Eastern Railroad Discussion > Bucksport, Maine Paper Mill Going Away

The shuttered Bucksport, Maine paper mill is going to be demolished.  I was hoping that somehow it would be bought by someone who would reopen it as a paper mill but that was wishful thinking.  That mill used to, back in the 60's and 70's, had enough traffic for two healthy trains.  I rode them many times as a kid.  It must be strange to not hear a train whistle in South Brewer now.

Last Fall I was in the area and couldn't find a train on the Bucksport Branch but did manage to snap a few pictures of the track.  Back "in the day" this was 25 MPH track and looked a lot nicer.  Typical power on this branch had a lot of variety in the 60's and 70's but Maine Central's SW7 & SW9's held most of the work.  You could find anything from S1, S2, S3, S4's, GP7's, RS2, RS3's, even saw an occasional F3 in the 60's.

Seems all the paper mills in Maine are pretty much gone.  They used to be a major part of Maine Central's business.

 

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Looks like Versa is also going to close their mill in Jay, 

It seems like we still use as much paper as ever (except newspapers).  So where is all that paper being made now?  Or has demand for paper really declined that much due to newspapers going away?

Topfuel Wrote:
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> It seems like we still use as much paper as ever
> (except newspapers).  So where is all
> that paper being made now?  Or has demand for
> paper really declined that much due to newspapers
> going away?

There's a mill in Roanoke Rapids, NC that's on my subdivision and it gets a TON of cars in/out every day.  Mostly empty boxes in and loaded boxes out but also tank cars and coal.​

Topfuel Wrote:
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> It seems like we still use as much paper as ever
> (except newspapers).  So where is all
> that paper being made now?  Or has demand for
> paper really declined that much due to newspapers
> going away?

Canada, Japan, China, Sweden, Spain among others.
Bill Pyper
Retired printer
Salem, OR
 

Is the mill in Rumford, Maine still going or has that been closed?   I saw a nice grouping of MEC and D&H power there in 1983 when I visited the town.

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> Topfuel Wrote:

>
> Canada, Japan, China, Sweden, Spain among others.
> Bill Pyper
> Retired printer
> Salem, OR
>  
Yup, it's cheaper to send the woodchips overseas, have the paper manufactured, and ship it back in.  

And yes, the printing industry, including newspapers, has taken an awful dive over the past ten years.  It is a shadow of its former self.

SpeederDriver is also a retired printer

 

Verso Paper owns Jay and Bucksport. I just retired from an IMC rail intermodal co and I handled paper from both mills.
Verso made coated paper for magazines and newspaper advertising inserts.
Newspaper and magazine sales have dropped by large margin.
Many large printing facilities around the US have closed with the drop in printed sales.
International Paper sold both mills to Verso about 10 years ago when IP determined that newspaper and magazine sales were
dropping rapidly.

gmojim​​​

The Georgia Pacific paper plant here in Brunswick, Georgia makes pulp "fluff" which is the paper fiber product that is used in disposable diapers, so as long as babies keep pooping, the mill here will keep working.  (Also used in feminine hygiene products, so that business isn't going away either).

RFandPFan Wrote:
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> The Georgia Pacific paper plant here in Brunswick,
> Georgia makes pulp "fluff" which is the paper
> fiber product that is used in disposable diapers,
> so as long as babies keep pooping, the mill here
> will keep working.  (Also used in feminine
> hygiene products, so that business isn't going
> away either).


there are plenty of adults who unfortunately and embarrassingly have to wear diapers also ...

Demand for ordinary office paper is also down. Some people cite smartphones and tablets as the reason. The collapse of first-class mail volume has hurt the paper industry too; many consumers now get their monthly bills for energy, water, telephone, etc via email. The strongest segment has been paperboard, where Amazon has been driving demand. Paperboard suppliers are not immune to market and competitive pressures, but life for them is a lot better than for the suppliers of newsprint, coated paper for magazines, etc.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/15 08:51 by ctillnc.

It's sad when you can ship raw material overseas, have the product made and then ship it back below our prices. Of course the labor is cheaper, but I still wonder how much the price is propped up by foreign government subsidization. Think of the pollution in those foreign governments that our stateside producers could not get away with, the fuel used and pollution created in the transportation of the goods around the world.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Not only is the newspaper industry contracting rapidly, but its remaining newsprint consumption includes a healthy dose of recycled paper. That still must be processed, but it's not nearly as industrial as making new. I don't know how much newsprint is/was produced in Maine, but the plants in Quebec and Ontario are taking a beating.
 

Kaolin is used in coated paper as well. It's mined in Georgia and used for magazines, glossy ad pages, and a lot of cereal boxes, packaging, etc.  Used in some paints, too.  CSX and NS haul lots of it to the mills.

Unfortunately, the slumping demand for coated paper has cut the demand for kaolin.  The US only produces about 60% of what it did 20 years ago.

International Paper Co. now has brown craft paper or paperboard as its No 1 product.  That paper is used to make paperboard boxes and the demand is still increasing.  You have to have a box to ship most stuff.
The volume of this paperboard is huge across the country.  I handled this product for IP.
Some paperboard is exported from the US.​

gmojim

toledopatch Wrote:
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> Not only is the newspaper industry contracting
> rapidly, but its remaining newsprint consumption
> includes a healthy dose of recycled paper. That
> still must be processed, but it's not nearly as
> industrial as making new. I don't know how much
> newsprint is/was produced in Maine, but the plants
> in Quebec and Ontario are taking a beating.
>  

Didn't some states mandate that newspapers use 50% recycled newsprint in making new papers? I think the Wall Street Journal had to sue a few states on the issue.

The current month's Trains has good info on paper mills.
MY condensed version..

The high quality glossy print demand is falling as online replaces print. This is mostly Northern US and CA paper mills. Mills combine and upgrade 1 plant with higher capacity and close others.
But with more online buying, Brown paper for packing and boxes is doing well. This is mostly Southeast papermills.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/15 16:10 by steve_misky.

https://practicegreenhealth.org/sites/default/files/upload-files/state_mandates_on_the_purchase_of_recycled_content_paper.pdf

Lackawanna484...if this link works properly this may be what you were talking about?

RS11 Wrote:
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> https://practicegreenhealth.org/sites/default/file
> s/upload-files/state_mandates_on_the_purchase_of_r
> ecycled_content_paper.pdf
>
> Lackawanna484...if this link works properly this
> may be what you were talking about?

That's a great ink, thanks for sharing it.  The link covers state government requirements for purchase of copier and report paper and minimum amount of recycled content.

Appendix 3 in the next document lists how much recycled newsprint goes into new newspapers. Although the ratio is high, the total amount of newspaper volume has gone off a cliff.  Both demand for recycled paper and new newspapers sold are way down.

Either way, there's less copier paper, and fewer newspapers in the recycling stream. And less for railroads to carry.

Recycling