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  • Mechanicville expansion

  • Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.
Guilford Rail System changed its name to Pan Am Railways in 2006. Discussion relating to the current operations of the Boston & Maine, the Maine Central, and the Springfield Terminal railroads (as well as the Delaware & Hudson while it was under Guilford control until 1988). Official site can be found here: PANAMRAILWAYS.COM.

Moderator: MEC407

 #1412501  by Triple6 dot5
 
A fourth storage track is being added in the yard on the east side. Also a possible engine service track. Switches ties and rail were either installed or in place last week
 #1412601  by B&M 1227
 
heard about the fourth trk but the engine trks are news to me. one more place to stash a train I guess...
 #1412778  by johnpbarlow
 
Vaguely related but perhaps in the not-too-distant future, one will be able to view Mechanicville Yard and CP mainline from a public trail:

http://www.saratogian.com/general-news/ ... es-forward

Excerpts:
Saratoga County recently completed acquisition of a key 13-acre parcel that’s needed for the roughly three-mile extension from the trail’s south end, at Coons Crossing in Halfmoon, to Elizabeth Street in Mechanicville....The extension will parallel existing railroad tracks from a point near Coons Crossing to the city of Mechanicville....The largest single stretch, about 5,000 feet, is part of the 13 acres Saratoga County bought from Pan Am Railways, which owns a large intermodal rail facility off Route 67, near Mechanicville. The $45,000 sale was completed last Friday.
 #1414991  by Triple6 dot5
 
I would imagine it will be for any locomotive/ locomotives that will will be hanging around the yard for switching out the auto leads as now there just oil Matt's between the rails on the auto lead and it's not convenient to get to. It appears stone has been dumped to accommodate a switch for this purpose
 #1415026  by johnpbarlow
 
Triple6 dot5 wrote:I would imagine it will be for any locomotive/ locomotives that will will be hanging around the yard for switching out the auto leads as now there just oil Matt's between the rails on the auto lead and it's not convenient to get to. It appears stone has been dumped to accommodate a switch for this purpose
Google Maps Aerial photo link gives a good idea how congested Mechanicville yard can get these days with what looks like a 28N, 22K, and 23K train present:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Mecha ... 73.6873405

And attached is a close up of the auto yard switcher, possibly an ex-UP SD9043MAC, judging by the grey roof.
Attachments:
Mechanicville ex-UP SD9043MAC.JPG
Mechanicville ex-UP SD9043MAC.JPG (143.16 KiB) Viewed 3859 times
 #1415143  by ANDY117
 
Switches are in place on both ends with ties laid out the whole way on whatever that new track will be named. Another track will be a good start, hopefully it stays unplugged unlike ST1-3 always seem to be. As for engine tracks, it would be nice to have a place to keep the 205/206 power out of the way. Even better would be a small wye somewhere so we could spin power without having to beg CP.
 #1415191  by Trinnau
 
ANDY117 wrote:Even better would be a small wye somewhere so we could spin power without having to beg CP.
Most of the old alignment in Mechanicaville is built over now. But you can still see the small bridge over Anthony Kill in the aerials near the curve in Ferris Lane.
 #1415192  by newpylong
 
and the way the auto yard is built now it would be hard to fit the old D&H wye back in where it used to be.
 #1415225  by b&m 1566
 
The turntable pit is still visible, could a turntable be a viable option?
 #1415230  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
b&m 1566 wrote:The turntable pit is still visible, could a turntable be a viable option?
Not really needed for cross-Corridor traffic when East Deerfield has one, and the self-controlled Hoosick Jct. wye isn't too many miles away. They can also request one-off permission from CP...or Amtrak @ Schenectady...to wye if they find themselves in a tough jam locally. It's such a rare occurrence it wouldn't be close to worth wasting the space at M'ville.

If they really wanted a self-controlled local option PAS owns the abandoned back half of Mohawk Yard, and can always cut a connector from the Rotterdam Branch across Maple Ave. into that backside of the yard to fashion a de facto wye from the branch to the main via the yard.
 #1415786  by gokeefe
 
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:Whose engines are expediting the service track install...NS's coming off the D&H South or PAR's coming off the Corridor?
I think this might be related to the recent power acquisition. Pan Am is planning on increasing service and is going to need space for all of their power.
 #1415792  by F-line to Dudley via Park
 
gokeefe wrote:
F-line to Dudley via Park wrote:Whose engines are expediting the service track install...NS's coming off the D&H South or PAR's coming off the Corridor?
I think this might be related to the recent power acquisition. Pan Am is planning on increasing service and is going to need space for all of their power.
Unless those are somehow terms-and-conditions of the service agreement for acquiring the GE's, I don't see a correlation in how that physically increases the quantity of PAR locos passing through Mickeyville enough that service track becomes expedited today vs. put off yesterday. These six-axles pack a much bigger per-unit punch than the EMD mainstays of the roster. They shouldn't be needing more units per lashup to run the Corridor. If anything, this infusion helps them increase service while keeping power assignments flat as a board over a longer term...the way a normally-managed railroad would scale itself. It could, in the very short-term, outright decrease the number of locos they have to run through the west end until additional scheduled trains backfill those assignments.