Maine Propane (LPG)

[gokeefe]

I have been wondering about possible expansion of rail served LPG sites in Maine in particular those served by Pan Am or on lines interchanged solely by Pan Am (e.g. the Rockland Branch) or formerly owned by Pan Am (e.g. the former Mountain Division).

Just exactly how many possible sites are there right now which previously took delivery of LPG in tank cars by rail?

One that comes immediately to mind is Suburban Propane in Augusta. Another would be Suburban Propane in Portland.

What are the others?

[Cowford]

May I answer your question with a question? What do you mean by "expansion of rail served LPG sites" - expansion of receiving sites or expansion of rail market share? If the latter, where do you believe the volume handled at the sites like Augusta comes from?

[690]

They can't even run down to the Suburban in Augusta anyway; all the track beyond the west switch (minus about ten car lengths or so) at Riverside has been torn up. And I doubt they would reinstall the rail for one customer that would take a car every couple of weeks if that.

[gokeefe]

Suburban isn't that far down. Take a look at Google maps. The switch may still be in place. The switching frequency is about what they do right now for virtually all their other customers down there.

[newpylong]

Speaking of the Augusta Industrial what is that monstrosity of a mill building in Winslow just north of the branch? Lotta tracks in there.

[KSmitty]

Suburban isn't that far down. Take a look at Google maps. The switch may still be in place. The switching frequency is about what they do right now for virtually all their other customers down there.

The latest google imagery is from 2013. Given that 690 has posted pictures of WA-2 running to E. Augusta, I'd take his word on track being removed over 2+ year old areal imagery. If the rails are pulled up from 10 cars west of the Cives' crossing, thats just over a mile to Suburban. Their low volume would never justify the expense of reinstalling track. It would hardly justify running down there if everything was still in serviceable condition. Suburaban has facilities rail-adjacent all over the state (not just on Pan Am). They are all smaller facilities that don't need the volume to justify rail service.

Speaking of the Augusta Industrial what is that monstrosity of a mill building in Winslow just north of the branch? Lotta tracks in there.

The mill in Winslow is an old Scott tissue mill. Closed in 1997 in much the same manner as Verso-Bucksport, sold right out from under those who should be involved in the process. And its a good reminder that the governor, no matter political persuasion, is incapable of preventing companies from screwing the Maine towns in which they operate... Here's a BDN article on the subject --> https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid= ... 3482&hl=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; <--which ironically also has an article about a paper lab at the then Champion mill in Bucksport, for all the good it did. And a couple pages left an article about Holtra-Chem's tainted site.

Edit*
Oh yeah, so what is it now, to answer your question.
Marden's warehouse.

[gokeefe]

The Winslow mill was replaced by an all new facility built in Skowhegan, now owned by Sappi.

[Cowford]

The Winslow mill was replaced by an all new facility built in Skowhegan, now owned by Sappi.

Huh? Winslow was a tissue mill owned by Kimberly-Clark and a victim of K-C's merger with Scott, the mill's former owner. Sappi's Somerset mill was formerly SD Warren and opened in the 70s.

[690]

Suburban isn't that far down. Take a look at Google maps. The switch may still be in place. The switching frequency is about what they do right now for virtually all their other customers down there.

It's over a mile away... And again, let me reiterate, they tore up the rail. Aka, no switch. No way in hell Pan Am is going to put all that back in place for that Suburban (especially on their own dime), considering its size. As I said, they'd take maybe a car or two every couple weeks, if that.

And as far as switching frequency, they usually go down about twice a week for Gold Star and Civies. That's not the issue.

[gokeefe]

The Winslow mill was replaced by an all new facility built in Skowhegan, now owned by Sappi.

Huh? Winslow was a tissue mill owned by Kimberly-Clark and a victim of K-C's merger with Scott, the mill's former owner. Sappi's Somerset mill was formerly SD Warren and opened in the 70s.

