[Highball]

Nice report Kevin with a great photo gallery.

With one of the photos you described......" These blonde (untreated?) ties are starting to show up on the NBSR main in Keag. No clue why they are being used. "

NB Southern have been using these type of ties for replacement on their track in New Brunswick in the last few years. The ties are treated with copper based compounds, considered more " environmentally " friendly than creosote.

[KSmitty]

Thanks much for the info on the ties!

[gokeefe]

Kevin,

What "station agent" in Vanceboro? Someone has a freight station agent in Vanceboro?

[KSmitty]

Yes, NBSR maintains an active station in Vanceboro. Kim was the substitute station agent, the regular took the sunny weather and headed for a vacation in Florida!
Its a newer purpose built building http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3229073 the outspoke on the trackside provides an excellent view up and down the tracks, and there is a long line of sight there...The station is, from what I gathered, maintained almost solely to deal with customs on the US side of the border. Show up, fill out paperwork, take it to customs for approval, bring it back, had it to the crew, take off till the next train.

[gokeefe]

Must be one of the last ones anywhere in the U.S. I can't imagine UP, CN, CP or BNSF run things this way. Must be due to NBSRs lower volumes. Does anyone know how common this is elsewhere?

[KSmitty]

Slow today up north. SJPO with 510, GMTX 3109 and 507 plus a healthy train cleared Old Town this morning at about 9. At Keag NBSR had 8144 idling in the yard alone, and no one home.
Work on the PAR line is down to MP.32 now. With crews now putting the equipment up for the night in Cositgan. If pace holds, They should be in Old Town a week from Friday. That will leave them with about 22-23 days, depending on how they work around Thanksgiving, to work west of Old Town putting them another 34.5 miles south at the end of November or into Newport at MP.78. If we have a late freeze and they can work the first 2 weeks of December, they should make Pittsfield.

[KSmitty]

Track work west of the Penobscot River!
At about 8:30 this morning the full track crew was at the east end of the Old Town yard, apparently holding their morning meeting. Ties are staged for swapping out through most of the yard, down towards the paper mil and the Kershaw's were the only things moving when I went through, staging more... They still have a few ties to swap out between the 2 Penobscot bridges, but east of there they looked to be in the ground.
They should reach Northern Maine Junction late next week and will hopefully continue west. If all goes well, they could still reach MP.84 if they call it quits at the end of November.

[KSmitty]

Knowing the latest oil train had hit New Hampshire at 9 last night, we headed to Waterville to see what we could see. Yard was busy, we heard over the scanner WA-1, WA-2, WA-3 and WAR all working today, but there was no oil train. We headed to the Rice Rips to see if they had it tied down, wasn't there, so we tried downtown Oakland, no go, so we tried Belgrade by Hammond, not there. Figured we could give Readfield a try, halfway there on 135 we heard RUPO 516 at Leeds Jct, recrewing. Took off for him, and the next thing I knew we were standing in New Gloucester looking at Pumpkins.

We caught up with RUPO at Merrill Road, but the power was through so Stetson Road was next. The train was old executives 516, 517 and a leaser. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3259785
Missed him on the bridge because of construction, but got him at Danville. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3259787
RUPO met oil at New Gloucester and 45 minutes later oil rolled east. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3259803
On the bridge, http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3259811 and at Merrill Rd. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPi ... id=3259814

Caught some Saint Lawrence and Atlantic at Danville and Lewiston and some other pictures of PAR and oil. http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiv ... x?id=85143

And Just to update on the track work up this way, tie crew was working between MP44 and 51 in Old Town and Orono.
They also had an OLD tie machine working on the west end of Waterville yard swapping a few ties out. This was in the yard, on the lead to the fuel pads.
Tamper and regulator that had been in Belgrade are MIA.
This morning two 5XX's in dip blue were at NMJ, probably a BK or OT job and a GMTX yellowbird, and three PAR/GRS GP40's were idling on track 1 with a cut of oil. Was also told on our trip south we missed a 9 unit SJPO, running power heavy, returning units off oil trains from Keag to Waterville for the next train. Busy day in D1!

All in all, having seen enough trick or treators to remind me its halloween, I much prefer BNSF pumpkins to those on doorsteps everywhere!

[MEC&BAR]

NM-1 was dropping ties in Bangor today with the 382.

[gokeefe]

Oil Extra was clear of the crossings in Winthrop at approx. 6:30 pm. RUPO as photographed above was observed in Portland clear of Congress Street at approx. 11:30 pm.

[Rbts Stn]

The shot with the jeep in the foreground and train in the background is terrific photography.