Escape Claws- Truckload of Lobsters Overturns on Interstate 95 in Maine

In what must have been the crustacean equivalent of that one scene from The Fugitive, a tractor-trailer carrying 30,000 lbs of lobster overturned on I-95 in Maine last week.

A tractor-trailer carrying 30,000 pounds of live lobsters from Nova Scotia overturned early Wednesday morning on Interstate 95 southbound during whiteout conditions, according to the driver and state police.

The driver, Horst Puff, 55, of Greenfield, Nova Scotia, and his dog, Banjo, 10, were not injured in the crash, which occurred around midnight Tuesday as Puff tried to avoid striking a vehicle that had spun out in front of him, both he and state police Trooper Joseph Chretien said at the scene later Wednesday.

“I’m OK,” Puff said, as he stood on I-95, his back against the wind. “There were dry roads from Bangor down to here. Everything was OK.”

He said then there was blowing snow, whiteout conditions and a car in front of him. “The car hit the brakes. I hit the brakes,” he said. “I saw nothing and came too far left and tipped over and Banjo went on top of me. He was on my chest.”

The car that was in front of the truck never stopped, and the driver’s identity is not known, police said.

The truck came to rest in the median about two miles north of exit 133 and near the Fairfield town line. There it stayed all day Wednesday, before it was finally removed around 7 p.m. The truck had to be righted with a crane, and the difficulty as well as the strong wind that blew all day delayed the move. Both southbound lanes were briefly closed for the removal.

Puff was driving the 2007 International truck owned by Gerhardt Trucking of Nova Scotia, taking the lobsters to wholesalers in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Rhode Island.

The lobsters, in 300 crates that weighed about 100 pounds each, survived the wreck and were being taken out of state following inspection by a state agriculture official, Chretien said.

Banjo, a ten year old Australian Shepherd-husky mix, survived the collision and is being cared for at nearby Boulet's Truck Service in Fairfield, ME. Gerhardt sent another truck and trailer down from Nova Scotia to bring the lobsters to their destination in New York. Investigators and the insurance company have said that the truck would most likely be written off as a total loss.

Maine Liberal Group Distributes Flyer Accusing Wheelchair-Bound State Representative of Having "No Spine" in Not "Standing Up" To Governor

A left-wing Portland, ME advocacy group has sent out a mailer accusing state representative Dale Crafts [R- Lisbon Falls] of having 'no spine' and failing to 'stand up' to Gov Paul LePage's 'bullying'. Crafts, who also serves on the Lisbon, ME town council, is confined to a wheelchair.

The Maine's People Alliance mailer, which is done up like a mock prescription pad (shown above) was mailed throughout Craft's district in Androscoggin County just north of Portland.

The left-wing advocacy group Maine's People Alliance took issue with Governor LePage's veto of Medicaid expansion last month. In his veto letter to the state legislature, LePage said:

“Maine has been down this road before, and we must learn from previous experience,” he wrote. “Medicaid spending grew by $1 billion in a decade, hospital bills were not being paid by the state, budgets were broken and thousands of elderly, and people with disabilities were forced to wait for critical services.

“For the sake of the truly needy and Maine taxpayers, we cannot go down this path again,”

Expansion of Medicaid for each state was considered a linchpin of 0bamacare. Under 0bamacare, the federal government would pay for any state that expanded Medicaid to anyone making less than 138% of the poverty level, but only through 2016.

State House minority leader Ken Fredette blasted the mailed and called for the MPA to publicly apologize. The communications director for Maine's People's Alliance said he has personally apologized to Rep Crafts via telephone but will continue to attack him over his support for LePage and opposition to proposed Medicaid expansion in Maine.

This would not be the first time in the 2014 election cycle that a liberal group has mocked a Republican with a disability. In January, undercover reported James O'Keefe videotaped Battleground Texas staff and supporters of Democrat gubernatorial candidate Wendy David mocking Texas attorney general Greg Abbot's disability
as well as forging signatures on resignation forms.

Iron Horse Update for February 2014

Southbound MM&A train with Vermont Railway and Montreal, Maine & Atlantic power seen rolling through a meadow in North Troy, VT on its trek between Farnham, Quebec and Newport, VT on June 15, 2013- a few weeks before the deadly explosion after a runaway MM&A oil train derailed in Lac Megantic, Quebec. Richard Deuso photo

MONTREAL, MAINE & ATLANTIC- After months of speculation and uncertainty, the beleaguered Montreal, Maine & Atlantic has a new owner.

New York-based hedge fund Fortress Investment Group [NYSE- FIG] was announced as the winning bidder in a Jan 23rd bankruptcy auction. Other bidders reportedly included Pan Am Railways and JD Irving, parent company of the New Brunswick Southern railroad and the refinery that the oil being hauled by the ill-fated MM&A train was destined for. Within days of the winning bid being announced, courts in both Canada and the USA approved the sale to Fortress.

Largely shut down in the wake of the July 2013 Lac Megantic derailment that killed 46 people, the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic filed for bankruptcy shortly after the disaster, the MM&A ran a test train through the La Megantic in December in anticipation of fully reopening the line. Reports surfaced in September 2013 that the oil being shipped was much more volatile than the manifest indicated. In 2010, the MM&A and the state of Maine agreed to terms on the sale of more than 230 miles of lines in northern Maine. By early 2011, the state of Maine had contracted with JD Irving to operate freight service over the recently sold lines between Madawaska and Millinocket.

Fortress Investment Group has also been the parent company of the Florida East Coast Railway since 2007 and was majority owners of shortline holding company Rail America until their 2013 sale to Genesee & Wyoming. The FEC has won a number of industry awards for safety, a background that could prove useful in persuading otherwise reluctant Canadian officials into allowing oil to once again move over Fortress-owned MM&A trackage. Shortly after the MM&A sale was made official, Great Northern paper of Millinocket, ME announced they would be suspending operations for sixteen weeks, depriving the railroad of a major shipper.

Other assets owned completely or partially by Fortress include private aircraft leasing firm Aircastle [NYSE- AYR], Luxembourg-based reality company GAGFAH, Brookdale Senior Housing [NYSE- BKD] and Canadian ski resort company Intrawest.

Union Pacific SD70M #4884 is seen leading 'Big Boy' locomotive #4014 through Ontario, CA en route to the former Southern Pacific yard in Colton, CA on Jan 25th, 2014. The locomotive was removed from the Los Angeles County Fairground Complex at Pomona, CA using temporary track and its final destination will be Cheyenne, WY. Matthew Griffin photo

UNION PACIFIC- Union Pacific's 4-8-8-4 'Big Boy' is on the move after crews painstakingly moved the giant steam locomotive out of the LA County Fairplex at Pomona on temporary track and onto the mainline to the former Southern Pacific facilities at Colton, CA.

The behemoth locomotive has another 1200 miles to go before reaching its final destination of Cheyenne, WY but will reportedly be on display in Colton for the first two weekends of February. In exchange for the Big Boy, the Rail Giants museum at the Pomona Fairplex will receive Union Pacific SD40-2 #3105 as well as a caboose and boxcar. Although the 4014 was the biggest steam locomotive on display, it was by no means the only one- Santa Fe 4-6-4 #3450, Union Pacific 4-12-2 #9000 and Southern Pacific 4-10-2 #5021 remain on display on the grounds along with restored freight cars.

The largest steam locomotive ever built, the Alco built Big Boys hauled freight and passengers for the Union Pacific over the Wasatch Range between Cheyenne, WY and Salt Lake City, UT in the 1940s up until dieselization in the 1950s. There are several surviving examples of the Union Pacific's Big Boys on static display- most notably in Cheyenne, WY and Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, PA- but after an exhaustive search, the Union Pacific determined that the #4014 in Pomona was the best candidate for a full restoration.