Interesting. The version of the story I heard was as told by Ambassador Mitchell. Thanks for the clarification. Makes sense to me. Sappi bought out SD Warren anyways.

[gokeefe]

I've been pondering the relationship in Maine between propane traffic and strong rail service. Propane is interesting to me as one of the few freight types common in Maine that involves low volumes of carloads with a lot of local switching. This type of service for other commodities, such as lumber, often seems challenging for shippers to obtain in Maine unless they are located relatively close to other online shippers. Propane on the other hand seems to be a customer and load category that Pan Am (and other railroads) are more than happy to switch and serve.

Propane also has recently transitioned in Maine from being a gas fuel used universally throughout the state to being a fuel primarily in demand in more rural areas. This to me seems to be a natural consequence of the build out of urban and suburban natural gas distribution. Propane has also become more popular as a heating fuel due to its stable pricing and the efficiency of the appliances that use it (tankless hot water heating and very high efficiency boilers).

In terms of rural development it is interesting to note that there are several branch lines that have the potential for construction and operation of propane terminals that would improve propane distribution opportunities in the local area. There are at least four that immediately come to mind in central Maine, the Rumford Branch, the Lewiston Industrial Track (Lewiston Lower), the Augusta Branch (Waterville to North Augusta), the former Lower Road (through Gardiner), and the Mountain Branch, either at Westbrook or potentially a few miles beyond (not all the way to Fryeburg).

The question in my mind is whether or not the resulting base loads would be attractive to Pan Am. How big does a new terminal need to be in order to be worthwhile to serve? Obviously an online customer on the Rumford Branch could be almost any size and receive service. But what about something like the Lower Road, perhaps if the customer was in Richmond (somewhere not very close to the existing end of current service at the interchange). Same question with the Mountain Branch, if there was a propane terminal requiring weekly switching how much further up the Branch could it be before Pan Am felt it was too far to be worth it? Obviously Fryeburg is too far, but what if its only another mile down the line from the Sappi switch in Westbrook?

[gokeefe]

The Madison Branch and the Somerset Branch are other potential locations for a terminal. Even though natural gas reaches all the way to Madison there are plenty of customers for propane in that area.

[CN9634]

Okay that is getting a bit much... every branch line can't have an LPG rack. Centralization of something at Waterville would make sense, not locating assets at the end of small branches.

[F-line to Dudley via Park]

The Madison Branch and the Somerset Branch are other potential locations for a terminal. Even though natural gas reaches all the way to Madison there are plenty of customers for propane in that area.

No, there isn't. An embargoed 20-mile branchline in a sparsely-populated area whose anchor customer just closed is the last place on earth a propane transload is going to seek to set up shop. Propane isn't paper. They tend to be small terminals with modest car counts and non-daily--but regular, multi-per-week--deliveries. Far, far shy of a branch-sustaining anchor customer. They're the type of customers you infill on a pre-existing local or site near a yard. It's the equivalent of shooting a few free throws. There's practically dozens of places in Maine on you could ID on a map that fit the mold for an infill LPG siding without having to get into unrealistic fantasies like overinflating the LPG market by orders of magnitude such that it can revive a dead branch whose customers have all left. That isn't a useful exercise.

Madison is not waking up from its embargo. Barring some miracle, when the mill is sold for scrap the abandonment filing is going to quickly follow.

[Cosakita18]

The Madison branch doesn't have a future and we need to accept that. The Augusta and Hinckley branches both have stable customers and aren't entirely practical for LPG (especially when there are big chunks of free land at the Waterville Yard)

As far as the Mountain Division, There was some track rehabilitation a few years ago west of the SAPPI site, but that planned customer never worked out and the track work was (for now) entirely useless.

The only branch Line I could think of that MAY be saved by the introduction of LPG is the SLQ line from Danville to Portland. If an LPG customer could be found along that branch, SLQ could be able to justify the cost of running trains along the branch on a semi-regular basis. (as you know SLQ suspended service to B&M Beans due to their isolation)