Railroad introduces new flat cars, tank cars, and services

NORTHERN MAINE JUNCTION — During the last year, the Hermon-based Bangor & Aroostook Railroad has instituted new services for its customers.

Ronald Cote, director of marketing, recently outlined the services developed since fall 1990.

In October 1990, the railroad dispatched an initial shipment of treelength logs from McDonald Siding in Portage to the Georgia-Pacific corp. paper mill in East Millinocket.

At one time, the B & A shipped 4-foot pulpwood logs into East Millinocket. Georgia-Pacific modernized the mill’s woodyard with a portal crane and slasher deck that could cut longer logs into 4-foot lengths. The railroad retrofitted 40 existing pulpwood cars to accommodate treelength logs and offered the long-log service to G-P. After initial trials in July and August 1990, the B & A started sending largescale shipments in late fall.

“We runs these cars in large blocks out of Aroostook County,” Cote said.

In February 1991, the B & A purchased 15 new center-beam lumber flat cars from Thrall Manufacturing in Illinois. Traditionally, the B & A hauled lumber aboard conventional 64-foot flat cars; the new cars measure 73 feet.

Employees at the sawmill shipping the lumber loaded each conventional flat car one lumber bundle at a time, stacked three layers high. After wrapping a bundle with steel strapping, workers would then strap the bottom layer to the middle layer and the middle layer to the top layer. Workers then strapped all three layers to the wooden center post running the length of the car.

Cote pointed out that this labor-intensive loading technique required large amounts of strapping. Cutting the expenses for labor and materials will make Maine sawmills more competitive in distant markets.

The B & A reviewed the situation and recommended a new method for shipping bundled lumber by rail.

On a new center-beam lumber flat car, sawmill employees stack the bundled lumber three layers high. Instead of strapping each layer to the one above and the one below, workers only strap each bundle. The new flat car eliminates the use of all strapping related to transportation.

Mounted on either side of the flat car are 18 winches. Workers can run the steel cable attached to each winch over the tri-layer lumber bundles, hook it to the steel center beam, and then tighten the cable with the winch.

The tightened cables and the supporting central beam prevent the lumber bundles from shifting on the flat car.

Cote said that the new flat cars significantly reduced costs for labor and steel strapping and for occasionally replacing the wooden center beam. With a greater length, the cars also haul more lumber: 110,000 board feet per car vs. 84,000 board feet hauled on a conventional flat car.

According to Cote, the new flat cars “are busy all the time,” hauling lumber from the J. Paul Levesque & Sons mills in northern Maine to customers along the Atlantic seaboard. By shipping more lumber at reduced expense, the Levesque mills can price their products more competitively in markets outside New England.

Cote said that last February, the B & A also acquired 40 conventional flat cars measuring 66 feet in length. These cars also haul lumber south from mills in Aroostook County.

Another February 1991 acquisition involved the leasing of 10 23,000-gallon oil tank cars. Most railroad tank cars “haul about 10,500 gallons,” Cote said; the new units more than double that capacity.

The B & A placed the five larger tank cars in service along its northern route, hauling Bunker C oil from Searsport to industrial customers in Aroostook County. The larger cars let the railroad haul more oil with fewer pieces of rolling stock.

The B & A observed its 100th anniversary on Feb. 13, 1991. Throughout the summer, the railroad will celebrate its centennial with various activities, including static displays and passenger-train excursions along sections of its track.