Motive Power Inc. HSP-46 demonstrator #2100 seen undergoing outdoor testing at the MBTA's South Station engine terminal in Boston, MA. David Hutchinson photo

MBTA- The first units from MBTA's order with Westinghouse Air Brake Technologies [NYSE- WAB] subsidiary Motive Power Inc have arrived and are undergoing testing on MBTA and elsewhere.

In 2010, the MBTA Board of Directors approved an initial 20-unit, $115 million order with Boise, ID-based MPI. However, since then the order has been upped to 40. The new locomotives are designated HSP-46 and are powered by General Electric GEVO engines and clock in at 4600 HP each. So far only one unit is on T property and has been undergoing compatibility testing with the electronic systems in the T's various coaches manufactured by Bombardier and Kawasaki. Two other HSP-46s are currently undergoing testing- one at GE's East Erie, PA test facility and the other at the FRA's Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, CO.

Oddly, this isn't the first appearance of MPI power on the T- the agency purchased two MP36PH-3Cs from Motive Power, Inc. The locomotives were originally intended for Utah's Front Runner commuter rail before the order was partially cancelled. For commuter rail, the T has been using 1970s built F40PHs along with rebuilt GP40MCs for passenger service along with some GP9s, GP40s and an NRE genset used for maintenance of way service.


MISSISSIPPI- At least 18 cars on a Canadian National train- some of them carrying hazardous cargo- outside of the southern Mississippi town of New Augusta derailed over the weekend. First responders were able set up barriers around some of the cars that had derailed and both lanes of nearby US highway 98 were shut down.

The train was carrying crude oil, liquid fertilizer and methanol- a state department of Environmental Quality official described the site as dangerous, but more dangerous to the first responders than the public.

Today's Train of Thought- Like a Maine-iac; Jan 21, 2014

Today's wintry Train of Thought takes us Down East to what was home to a bunch of Maine-iacs.

While Maine isn't home to any big-league sports teams, the Pine Tree State's largest city has been home to a number of minor-league affiliates such as the Portland Pirates (AHL affiliate of the Phoenix Coyotes) and Portland Sea Dogs (Eastern League Affiliate of the Boston Red Sox)- to say nothing of Maine Black Bears hockey and football. During the 1990s, when AHL franchises in Canada's Maritime provinces were leaving to go further west, the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League stepped in to fill the void in cities like Moncton, Halifax, Prince Edward Island and St John's.

By the early 2000s, the QMJHL had designs on expansion south of the border and in 2003 the Sherbrooke Castors moved to Lewiston, ME- Maine's second largest city- to become the Lewiston Maineiacs. The team did fairly well during its time in Lewiston, including winning the QMJHL title in 2007 and advancing to the Memorial Cup- a three way final between the Ontario Hockey League, the Western Hockey League and QMJHL- that year. However, the Maineiacs were consistently ranked in the bottom for attendance in the QMJHL and by 2009 the team was openly discussing moving to suburban Montreal. By 2010, the team had changed ownership, although attendance continued to suffer due to persistent relocation rumors. The team disbanded by the end of May 2011- although was by no means the end of hockey in Lewiston. The Androscoggin Bank Colisée is now the home of the Portland Pirates of the AHL as the ownership of the AHL and the Cumberland County, Maine are currently in a contract dispute.

Back in the halcyon days of a QMJHL presence in Lewiston, railpictures.net contributor caught Pan Am GP40 #381 leasing southbound freight RUPO [RUmford, ME to Rigby yard in POrtlnd, ME] over the Androscroggin River between Lewiston and Auburn, ME on a chilly December 28, 2010 afternoon. Trailing the lead unit are a pair of Guilford-painted former CN GP40-2LWs hauling finished paper products from the mills up by Rumford. The train is about ⅔rds of the way to the former Maine Central yard in Portland.

Long Overdue Kickoff Sports Chowdah Update- Buffalo Nickeled and Dimed in Pats Season Opener; BC Wide A-Wake vs Deacons; Sox Offense Explodes in the Bronx; IOC Big in Japan

From Thursday night's Bronco's blowout of the defending Super Bowl champion Ravens to Monday night's [technically Tuesday morning's- NANESB!] stunner in San Diego where the Texas bested the Chargers 31-28 as time expired, it's good to see that football is back at long last.

Donald Huepel- Reuters

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- New coach, new QB, new receivers- but pretty much the same results for Buffalo on kickoff Sunday.

Although New England had to punt on their first possession of the game, they'd get the ball back when DT Tommy Kelly recovered a CJ Spiller fumble at the Buffalo 11 yard line and Brady would connect on 3rd and goal to give the Patriots an early 7-0 lead.

On their next possession, the Patriots started out with great field position thanks to a 15 yard penalty on Buffalo's punt coverage tacked onto a 16 yard return by Edelman, giving New England the ball at mid-field to start off with. However, the Patriot's drive would sputter once inside the Bill's 30 yard line and New England would have to settle for a 48-yard Gostkowski FG to put them up 10-0.

Buffalo's defense would get the Bills back in the game in the 2nd quarter when safety D'Norris Searcy recovered a fumble from Stevan Ridley inside the Bills 30 and returned it 74 yards for paydirt, making it a 10-7 game.

With less than 4 minutes to go before halftime, Pats DE Rob Ninkovich recovered a Marquise Grissom fumble on the Bill's own 35 yard line, giving Brady a short field to work with. On the first play of the drive, RB Shane Vereen went 21 yards before Brady once again connected with Edelman to make it a 17-7 game.

However, with 1:03 remaining in the half and the Patriots getting the ball back on their own 25, Bills CB Justin Rogers picked off Brady at the Pats 37 yard line, giving EJ Manuel a short field to work with. It took all of two plays for the Bills to hit paydirt, with Manuel hooking up with WR Robert Woods to make it a 17-14 game.

Buffalo would then take the lead on their opening possession of the second half, with CJ Spiller and Fred Jackson getting most of the work done on the ground after the Bills started out on their own 20. The drive was capped with an 18 yard TD pass from Manuel to WR Stevie Johnson to put Buffalo up 21-17 for their first lead of the day.

Although the Buffalo was able to keep Brady out of the end zone on their first possession of the 4th quarter, a 33 yard Gostkowski FG made it a one point game with Buffalo still on top 21-20.

After Buffalo went three and out on an offensive series where they just needed a few first downs and keep the clock moving, New England would get the ball back with just over four and a half minutes remaining. Brady would move the Pats down the field thanks mostly to short passes to Vereen and Danny Amendola that would drive New England down inside Buffalo's red zone with less than a minute remaining. With less than a minute to go in regulation, New England was content to just run down the clock before Gostkowski kicked a 33 yard FG to put the Patriots up with 5 seconds remaining in the game.

Nothing would come of Buffalo's next possession after the kickoff and the Patriots would go on to win by the final of 23-21. Tom Brady would go 29 of 52 with 288 yards, 2 TDs and an interception while Buffalo's EJ Manuel went 18 of 27 with 150 yards and two TDs. Julian Edelman was the recipient of both of Brady's TD passes and had 79 yards on the day.

The Patriots have a pretty quick turnaround this week with their next game on Thursday night against the Jets, which will be the New England home opener. The Pats may have to do it without Vereen and Amendola, though.

The Jets themselves are coming off a win decided by a FG in the waning seconds of the game against Tampa Bay. Kickoff is scheduled for 8:25 ET and the game will be televised on the NFL network.

