It's April 1st and I haven't seen a decision from STB. Does anyone know if it will actually be announced today?
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
Harrison, it is still under the review by the STB.
They are still working out some of the competitive issues raised by CSX not wanting to divest completely of the Pan Am Southern share but instead contract with Genesee & Wyoming to have a new shortline - I believe it is named Berkshire & Eastern - operate the CSX share of Pan Am Southern.
One can never say never, but it appears they might be moving toward a resolution rather than a denial of the acquisition.
Much of the Pan Am track in Maine is apparently in bad shape, and CSX has the financial horsepower to upgrade it to Class II (25 mph) or Class III (40 mph).
CSX also wants to upgrade the connection to New Brunswick Southern at Mattawamkeag which will give them competitive access to Port St John which is being upgraded to take larger container ships.
CSX could then compete on doublestack containers to the Upper Midwest with the acquisition of Pan Am and its former New York Central from Albany to Chicago.
Look for a decision sometime in the 2nd half of 2022.
I stand corrected! The STB approved the CSX acquisition of Pan Am today 04/14/22.
I wonder how long it will take CSX to access intermodal traffic from Port St John, NB to the upper Midwest and Chicago?
Let's all drink a toast to the demise of Guilford/PanAm!
Still in training.
kgbw49 I stand corrected! The STB approved the CSX acquisition of Pan Am today 04/14/22. I wonder how long it will take CSX to access intermodal traffic from Port St John, NB to the upper Midwest and Chicago?
I have read a good portion of the 75 page docment. Nearly all was as I expected, but I didn't realize SMS is now going to cease operations between Delanson and Vorheesville.
Lithonia Operator Let's all drink a toast to the demise of Guilford/PanAm!
Yeah, they won't be missed much. Especially since they refused to resurrect the grand old name of Boston & Maine!
Mind you, the sterile name of CSX isn't much better. With all the minds on tap they can't come up with something better than CSX? C'mon people, you're just not trying!
OK, '76 I'll swallow the bait!
I am kind of partial to Great Eastern Railway.
The railroad pretty much covers 100% of the states of the portion of the US east of the Mississippi River now that it will have ownership of lines serving Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. (Exceptions - Rhode Island and Wisconsin.)
A couple of more traditional names:
How about Bangor, Chicago & Southern.
Followed closely by "Augusta, Chicago & Tampa Bay". (Same cadence as Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe.)
I am sure there are a myriad of other good candidates out there!
Hmm, how about Tampa, Chesapeake & Casco? That covers bays from Florida to Maine.
Or we can abridge things to Chesapeake and Northern.
Or maybe Chesapeake & Champlain? Or just Chesapeake and Casco?
Or we can do the 19th Century thing and call it Chesapeake & Pacific, even if it never gets to the West Coast, like a lot of "...& Pacific's" never did.
Hey this is fun. Anyone else want to give it a go?
I'll tell you though, I DO like Great Eastern Railway!
And then maybe a D&H inspired "Blue Warbonnet" scheme for the locomotives?
I'm reminded of the "bafflegab thesauraus," in which you select a word from each of three columns to come up with a tech-sounding phrase like "synchronous alternative variables..."
So you gather a selection of, say, northern, southern, and westernish locations, put them in appropriate columns, then come up with a random three digit number and use those names - ie, the North, South, and Western Railroad.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Baltimore & East of the Mississippi - BEM reporting initials
Tribute to the origin location of railroading and the service area of the company.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Atlantic & Western
Considering the mountain range that occupies CSX territory how about Atlantic and Appalachian?
Maine, Mississippi River and Gulf.
Flintlock76 Considering the mountain range that occupies CSX territory how about Atlantic and Appalachian?
Appalachian and Western?
Great - now I have a craving for some root beer.
Atlantic & Mississippi
Here is a web page that includes a short video about the Port St John improvements that are scheduled to be completed in 2023:
https://modernize.sjport.com/
As you scroll down you'll see labeled as "Key Markets" for inbound containers include Montreal, Toronto, and Chicago for Canadian railroads, and "Extended Markets" listed as Boston, New York/New Jersey and Detroit.
Of course, CSX can serve Boston, New York/New Jersey, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Detroit, Indianapolis, Chicago, and even St. Louis from Port St. John with their acquisition of Pan Am Railways.
https://modernize.sjport.com/project-specs
TEU capacity is going to increase from 150,000 to 300,000 with completion of the Port St john modernization project with further capacity to grow to 800,000 TEUs.
Port St. John has contracted for weekly calls with shipping companies Mediterranean Shipping Company (663-ship fleet - 2nd largest fleet in the world), CMA CGM (578-ship fleet - 3rd largest fleet in the world), and Hapag-Lloyd (247-ship fleet - 5th largest fleet in the world).
In theory, if CSX could capture 100,000 of those 300,000 containers, that would be 273 containers per day in and out, or - doublestacked - about 68 wells in and 68 wells out every day. Of course, that could be 136 wells in and 136 wells out every other day.
This could turn out to be a very lucrative move for CSX. Time will tell.
But what class track is the line to St. John? Can it run at speeds like what you are videoing or is it class 1 & 2?
The Eastern Maine Railway and New Brunswick Southern are owned by the JD Irving Group which also owns the huge oil refinery in Saint John, NB. These two railroads are operated as one - they run continguously from Brownville Junction, ME to Saint John, NB.
In 2015 the State of Maine applied for a Tiger Grant for various items, including to bring the East Maine Railway up from Class II 25 MPH to Class III 40 MPH standards.
https://www.maine.gov/mdot/grants/tiger/docs/tiger2015/regionalrailways/Maine%20DOT%20TIGER%20VII%20Application%20Narrative.pdf
The Pan Am Railways mainline connects to East Maine Railways at Mattawamkeag.
CSX is going to spend $100 million improving the track in Maine, with a stated goal of upgrading to to Class III 40 MPH standards for freight, including the line to Mattawamkeag and the connection with Eastern Maine Railway. (CP also upgraded their former Central Maine & Quebec to Class III 40 MPH standards.)
New Brunswick Southern recently acquired six SD70M-2 locomotives to handle expected traffic increases associated with the Port Saint John expansion and the CP acquisition of Central Maine & Quebec.
https://railpictures.net/photo/792169/
In fact, doublestack containers are already running from Port Saint John even though the port expansion is not yet complete.
This photo shows one of the first doublestack trains being run to Port Saint John after CP acquired CMQ.
https://railpictures.net/photo/744551/
New Brunswick Southern is going to be able to function for CP and CSX stack trains in a similar manner to Pacific Harbor lines.
At the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, Pacific Harbor lines puts together stack trains and forwards them to BNSF and Union Pacific.
At Port Saint John, New Brunswick Southern will assemble stack trains for CP and CSX, and forward them to their interchanges in Maine at Brownville Junction, and Mattawamkeag, respectively.
One minor point. The town and the port are Saint John, not St.John. For this location it is never abbreviated!
jds
cx500 One minor point. The town and the port are Saint John, not St.John. For this location it is never abbreviated! jds
Thanks for the reminder, '500! Being a "south of the border type" I am so used to the abbreviations - St. Louis, St. Cloud, St. Francis - that I forget. And of course the Port of St. John's in Newfoundland and Labrador ends up making my head spin even more! :-)
I edited and corrected.
Thanks for the assist!
Great Eastern Ry. And when BNSF takes over, BGE.
charlie hebdoGreat Eastern Ry. And when BNSF takes over, BGE.
Baltimore Gas and Electric
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