Challenges with the former BAR

[john7470]

Mr. Burkhardt is certainly going to have his hands full trying to make a go of the new MM&A (old BAR). What to do?

CDAC: With Guilford to the south and CN to the north, this trackage is completely redundant. There is no on-line business in Maine and very little in Canada. Overhead revenues are poor and it's an expensive piece of track to maintain. Quite franky, the majority of the line is an ideal candidate for a "rails-to-trails" project, and has been so for years.

BAR: Considering the traffic mix, this railroad is just a freakishly long industrial spur with two primary customers. The new owners will need to find ways to rationalize the old BAR route. First...

MAKE NICE WITH GUILFORD: BAR bought CDAC, in part, to go around the continually service-plagued Guilford. Didn't get them far. Getting back on friendly terms with GTI will allow the closing of CDAC and could prompt the possibility of building a new line between GTI at Mattawamkeag and BAR at East Millinocket (yes, the railroads themselves have studied this before). Doing so would increase the utilization of GTI's track between No. Me. Junction and 'Keag, while at the same time allowing the BAR to abandon/mothball their trackage (which has no substantial on-line business) between No. Me Junction and Millinocket.

Don't trust GTI? BAR still has the CN connection to the north in St. Leonard/Van Buren as leverage. Heck, if the GTI relationship did fourish, management could even mothball much of the route north of Millinocket and operate as two separate roads, one feeding GTI to the south and one feeding CN to the north.

Just a little arm-chair quarterbacking. Better ideas?

[thirdrail1]

Were you involved in the sale process? Personally, I think Messrs. Burkhardt, Parsons and Davis paid twice what the system was worth, but I do not think the situation is as bad as you portray it. Suffice it to say that Iron Road was not wise in the ways of railroad finance, railroad operation, or employee relations. Fred Yocum did a magnificent job in getting what he did for the operation. Both Burhardt and Parsons know something about making silk purses out of sow's ears (WC and WE respectively) and Jerry Davis did manage to keep the SP together until its takeover by his alma mater, so don't count them out before they get started.

[john7470]

I don't mean to be so hard on them - I hope they make it.

I'm pretty familiar with BAR and former CP business from earlier in my career, but I actually am not familiar with the purchase (what was the price?). BAR is unfortunately saddled with a heck of a lot of route miles and few substantial customers. What was done with WC cannot be duplicated with BAR given the lack of traffic potential.

You appear pretty familiar with the situation, Gregg. Where do you think the best areas are for potential traffic growth? Spuds? Intermodal would never be a big money maker there, but may be promising considering the distance to the major markets, no?

[thirdrail1]

There is a great deal of traffic potential in New England. My former employer (I am retired) used to own, among other things, a piece of a paper machine at a New Hampshire paper mill. In talking to the Traffic Manager at that mill, he told me their traffic mix was 90 percent truck and 10 percent rail. On the other hand, most southern mills are the other way around. Service and attention will go a long way in getting more traffic.

The price was posted on "Newswire" in this website. I was involved with an unsuccessful bid.

[john7470]

You're right - consistent service has long been absent from New England. There are other components, though. First, the mills in New England are often close to market, and ship in low-cost truck "backhaul" lanes. Secondly is the type of paper. A mill that ships light product, such as tissue, will use a greater truck %, as the loaded weight to cube ratio is very low. Truckers use high-cubic cap'y 53' trailers - hard to compete with using a 50' box car. Heavier paper shippers will favor rail, due the higher weight cap'y of a box car vs. truck.

BAR only has three mills on their system - one of which has, I have heard, an unclear future. If memory serves, there are three or four lumber/wallboard mills on-line. Other than that, there isn't much up there. I just don't see where significant traffic growth can be attained.