Bill Kostroun- AP

RED SOX- Since Wednesday night, the Red Sox have scored a grand total of 57 runs- with 37 of those runs being scored against the Yankees.

Throughout late last week and the weekend, the Red Sox bats feasted on Yankees pitching including an improbable 5-run rally in the top of the 7th after trailing 8-3, followed by a 4-run top of the 8th to put them up 12-8 on Friday night. Although the Red Sox would end up losing Sunday afternoon's contest by a 4-3 final, the Red Sox would take three out of four from the Yankees over this weekend's four game series. The skid puts the Yankees three games behind Tampa Bay the final Wild Card berth in the AL. Baltimore and Cleveland also leapfrogged past the Yankees with the Yankees loss to the Orioles on Monday night.

Interestingly, since all but two of Boston's remaining games will be against AL East opponents, this means that the Yankees, Orioles or Rays will need an assist from the Red Sox if they want to clinch one of the remaining Wild Card berths [It's a tight race between the Rangers and A's in the AL West, so it's likely that the runner-up in that division will get the other Wild Card berth- NANESB!]. In other words, Rays, O's and yes...even Yankees fans...will likely be rooting for the Red Sox at some point between now and the end of the regular season.

Subtle imagery courtesy of Getty Images

As much as I love the Red Sox taking three out of four from the Yankees when the Bronx Bombers are in dire need of W's, this weekend series in the Bronx was almost an afterthought.

The big news in Red Sox nation isn't the fireworks display from the Red Sox bats last wee, but the return of Clay Buchholz to the mount for the first time since June. In August, Buchholz appeared in rehab starts for both the Single-A Lowell Spinners of the New York-Penn league and AAA Pawtucket Red Sox. In his most recent start, Buchholz was limited to around 75 pitches and gave up 4 hits and 2 earned runs while walking two and striking out five in 3⅔ innings against the Rochester Red Wings in the first round of the International League playoffs. The start with the Paw Sox was actually pushed back a day so that Buccholz could be with his wife when she gave birth to the couple's second daughter last week.

After his rehab start in Pawtucket, Buchholz travelled with the team to Yankee stadium and threw a bullpen session over the weekend- reportedly the final step prior to his returning to the lineup.

For Tuesday night, the Red Sox will travel to Tampa's Tropicana  Field to take on the Rays. Clay Buchholz [9-0; 1.71 ERA] will be tested against David Price [8-7; 3.51 ERA] on Tuesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 ET and the game will be televised on NESN as well as the MLB network in some markets.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is sidelined with a compression fracture right foot after undergoing an MRI and returning to Boston over the weekend. Both his agent and Red Sox manager John Farrell said it was likely that he could return by the end of the regular season.

Ellsbury has been batting .299 with 8 homers and 52 RBI. He also leads the majors in stolen bases this season with 52, only getting thrown out four times. The All-Star center fielder becomes a free agent at the end of the season as well.

OTHER MLB NEWS- The Pittsburgh Pirates have clinched their first winning season in 21 years after coming out on top in a pitcher's duel in the Lone Star state. Gerrit Cole bested Rangers starter Yu Darvish and threw 7 shutout innings against Texas while Pedro Alvarez brought ex-Rangers outfielder Marlon Byrd home for the game's only RBI.

Currently the Pirates are one game behind the St Louis Cardinals in the NL Central pennant race and one game ahead of the Cincinnati Reds in the Wild Card chase- although it appears likely that the two NL Wild Card berths will come from the NL Central.

PAWTUCKET RED SOX- With a little help from none other than Clay Buchholz, the Paw Sox managed to best the Rochester Red Wings in the first round of the International League playoffs. The defending International League champions will next take on the Durham Bulls at the Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, NC at 7:05 ET.

Michael Dwyer- AP

NCAA FOOTBALL- Only the second week into the regular season and the Boston College Eagles have already matched their win total from 2012. Not only that, the Eagles managed to match their conference win total on Friday night when they played their first ACC match of the season against Wake Forest.

BC got out the the early lead after Eagles DB Spencer Rositano recovered a Deacons fumble at the Wake Forest 30 yard line on Wake's opening possession of the game. Eagles QB Rettig then made a quick strike to WR Alex Amidon on a 26 yard catch and carry to hit paydirt and go up 7-0 just 40 seconds into the game.



Trailing 17-7 late in the second, Wake had a golden opportunity to get back in the game when a Nate Freese punt was blocked at the Eagles 28 yard line and recovered by Wake at the Eagles 3 yard line. Wake would try and punch it in with 50 seconds remaining, but would be denied on 4th and goal with only 10 seconds to go in the half.

The Eagles would pad their lead in the second half thanks to a TD pass from Rettig to WR Spiffy Evans and an Andre Williams rushing TD and go on to win by a 24-10 final.

The next couple of weeks look somewhat difficult for Boston College as they travel to the west coast to take on the USC Trojans before hosting the #10 Florida State Seminoles on Chestnut Hill on September 28th.

UMASS MINUTEMEN- While the Eagles improved to 2-0 on the season, an FCS school and one-time Minuteman rival bested UMass in Gillette Stadium over the weekend.

The Maine Black Bears trailed early, but would score 21 points to surge past UMass and win by a final of 24-14, giving them a 2-0 record for a share of first place in the Colonial conference- the Minutemen's former conference before jumping up to the FBC and MAC.

The Minutemen will travel to Manhattan, KS next week to take on Kansas State [interesting side note- Kansas State has already lost to defending FCS champion North Dakota State in their season opener- NANESB!]. However, Kansas State won last weekend's contest against Louisiana-Lafayette by a 48-27 final.

AP- Shizuo Kambayashi

OLYMPICS- The International Olympic Committee named the host city for the 2020 summer Olympiad with Tokyo garnering more votes than Istanbul. This would be the fourth time that Tokyo has hosted the Olympics and the fourth time overall that Japan has hosted the Olympics. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Games and the mountainous cities of Sapporo and Nagano played host to the winter games- in 1972 and 1998, respectively.

Despite choosing venues such as Sochi, Russia or Rio de Janerio, Brazil, considered potentially risky by some, observers say the IOC opted to play it 'safe' with the Tokyo selection and go with a city that has already hosted the games once and should have little problems accommodating another summer Olympiad.

In 2011, the IOC announced that the mountainous South Korean municipality of Pyongchang would be hosting the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Today's Train of Thought- A Berry Special Edition, July 28th, 2013

Best known as the land of LL Bean and otherworldly horrors visiting quaint New England towns courtesy of horror author and native son Stephen King, Today's Train of Thought takes us Down East.

Despite Pan Am aggressively courting oil and intermodal traffic in recent years, paper remains a significant source of traffic for Pan Am and other regionals within the state of Maine- both the chemicals used in papermaking and the finished product have traditionally moved by rail. This remains true despite the fact that many companies in the paper and forestry industry falling on hard times themselves.

Still, even with the paper and forestry industry in decline lately, Pan Am operates a near-daily train between the former Maine Central Rigby Yard in Portland and the mill town of Rumford, ME to the north. The trek between the western Maine mill town and Portland has been a ritual that predates the advent of Pan Am or Guilford by decades.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Dan Nelson caught Pan Am GP40 #307 leading southbound RUPO [RUmford to POrtland, ME- NANESB!] under Route 115 in Yarmouth, ME on July 22nd, 2010. The photographer did an excellent job of framing the southbound freight, which is fairly close to its final destination, with some (and likely inedible) berries off to the right.

