Freight and General New England RR News

[F-Line to Dudley]

https://www.maine.gov/mdot/ofps/docs/Rockland%20Branch%20RFP-9.20.24.pdf

MEDOT’s Rockland Branch RFP was posted about three weeks ago. They’re seeking an operator for a 10-year term.

It also included the following language to set expectations for scheduling freight to accommodate Amtrak’s proposed passenger service pilot (I didn’t know the specifics before so I called them out in bold):

Unsignaled lines without Positive Train Control are limited to 4 round trips/8 track-occupancy movements daily, so 3 Amtrak RT's + 1 flex-slot RT for the freight or excursions or maintenance trains are the traffic limit for the line. Doesn't really make a difference if it's day or night...there's no time separation, just a per 24-hour traffic limit. Freight volumes are so sparse now that Dragon Cement is kaput that they could easily fit all carloads into one weekly run-as-directed slot.

 

[F-Line to Dudley]

CSX unveils final heritage locomotive - Trains

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The 21st – and final – heritage locomotive in the CSX fleet is ES44AH No. 1981, a tribute to New England regional Pan Am Railways. CEO Joe Hinrichs unveiled the locomotive Tuesday, Nov. 19, in a post on LinkedIn, as has been customary. “Here is the 21st CSX Heritage...

www.trains.com

CSX has a pretty well-regarded "heritage" locomotive program done up in the paint schemes (or four-fifths of the paint schemes, as you can see from the 'backslash' near the front) of their network's glorious predecessor railroads. But....uhhhh....I don't know if this one really works for period accuracy unless the paint is peeling and the exhaust stack is actively on-fire. Would it have killed them to do a Boston & Maine maroon-and-gold or later-era blue-dip scheme instead?

There's ex-PAR employees causing a ruckus on RR.net actively wishing this unit gets wrecked in a non-fatal accident. Warm-and-fuzzies all over.

 

[DBM]

As promised [threatened] on this thread some time ago, the family and I did the Polar Express holiday train trip up the Blackstone River Valley this afternoon, on the Providence & Worcester's (yes, Genesee & Wyoming's, if one insists on being particular) charmingly restored vintage passenger cars (I assume they're Pullmans from ca. 1945-55 but someone may know for sure).

The tickets are rather pricey--$95--but if you have kids from between, say, 4-11, it's quite worth it. Very high production values; it's quite the boisterous, rollicking holiday train ride. The train turned around at a cute holiday village display somewhere in Whitinsville, 11 miles up the river from Downtown Woonsocket, about exactly an hour, so a nice pace for the kiddies.

Is it depressing to see Downtown Woonsocket's handsome Victorian-era "bones" utterly ravaged by nearly a century of ruthless deindustrialization and decay? Of course it is... that said, this Polar Express production is a very lovely effort--I think it's spearheaded by the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council--and absolutely worth it if you have the kids (or the grandkids) in that age range. Also, the Woonsocket train station (or depot, if one prefers), is in pristine condition and a delight to take in.