At Least Thirteen Killed After Explosion From Runaway Train Derailment Levels Quebec Town Center

**UPDATE- 7/8- Local police have said they found eight more bodies around the derailment and blast site, bringing the death toll to 13 as of Monday.**

At least five people were killed and dozens remain unaccounted for in the southern Quebec town of Lac Megantic after a runaway freight train derailed and exploded in the town center early Saturday morning. The train was a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic unit oil train hauling crude oil from the Bakken formation in North Dakota to the JD Irving refinery in New Brunswick.

According to the MM&A, the 5-unit, 71 car train came to a stop at 11:25 PM Friday night at Nantes, a siding approximately 7 miles west of Lac Magantic. The engineer had tied down the train and left for a nearby hotel while the train was awaiting a fresh crew when it began rolling downhill and into Lac Megantic. Eyewitnesses said that by the time the runaway train had reached the center of Lac Megantic, it was moving at considerable speed. The locomotives were found a half mile from the derailed tank cars that triggered the blast while At least four of the derailed tank cars caught fire and exploded. Officials from MM&A and Transport Canada are hoping the locomotive's event recorder (a railroad equivalent to a plane's black box) can be recovered from the five units.

The downtown area contained a number of bars that were still full at the time of the derailment and amateur video clips showed an apocalyptic scene with orange flames shooting skyward along with thick billowing smoke over the pastoral southern Quebec town. The intensity of the heat from the derailed tank cars prevented firefighters from battling the blaze and checking the area for survivors. Firefighters from Franklin County, ME were also dispatched to aid their Quebec counterparts after the derailment.

The bodies recovered from the downtown area were burnt beyond recognition and will be sent to a forensic lab in Montreal so that they can be identified by their DNA or dental records. Local officials also said that the town hall and library were gone- the library archived a number of historic documents from the area.

Meanwhile, investigators from the Sûreté du Québec [Quebec Provincial Police] have not ruled out sabotage. Officials from the MM&A said there were also a number of failsafe mechanisms that should've prevented the train from rolling away on its own. Firefighters from nearby Nantes- where the train was initially stopped- received reports of a locomotive fire on the parked MM&A train. According to Nantes fire chief Patrick Lambert, the blaze was extinguished shortly before midnight and fire crews had left, believing the scene was secure.

Montreal, Maine & Atlantic C30-7 #3613 charges up the grade between Lac Megantic and Nantes with Montreal-bound train #1 in October 2010- before the line started handling oil from the Bakken shale in North Dakota destined for refining in New Brunswick. Frank Jolin photo

Hauling dedicated unit oil trains to the JD Irving refinery in New Brunswick has been boon for northeastern regionals such as Montreal Maine & Atlantic or Pan Am. The increase in oil traffic allowed the MM&A to hire new employees for the first time since announcing 75 layoffs at the end of 2009.

The unit crude trains originate in the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and are typically handed off the either the MM&A in Montreal by Canadian Pacific or to Pan-Am (by CSX) in Rotterdam Jct, NY where they continue eastward to the New Brunswick Southern Railway for the final leg of their journey. Until fairly recently, both railroads had relied significantly on the fortunes of the forestry industry to pay the freight.

Earlier in the year, a Pan Am unit oil train derailed at Mattawamkeag, ME but the damage was limited to only a few gallon due to the fact that the train was approaching yard limits and already travelling at a reduced speed.

A Grand Old Iron Horse Roundup for February 2013

Brian Fuelner- Bangor Daily News

UPDATE: 3/8- Almost as soon as I finish the first draft, Pan Am suffers not one, but TWO derailments.

Thirteen tank cars loaded with crude oil derailed near Mattawamkeag, ME on Thursday. Despite the fact that the cars have a 31,000 gallon capacity, officials said that just 3 gallons were spilled in the derailment. Officials cite the tank car's sturdy design along with the slow track speed through the area for the relative lack of damage.

The Pan Am Railways tanker cars, which were among 15 that derailed on the 96-car train, went off the tracks near Route 2 and the Winn town line about 5 a.m. Thursday. No injuries were reported. Thirteen of the 15 cars tipped over but none ruptured, said Pan Am Railways Executive Vice President Cynthia Scarano.

Scarano described the oil spill as that which typically accumulates around the two hatches atop the tank when tanks are filled or emptied. About a gallon of oil came from three overturned tankers, Mattawamkeag Fire Chief Robert Powers said.

“Three gallons — that’s amazing [when you] have the cars laying on their sides, a couple of them in trees,” Powers said. “They’ve built the rail cars to sustain derailment. We are very thankful that that’s where we are at right now.”

Maine Department of Environmental Protection crews and a private contractor will be working with Pan Am to transfer oil from the 13 tankers to 20 smaller tankers. The work likely will continue for two or three days, said department spokeswoman Samantha Warren, who said the spill could have been “disastrous.”

Workers emptied the first car at about 9:15 p.m. The offloading went well, but the work “will be delicate,” she said.

“There are still hundreds of thousands of gallons of crude oil in derailed cars within sight of the Penobscot River,” Warren added, joining a chorus of voices from the state Legislature and environmentalist community that called the accident’s lack of environmental damage a miracle.

Scarano said a severe leak into the river was never very likely. The train was on a stretch of track from Waterville to Canada that is rated Class 1, which means suitable for traffic moving no faster than 10 mph.

The Federal Railroad Administration investigation of the accident is continuing, but it appears that the train was moving no faster than the speed limit. Firefighters said train workers told them it was traveling 8 mph when the derailment occurred.

A slow speed would be logical, Scarano said, given that the train was approaching a switch in town. Its cargo was to be transferred to New Brunswick Southern Railway for eventual arrival at a refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick. She said the train had three engines pulling it.

Meanwhile, along the Pan Am's former B&M line in Nahusa, NH, eight cars on a loaded unit coal train destined for the power plant at Bow, NH derailed on Thursday night.

A Pan Am train was heading north on Thursday when eight cars filled with coal derailed before the Nashua River and the Bridge Street Crossing. None of the cars rolled over. The cars are leaning, and there was no spillage, the Nashua Fire Department said.

Fire officials said about 100 feet of track were damaged, as well as parts of the steel bridge’s wooden decking. Pan Am crews towed away the remaining cars to reopen the Bridge Street Crossing.

No injuries were reported at either derailment.

Looking more like a scene from the Pacific Northwest, a trio of big GE's idle in the siding with empty grain train AYRJ [AYer, MA to Rotterdam Jct, NY] as eastbound freight MOED [MOhawk Yard, Schenectady, NY to East Deerfield, MA] blasts through North Adams, MA with a pair of leased former BNSF SD40-2s on the point on February 22, 2013. Gary Schermerhorn photo

PAN AM- Thanks to an increase in traffic, Pan Am Railways is finding itself short on motive power and has been leasing SD40-2s from Helm Leasing and maximizing their use of run-through power from BNSF and CSX. The 10 Helm Leasing SD40s join some 21 SD40s that Pan Am acquired back in 2010.
The loaners are still painted in BNSF and Burlington Northern colors, some of them blending in seamlessly with the newer BNSF power that has been appearing on the unit oil trains between the CSX interchange in Rotterdam Jct, NY and the New Brunswick Southern at Mattawamkeag, ME as well as unit grain trains to the Cargill mill in Ayer, MA.


OTHER PAN AM NEWS- An Icelandic shipping company has signed a contract with the Maine Port Authority to begin operating out of Maine's largest seaport, Maine governor Paul LePage announced in February. The firm, Eimskip, also announced that they would partner with Pan Am Rail to provide cost effective access to markets across North America and that the Portland location would shave off travel time between North America and Europe.

Eimskip will open a warehouse in Portland and begin providing biweekly cargo service at the end of March, replacing the company's container operation in Norfolk, Va., according to Eimskip's website.

The company is moving to Maine's largest commercial port in order to shorten travel time between North America and Europe.

Eimskip also will partner with Pan Am Railways to offer cost-competitive access to other North American markets, according to the governor's news release.

LePage met with representatives of Eimskip and Pan Am Railways in January to discuss the new service.

“Maine’s economy will be strengthened by this new service and accessibility to markets,” LePage said in the release. “Maine produces some of the best products in the world and this investment by Eimskip is a testament to that quality."

Eimskip President and CEO Gylfi Sigfusson said, "PanAm has been very helpful working with us to make this possible and we believe that our work together is critical for success moving forward."

Details about the contract, the number of jobs to be created and the location of the warehouse will be announced Wednesday at a 10 a.m. news conference at the terminal on Commercial Street.

Portland has been without contracted cargo service for nearly a year, after the New York-based American Feeder Lines suspended operations and closed in April 2012, citing a lack of volume and loss of private investment.

At the time, the terminal was in the midst of a $5 milion, federally funded renovation and expansion that was completed last summer. The Maine Port Authority lost $200,000 it had loaned to the company. Boston and Halifax, Nova Scotia, had made similar investments.

In 2011, Eimskip added a new route to its shipping system, connecting North America to northern Norway, according to the company's website. The new shipping route has opened new markets for Eimskip customers in the North Atlantic.

"The port is well equipped to handle the operation and has been renovated during recent years," according to Eimskip's website. "Eimskip will operate a warehouse and an office in Portland and the terminal is equipped with 150 (refrigeration) plugs, a 100 ton mobile crane and other equipment required to serve Eimskip and its customers."

Eimskip will continue to receive smaller shipments in Norfolk and New York.

Maine's agricultural, forest and seafood industries will benefit from the expanded service, providing new opportunities for growth in Canada and Europe, Maine officials said.

The service will call on Portland every 14 days and give Maine businesses direct import-export access to eastern Canadian and European markets.

Access to these markets may result in both larger freight volumes and access to previously cost-prohibitive markets for importers, exporters and manufacturers.

Although traffic in oil, grain and clay slurry has picked up in recent years, intermodal service hasn't been Pan Am's strong suit. In early 2011, Pan Am innagurated triweekly intermodal service between eatern Massachusetts and Halifax, NS with New Brunswick Southern called the Bluenose.



NEW YORK CITY- Manhattan's Grand Central Station is turning 100 this year. The cavernous station originally was a meeting point from trains from the New York and Hudson River Railroad, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railway and the New York and Harlem Railroad.
The actual 100th anniversary took place on February 1st with ceremonies and tours with ongoing exhibits throughout the year. Some of the restaurants in Grand Central got into the spirit of things by offering 1913 prices on some of their meals.

The landmark terminal fell into disrepair in the late 1960s with the bankruptcy of the New York Central. In 1968, NYC successor Penn Central announced plans to demolish Grand Central to make way for a skyscraper. The proposals drew opposition from a number of New Yorkers, including former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis. Prior to the Penn Central's unveiling, New York City's Landmarks Comission designated Grand Central a landmark, meaning that Penn Central was unable to secure permission to demolish Grand Central [the matter went before the supreme court in 1978 with the justices ruling in favor of the city- NANESB!]. By 1994, the Penn Central's Corporate successor, American Financial Group, reached an agreement with New York's Metropolitan Transit Agency to lease Grand Central for more than 200 years- the MTA's Metro North is turning 30 this year.

Despite the fact that Grand Central hasn't seen regularly scheduled long-distance passenger service since 1991, recent timetables show more than 280 trains departing from the New York landmark on any given weekday. New York's MTA operates commuter trains north to the Hudson River Valley and western Connecticut out of Grand Central while Long Island Railroad, NJ Transit and Amtrak operate out of Penn Station.
A full schedule of this year's events and exhibitions is available at the Grand Central's Centennial website.

 

BNSF- I'm about a year behind schedule with this, but I thought it would still be worth pointing out. The Burlington Northern-Santa Fe handled a rather unique cargo in April of 2012 that was destined for the Arizona capital of Phoenix. That cargo was actually the barrel from the USS Arizona, one of four battleships sunk during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, HI on Dec 7th, 1941. More than 1100 sailors were killed when the ship's magazine exploded and to this day, the site of the sunken Pennsylvania-class battleship remains a memorial site.
One of the guns from the USS Arizona was being refurbished on the mainland at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack and during wartime, was refitted on the USS Nevada during WWII. The 67-foot long gun was transported on a special-purpose flatcar from Virginia and joins one of the guns from the USS Missouri- the battleship on which the Japanese formally surrendered to the USA in Tokyo Harbor in 1945- heralding the end of World War II. The Navy reportedly refused the Arizona Capitol Museum's initial request for the barrel from the Arizona but offered them one from the Missouri instead before relenting.
Both guns will be on display at the Wesley Bolin plaza as part of the Arizona Capitol Museum in Phoenix and are on permanant loan from the US Navy.

Twin Cities Western GP39-2 #2300 is seen leading a short freight across the Minnesota/South Dakota state line and over BNSF trackage rights at Big Stone City, SD in January 2013. The train is enroute to the TC&W's newly acquired Sisseton-Milbank Railroad in Milbank, SD. Jeremiah Rindal photo

TWIN CITIES & WESTERN- South Dakota's 37-mile Sisseton-Milbank railroad joined the Twin Cities & Western fold as of last summer. The line between the two South Dakota towns its named after went through a number of operators since the Milwaukee Road's 1982 bankruptcy, including the Milwaukee Road, Dakota Rail and Sisseton Southern. However, the Sisseton-Milbank has been in operation since 1989, interchanging with the BNSF at Milbank, SD.
Between the Twin Cities & Western and affiliated railroads Red River Valley & Western and Minnesota Prairie Line, the TC&W system has more than 800 route miles of track throughout North Dakota and Minnesota. The Sisseton-Millbank is connected to the rest of the TC&W system thanks to trackage rights over BNSF between Milbak, SD and Appleton, MN and represents the TC&W's first foray into South Dakota. Power for the Sisseton-Milbank is a pair of EMD endcab switchers while the TC&W fleet uses a number of Caterpillar re-engined EMDs as well as some EMD end-cab switchers and Geeps.

Chicago, Ft Wayne & Eastern SD40T-2 #3316 is seen leading former BNSF GP50# 4023 with symbol freight FWWA [Fort Wayne- WArsaw, IN] at Arcola, IN on March 7th. The CFW&E is one of many former Rail America properties that Genesee & Wyoming has wasted no time in applying their corporate image on. Matt Weldon photo

RAIL AMERICA- It seems as though the Genesee & Wyoming wasted little time in putting their mark on former Rail America properties. In addition to locomotives on the Chicago, Ft Wayne and Eastern, Connecticut Southern and Indiana & Ohio visitors to Rail America's website are redirected to the Genesee & Wyoming homepage.
   
The first Rail America locomotive to appear in GWI colors was Central Railroad of Indiana RP20B Genset #2001, which was actually in orange and black before the merger was finalized at the end of December. The former Rail America genset was repainted at Norfolk Southern's Juniata shops in Altoona, PA at the beginning of December 2012. Some other locomotives from Rail America lines to appear in the GWI ornage and black include Chicago, Ft Wayne & Eastern SD40T-2 #3316, repainted at Ohio Central's Morgan Run shops at the end of January [the previously independent Ohio Central was purchased by GWI in 2008- NANESB!] and Connecticut Southern GP38 #2201 which was repainted in New England Central's St Albans, VT shops in the first week of March.

Today's Train of Thought- Clearing the Maine Line, February 26th, 2013

Today's train of thought revisits the New Brunswick Southern railway in somewhat leaner times, before the JD Irving owned railroad found itself shuttling unit trains of crude oil.

The 200km line began service in 1995, shortly after Canadian Pacific abandoned their lines east of Montreal due to decades of declining traffic in the Maritime Provinces [CP Rail had been operating those lines under the name Canadian Atlantic since the late 1980s- NANESB!]. Instead of using an all-Canadian route like rival transcon Canadian National, the CP chose a more direct path, cutting through the woods of Northern Maine between south central Quebec and southern New Brunswick. In addition to providing the shorter route, this allowed CP to interchange directly with US railroads like the Maine Central and Bangor & Aroostook. However, by the mid-1980s those lines were suffering from declining traffic levels, ineffecient operating practices, deferred maintainence and an indifferent ownership. Along with the Boston & Maine and Delaware and Hudson, the Maine Central found itself under the Guilford umbrella while the Bangor & Aroostook would find itself a subsidiary of Iron Road Railway Holdings within weeks of CP's abandonment of their lines east of Montreal.

Between Montreal and Brownville Jct, ME the former CP Rail line became part of Iron Road's Canadian-American Railroad while from Brownville Jct to Saint John, NB, Irving operated the newly-formed New Brunswick Southern. The Iron Road presence in Maine lasted until 2003 when the parent company of the BAR and CDAC filed for bankruptcy and the Montreal, Maine & Atlantic began operations, assuming control over both railroad's trackage.

For several years, the New Brunswick Southern was pretty much dependent on the whims of the forestry industry and hauled wood chips, paper products, lumber and chemicals used for paper-making. Until 2006, the New Brunswick Southern and Montreal, Maine & Atlantic provided dedicated intermodal trains to and from Montreal. More recently, the New Brunswick Southern's parent company was awarded a contract by the state of Maine in 2011 to operate more than 230 miles of former MM&A (nee- Bangor & Arostook) trackage between Madawaska and Millinocket, ME and began operations as the Maine Northern.

While the contract more than doubled the mileage of the Irving-owned railroads, the fact remained that all the lines, as well as interchange partners MM&A and Pan Am (formerly Guilford, nee Maine Central) were still dependent on the volatile fortunes of the lumber and paper industry.

However. that would change with the advent of hydrofracking and increased oil drilling on the northern great plains. With no east-west pipelines to transport the oil from North Dakota's Bakken shale, transporting the crude to east coast refineries in dedicated unit trains was the next best solution.

And this is where the New Brunswick Southern's parent company- JD Irving- comes in. The privately held Maritimes-based conglomerate involved in everything from shipbuilding to forestry- but also owns Canada's largest oil refinery. With US-based refineries at or near capacity, the JD Irving facility in Saint John, NB was receiving an estimated 90,000 barrels of oil a day by rail from North Dakota and Alberta.

The Bakken oil has been taking a somewhat circuitous route in the 2500 miles between the Dakotas and Saint John- starting off on the BNSF before heading east to Chicago where it's handed off to either the Canadian Pacific or CSX. If it goes via CSX, it travels all the way east to the Pan Am interchange at Rotterdam Jct, NY before travelling the entire length of the Pan Am system to Mattawamkeag, ME. If it travels via Canadian Pacific, it utilizes trackage rights over Norfolk Southern between Chicago and Michigan before entering Canada and heading east to Montreal where its handed over to the MM&A. Whether it takes the CP/MM&A or CSX/Pan Am route, the New Brunswick Southern handles that crude for the final 120+ miles.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Issac "Skippy" Greenlaw caught NBSR GP38-3  #2318 leading eastbound Train 908 through Chester, ME in much simpler times. It's apparent from the accumulation of snow on the hood and pilot steps of the lead unit that it's been busting snowbanks ever since its departure from Brownville Jct. The train is getting ready to slow down to pick up some interchange cars from Pan Am at Mattawamkeag before continuing east into Canada on Fenruary 26th, 2011.

According to the photographer, this train ran only three times a week at the time of the photo, but two years later the New Brunswick Southern is leasing at least a dozen additional locomotives from Helm and Pan Am Railways to not only keep up with the oil traffic, but a modest rebound in forestry and paper carloadings on the 220+ mile Maine Northern.

Finding Nemo- Winter Storm Bears Down on New England, New York

Michael S Gordon- Springfield Republican

Forecasters are warning that New Englanders and New Yorkers could expect to see a record amount of snowfall accompanied by high winds sweeping into the area heading into the weekend.

Apparently naming winter storms is a thing now, and the one bearing down on the northeastern corner of the country is called Nemo. Nemo is expected to dump anywhere from 2 to 3 feet across the region overnight and may also have wind gusts as high as 70 MPH.

Dave Roback- Springfield Republican

In Massachusetts, Nemo's approach is being taken seriously by the Commonwealth, where Gov. Patrick has declared a State of Emergency ahead of the storm's arrival and imposed a statewide travel ban on the Bay State's roads by 4 PM on Friday. The order left many streets and highways throughout the Commonwealth looking like ghost towns during what should've been a busy Friday afternoon commute.

Airlines throughout the region have cancelled more than 2000 flights as Nemo moved in as Boston's Logan Airport, Newark, NJ's Liberty Airport and New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports shut down on Friday. The delay also had a ripple effect as these airports as many flights were unable to continue on to their final destination, stranding thousands of passengers.

Boston's commuter agency, the MBTA, had announced the shut of down all subway, bus and commuter rail service effective 3:30 on Friday afternoon while Amtrak is halting all service on the Northeast Corridor between New York and Boston and is expected to suspend regional services on the Vermonter and Downeaster trains.

Ferries to and from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard were also suspended on Friday afternoon, although a timetable for returning to service was much more ambiguous as The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority's website simply stated services would resume "as soon as sea conditions improve".

The United States Postal Service announced that Post Offices throughout Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine would be closed on Saturday and there would be no mail delivery due to the storm [the "No Saturday Delivery" thing has been proposed as a likely cost-cutting measure for the USPS already- NANESB!].

UPDATE- The Associated Press is reporting that as many as 375,000 utility customers in Cape Cod and Eastern Massachusetts are without power as wet, heavy snow and wind gusts of 75 MPH or more were reported.

New Regulations May Lead to Collapse of New England's Fishing Industry

Gretchen Ertl- New York Times

The New England Fishery Management Council this week approved drastic cuts in the catch limit of cod off the coast of New England, adding the the already beleagured industry's woes.

The New England Fishery Management Council on Wednesday approved a year-to-year cut of 77 percent on the Gulf of Maine cod limit and 61 percent for Georges Bank cod.

The cuts come on top of a slew of other reductions, ranging from 10 to 71 percent, on the catch of other bottom-dwelling groundfish species, such as haddock and flounder.

Fishermen say now they're staring at industry collapse because they've been left with far too few fish for most boats to make a living.

"We are headed down the wrong course here, of exterminating the inshore fleet, for no good reason," said David Goethel, a New Hampshire fisherman and council member.

The cuts, in effect May 1, are expected to be backed by federal managers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. NOAA's top federal fisheries regulator, John Bullard, acknowledged the reductions will be devastating. But he said the fish stocks are struggling and the industry's steady, excruciating decline must be reversed.

"The first thing we have to do is put denial behind us," he said.

The cuts hit an industry that was crucial to the nation's early economy and remains imbued with the risk and romance of man versus nature -- depicted in the famous "Man at the Wheel" statue in Gloucester of a fisherman facing the sea.

The new low limits reduce the cod catch to just a fraction of what it once was and prevent fishermen from landing more plentiful species, such as haddock and pollock. That's because fishermen can't pull up the healthier groundfish without catching too much of the cod that swim among them.

An economic analysis by the council projected that the cuts would reduce overall groundfish revenues by 33 percent, from about $90 million in 2011 to about $60 million in 2013. But fishermen said the projection is far too optimistic.

"It's fantasy. ... I mean, I'd rather go to Disney World. I've got a better chance of meeting Peter Pan," said Goethel, who predicted the entire New Hamsphire fleet would be eliminated.

Fishermen have consistently disputed the accuracy of the science that drives regulation and that indicates the stocks are in bad shape. And they noted the industry has generally fished at or below levels recommended by science in recent years, but the advice has proven wrong.

"I've done everything they told me to do, and all of the sudden I come up here to a meeting today, and they're going to send me in a coffin out of this place," said New Bedford fisherman Carlos Rafael, who said he may have to sideline half of his fleet of 20 groundfish boats.

Federal regulators have been contemplating deep cuts or a near-total prohibition on cod fishing by New England's fishing, despite some uncertainty over whether or not there's a sustained decline of the cod population offshore.

Fishermen insist that there are plenty of cod and that the real problem is fuzzy science. They say the data are grossly inconsistent, pointing to a 2008 federal report that concluded that Gulf of Maine cod, though historically overfished, were well on the way to recovery.

The news is causing high anxiety in Massachusetts, where a wooden “Sacred Cod” has hung in the State House for more than 200 years and the fishing industry, though struggling, still figures prominently in the state’s identity.

“I can’t think of another fishery shutdown that would have the economic consequences of this,” said Steven Cadrin, a scientist at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, who helped with the assessment.

From May 2010 to April 2011, commercial fishermen caught about nine million pounds of Gulf of Maine cod, according to the New England Fishery Management Council, earning more than $2 per pound on average.

Last year NOAA officials put more than 2100 square miles of prime fishing ground off limits to New England fishermen in a move to protect an estimated 90,000 harbor porpises. Despite their relatively abundant numbers, the species is under the protection of the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Iron Horse Roundup For December 2012

A Canadian Pacific and DM&E SD40-2 lead a Rapid City to Huron, SD freight past an abandoned farmhouse in Wasta, SD in March 2010. Jeff Robertson photo

CANADIAN PACIFIC-Canadian Pacific has announced their intention to sell approximately 660 miles of former Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern trackage between Tracy, MN and Rapid City, SD along with branches from Rapid City to Colony, WY and Dakota Jct, NE.

Canadian Pacific acquired the DM&E as well as sister railroad Iowa, Chicago & Eastern in 2008. Even before it's acquisition by CP Rail, the DM&E had made plans to build new trackage west of South Dakota's Black Hills to tap coal traffic from Wyoming's Powder River Basin. Although CP Rail planned on following through with construction of the new line, declining coal prices and a hostile takeover of the company from Pershing Square Capital Management in 2012 have caused those plans to be shelved.

While the western end of the DM&E still generates considerable freight traffic in the form of grain, ethanol, aggregate and clay, much of the right of way through South Dakota is in need of an upgrade, with speed restrictions between 10 and 25 MPH commonplace. With no new line into the Powder River Basin and coal traffic, Canadian Pacific CEO Hunter Harrison has decided the railroad should divest themselves of the entire western end of the DM&E.

The DM&E itself started up in 1986 after taking over operations from former Chicago & North Western trackage in Minnesota and South Dakota that was spun off. In 2002, the DM&E purchased the assets of the Washington Company's I&M Rail Link, renaming it the Iowa, Chicago & Eastern. This encompassed the former Milwaukee Road/Soo Line route between the Twin Cities and Kansas City (via the Quad Cities) as well as the east west line between Sheldon, IA and Chicago, IL. It's believed that Canadian Pacific will likely retain most of the former IC&E.

With the shutdown of the Catalyst Paper mill in Snowflake, AZ looming Apache C420 #91 hauls a string of boxcars to the BNSF interchange at Holbrook, AZ in September 2012. Ted Ellis photo

APACHE RAILWAY- The facilities for Catalyst Paper's mill in Snowflake, AZ- including the Apache Railway- has been sold to Los Angeles-based Hackman Capital for a reported $13,460,000 and other non-cash considerations.

The massive paper mill at Snowflake, AZ permanently shut down in October- both the railroad and mill were owned by Canadian paper company Catalyst. While the long-term future of the Apache is up in the air, the railway has been kept busy with removing stored cars from the line and hauling feed to a sizable pig farm north of Snowflake. Meanwhile the town of Snowflake is looking into potential tenants for the former Catalyst mill just west of Snowflake. In November, the Snowflake town council had threatened to seize the Apache right-of-way via condemnation when it learned potential buyers for the railroad were appraising it for scrap value.

Although the Catalyst shutdown this fall resulted in nearly 300 layoffs, geologists and mining concerns have discovered significant quantities of Potash nearby in the Holbrook Basin worth more than $300 billion.

Ann Arbor GP38 #7791 switches autoracks in Toledo, OH in March 2011. Michael Harding photo

ANN ARBOR- Kansas-based shortline operator WATCO has announced their acquisition of the Ann Arbor Railroad at the end of December. In its most recent incarnation, the Ann Arbor's fortunes have been tied to the auto industry.

The Ann Arbor Railroad serves southeastern Michigan and the Toledo, Ohio, areas, mainly shipping auto and other manufacturing goods. It operates 50 miles of track between Ann Arbor and Toledo and has Toledo-area terminals serving General Motors Co., Chrysler and Ford Motor Co.

The original Ann Arbor operated line out of Toledo, OH as well as a number of train ferries on Lake Michigan until its 1973 bankruptcy and 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Eventually, a truncated version of the original Ann Arbor started up operations between its namesake city and Toledo, OH in 1988. This latest acquisition, along with the 2011 purchase of the Wisconsin Southern represents a trend where shortline operators such as Rail America or WATCO buy up independent shortlines or regionals rather than purchase lines divested by Class 1 carriers.
 

Hampton & Branchville GP9# 667 leads a unit coal train of former Chessie and Norfolk & Western GP9s at  Hampton, SC. Adam Finger photo

SOUTH CAROLINA- The 40 mile Hampton and Branchville made what may be their final revenue run at the end of December. The H&B's only customer is the South Carolina Electric and Gas power plant in Canadays, SC. The line, which started out as a lumber carrier in 1901, had the SCE&G plant as its only remaining customer before the plant switched from coal to natural gas.

The line uses a mix of former Chessie and Norfolk & Western GP9s for motive power- all of them still in the colors of their previous owner.

Amtrak Baggae/cab control car #90213 is seen departing Brunswick, ME with a southbound Downeaster on November 3rd, 2012. Michael White photo.

AMTRAK- Some changes are afoot for the national passenger carrier in New England. At the beginning of November, Amtrak launched an extended service on their popular Downeaster route. The daily Boston, MA-Portland, ME train has been extended east to Brunswick and Freeport, ME via Pan Am's former Maine Central Rockland Branch.

In 2010, Amtrak and the Maine Department of Transportation announced their plans to extend the Downeaster route another 30 miles to serve Freeport and Brunswick. Freeport, ME is perhaps best known for being home to LL Bean's flagship store while Brunswick is home to the small Bowdoin College. During warmer weather, the Downeaster  will also reportedly connect with Maine Eastern's seasonal excursions between Brunswick and Rockland, ME.

Meanwhile, in western Massachusetts, work is proceeding on rerouting the Vermonter to PanAm's former Boston & Maine line between Springfield and Greenfield, MA. The move would eliminate a 20-mile dogleg over the CSX's former Boston & Albany mainline between Palmer and Springfield, MA before travelling north on the New England Central to St Albans, VT. The Vermonter's predecessor, Amtrak's Montrealer, ran this route until deteriorating track conditions forced its suspension in 1987.

There has also been talk of restoring Amtrak service all the way to Montreal via White River Jct and St Albans, VT. In June, Vermont's Agency of Transportation was awarded a $7.9 million TIGER grant to upgrade some 20 miles of New England Central line used by the Vermonter. At the time, Rail America was reportedly contributing $3 million to the effort.

"The award shows the confidence in the state of Vermont and the railroad by the Federal Department of Transportation," said Christopher Parker, executive director of the Vermont Rail Action Network, an advocacy group. Parker noted Vermont's TIGER IV grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation was given to primarily to improve freight train speeds and raise weight limits for freight, but passenger trains also eventually would benefit. The federal funds will help pay for 19 miles of new welded rail, ties, ballast, and bridge upgrades that will raise speeds to 40 mph for freight (and 59 mph for passenger trains). The weight limit will rise from 263,000 pounds per car to 286,000 pounds. resulting in a competitive benefit for Vermont. Vermont is providing $7 million and the NECR, owned by RailAmerica, Inc., is contributing $3 million. Said Parker, "This award checks off one of four steps needed to extend Amtrak's Vermonter to Montreal," said Parker. "Progress is happening on the other three items as well, thanks to Vermont House and Senate member] efforts and the work of the Agency of Transportation and Amtrak." St. Albans, Vt., has been Amtrak's northern terminus for the Vermonter since 1995, when the Montrealer's route was cut back.

Meanwhile, the western Massachusetts reroute of the Vermonter through the rather presumptively named 'Knowledge Corridor' will eliminate Amherst, MA as a stop while adding Greenfield and Northampton, MA. Currently, the line sees freight service from Pan Am Rail serving the coal-fired power plant at Mt Tom as well as the CSX interchange in Springfield and Pioneer Valley Railroad interchange in Holyoke, MA.

MBTA- Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority has announced the resumption of service to Cape Cod beginning this summer.

The service, dubbed the CapeFLyer, will run through Labor Day. Trains will depart South Station Friday evening , and also on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Trains depart from Hyannis Saturday and Sunday evenings, with a possible Monday morning departure still being discussed. Round-trip tickets will cost $30, and bicycles will be allowed on board. The two-hour trip time is considered time-competitive, given the near-legendary, decades-old seasonal road gridlock that occurs on approaches to both the Bourne Bridge and Sagamore Bridge, each of which spans the Cape Cod Canal. Cape Cod is a major summer destination not just for Massachusetts residents, but for many in the New York metropolitan area as well.

Between 1988 and 1996, Amtrak handled trains to Cape Cod with their New York to Hyannis, MA Cape Codder service- at the time running over trackage belonging to the Bay Colony Railroad and being one of the few Amtrak trains to regularly operate over a shortline.

You can't tell through those weeds, but apparently this train HASN'T derailed yet. Still lettered for Santa Fe, Maumee & Western GP7u #5 trundles over the former Wabash right of way in Okolona, OH. WM Heilman photo

OHIO- A shortline that has gained infamy in some circles for its deferred maintainance has found a new owner.

Pioneer Railcorp completed their purchase of the 51-mile Maumee & Western at the end of December, renaming the line the Napoleon, Defiance & Western. Although the line runs from the Norfolk Southern interchange at Woodburn, IN to Cecil, OH, the line between Defiance and Cecil is currently used for car storage. Trains typically operate at what could be describes as walking speed over the rest of the right-of-way due to deferred maintenance.
The line was spun off as a result of Indiana Hi-Rail's bankruptcy in the 1990s and in apparent defiance of both gravity and at least a few FRA regulations, hauled aggregates, manufactured goods and feed with an array of secondhand Geeps from the Santa Fe and Illinois Central.

Saratoga & North Creek B39-8 #8524 is seen with BL2 #52 with the Snow Train to Gore Mtn in March 2012. John Sesonske photo

NEW YORK- Saratoga & North Creek's aspirations to be a freight carrier may be realized sooner than expected thanks to Superstorm Sandy. Over the summer, Saratoga & North Creek's parent company, Iowa Pacific holdings, outlined plans to rehab more than 30 miles of  abandoned former Delaware & Hudson line to Tawahus, NY to remove tailings and waste rock from abandoned mines there.

The tailings were to be used in making cement and concrete- something needed along the northeastern corridor as parts of New York City and elsewhere are still cleaning up after the damage from Superstorm Sandy.

Although the S&NC started out as an excursion line, Iowa Pacific began actively courting potential shippers along the route despite opposition from the Sierra Club.

Today's Train of Though- Climate Change, November 16th 2012

Today's train of thought takes us trackside to a pond Down East to highlight the change of seasons. What some people refer to as 'climate change', many in the Northeast simply refer to as 'fall', although the lead locomotive depicted above has come a long way since hauling fast freight and minerals through under the blazing sun of California's Mojave desert.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Dan Nelson caught Pan Am/Maine Central SD40-2M #617 roaring past a pond in Auburn, ME with symbol freight NMSE [Northern Maine Jct/Hermon, ME to the CSX Yard at SElkirk, NY] on October 9th, 2010.

The first two units are sporting a classy red and silver that was actually the colors of California's Trona Railway. The lead unit started out life as in May 1974 as Santa Fe SD45-2 #5710 before being rebuilt to SD40-2 standards in the 1990s and purchased by California shortline Trona Railway, where it wore the number 3003. The 30 mile line hauls soda ash, borax, coal and potash in the Mojave Desert, connecting with the Union Pacific.

In 2004, after a little over a decade in service on the Trona, the #3003 and its brethern had been sold to Helm Leasing as the line purchased a handful of former Southern Pacific and Union Pacific SD40T-2 Tunnel Motors. The red and silver units criss-crossed the country as a rent-a-wreck in service on the BNSF, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Union Pacific and shorlines or regionals like the Aberdeen, Carolina & Western or Pan Am.

By late 2009, the unit was one of dozens of six-axle 'rent-a-wrecks' purchased by Pan Am in anticipation of faster track speeds and more frequent trains on the Mechanicsville NY to Ayer, MA 'Patriot Corridor' [although in this instance, she's depicted hustling finished paper products and kaolin empties back to the CSX interchange- NANESB!].  Sister units 616 and 618- also rebuilt from former Santa Fe SD45-2s-  arrived in New England around the same time wearing Trona's distincitve colors. Hauling forestry products through Maine at or near fall's peak foliage season much be quite a change of pace from dragging minerals through the blistering heat of the Mojave Desert- even before being rebuilt and sold to the Trona, #617 was no stranger to the harsh desert climate that Santa Fe's Transcontiental main line passed through.

By the spring of 2012, the Trona paint scheme was gone from #617 as she was repainted into Pan Am's solid blue scheme and had Pan Am lettering and the globe logo applied at the Providence & Worcerster shops in Worcester, MA.

Interestingly, none of of the tunnel motors soldiering on for the Trona wear the railroad's silver and red scheme- the locomotives are still painted in Southern Pacific or Union Pacific colors while as of this summer, Pan Am #618 was reportedly still in Trona colors.