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What's a railroad without motive power? The Wiscasset, Waterville, and Farmington Railway historically had nine engines, numbered 1 through 9. Engine #9, shown here, is the oldest surviving two-foot gauge steam locomotive in the State of Maine. Built in 1891 as builder's number 622 by the Portland Company, of Portland, Maine, this engine started life as the Sandy River Railroad's #5, "N. B. Beal." With the consolidation into the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes RR in 1908, the engine became #6. She survived several roundhouse fires and derailments during her years with the SR&RL.
In 1923, SR&RL #6 was sold to the Kennebec Central as KC #4. It ran until 1929 when the KCRR lost the Togus coal contract, and sat idle until WW&F owner Frank Winter bought the entire KCRR for its two operating engines in 1932. KC #4 became WW&F #9. Engine 9 ran off and on until June 8, 1933, when she was sidelined for a broken rear frame member. Seven days later #8 nosed over the bank in Whitefield, thus ending regular operations on the WW&F.
In 1937, when Winter was scrapping the railroad, a group of railfans bought #9, shipping it off to the farm of Frank Ramsdell, in West Thompson, CT. The plan was to set up an amusement park. The investors eventually lost interest, leaving the WW&F collection on the Ramsdell farm and leaving 9 in a shed. Ramsdell's daughter Alice took great interest, and inherited the farm when her father died. Alice Ramsdell hung onto the engine until her death, often giving tours of the WW&F equipment on the farm.
Miss Ramsdell died in 1994, leaving the collection to her nephew Dale King. Mr. King has generously allowed the old locomotive to be returned to Maine, awaiting the day when she can again ride the rails under a full head of steam. The old engine underwent an ultrasound test on the boiler in 1997. The results indicate that the engine will need major work. The Museum is currently in negotiations with Mr. King regarding restoration.
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In 1999, the Museum purchased a 1904 Vulcan steam locomotive in order to begin more frequent steam operations than the once-per-year specials done previously.
This locomotive, Vulcan builder's #574, was originally a 30" gauge locomotive, built for the Louisiana sugar plantations. Originally named the High Pockets, this engine saw service with at least 3 sugar plantations, including Sterling Sugars, Inc. and Westfield Plantation. This was Westfield's 4th locomotive, and went out of service there in 1958. The engine made its way to Edaville, in South Carver, MA, where it was regauged to 24", reboilered, renumbered to #5, and placed into service in the Pleasure Island amusement park. Afterword it went back to Edaville, but the locomotive, nearly half the size of its sisters #3 and #4, could not pull trains around the 5-mile loop without running out of water. It was put into storage, being only used to generate steam for electricity for the Christmas light season during the oil crunch.
The locomotive was resurrected in 1998 by South Carver Rail during their attempt to get Edaville back up and running. It was inspected by the state and passed, and steamed up again before being put away. It was put up for sale the next year, and, thanks to generous contributions by some Museum members, was bought.
The locomotive weighs 12 tons, and is of a similar size and shape to W&Q #1. While it is small, at current it is ideal because it very much resembles a Maine two-footer engine and it is very economical to run.
The engine was steamed up on December 18, 1999. Some work on the cab and on other mechanical things needs to be done before it goes into revenue service in the spring of 2000.
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In late 1996, the Museum bought this Plymouth diesel locomotive. The engine was built in 1961 for Carpenter Technologies, in Pennsylvania, for their yard. This engine, number 52, now gives the Museum the pulling power it needs for a fully loaded train. You can see the engine to left here in operation, giving passengers a ride to the north end of the line. The engine has, since purchase, been outfitted with running boards and has had a snow plow built for it. The engine can be seen here with all of its extras.
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In July of 1999, Maine Narrow Gauge and the WW&F Museum reached a long-term, open-ended lease agreement on Coach 3. On August 10, 1999, Coach 3 returned to home track after 90 years away. The coach was just in time to operate during the Annual Picnic that following weekend. It was a pleasant surprise to many members. The Museum is deeply grateful to MNG for this opportunity. Coach 3 has been called one of the finest cars in the ex-Edaville fleet.
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Flatcar 118 was built in 1912 by the Portland Company for the WW&F, and was one of the last batch of 10 flatcars the railroad bought. During the railroad's scrapping, it was used to carry the rails (pulled by a pair of horses). It was bought along with Engine 9 in 1937.
The flatcar was a part of the Ramsdell collection until 1989, when Harry Percival brought it up from Connecticut to restore it. It was the first railroad car the Museum restored. The restoration of 118 was completed in 1993. Now, the flatcar is an integral part of weekly operations here, as it is used as a work car for track maintenance, for ballasting, and as an open air "coach."
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Boxcar 309 began life as Wiscasset & Quebec boxcar #29 in 1895, one of the first boxcars on the railroad. It was renumbered to 309 in the reorganization to the WW&F. It underwent a partial rebuild and roof-raising in 1929 by railroad employees F. W. Coffin and Harvey Beane, as their signatures were found behind the exterior sheathing when it was dismantled. It, too, was a part of the collection that went down to the Ramsdell farm in 1937.
Thanks in part to the tin roof, it suffered less degradation than the flatcar did; however before it could be brought up in 1995 the "box" portion, which had settled to the ground around the frame, had to be put back on the floor portion. In 1997 it underwent a complete rebuilding, thanks to the hard work of our volunteers and the financial and material support of the membership. Approximately 20% of the original wood has remained in the boxcar; one of the boxcar walls has also been reassembled on the wall of the Museum shop. You can see the boxcar after complete restoration, in April 1998 while on a work train.
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Built in 1998, this car was built to original plans, found in the archives of the Maine Historical Society, in Portland, Maine, and drawn up in 1901 for the Franklin Construction Company when they were building the line from Weeks Mills to Winslow. The car was never built because of an agreement between the FCC and WW&F. The car's inaugural run was July 25, 1998. This is the first piece of original equipment built by the Museum. Construction began in November of 1997, paused for a few months during the winter, and resumed in March, 1998.
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This tipcar belonged to the WW&F, and was one of a fleet of tipcars bought by Frank Winter to haul fill for stabilizing the Wiscasset wharves. It was taken to the Ramsdell property along with everything else, to be used in the construction of the amusement park.
It was brought up to the Museum in 1995, and was put back in working condition the following year. Since 1996, it has been used frequently in ballasting efforts along the side of the track, where non-railroad vehicles cannot go. We also use it to lay sub-ballast (by laying panel track on bare ground), but that is a slow process that we don't like to use. You can see it here after use, on our well-ballasted curve.
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This little yellow car was donated by Museum member Russ St. John of Connecticut, who built it in the shops of the Connecticut Central Railroad. It is a handy little work flat that can be used to haul ties, tools, rail, etc. It is also light enough so that four people can lift it off of the rails with retractable handles.
The car to the left of "1197" is one of two green workflats, which were donated by Paine Enterprises Marine Railway. They are built from tipcar chassis, and are rugged and heavy. All these work flats work best when being hauled by Engine 51, as they all have link and pin couplings, and are really too short to be hauled safely by anything else. A third tipcar chassis is being modified for use as a bottom dump car.
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Boxcar 312 began life as Wiscasset & Quebec #34, built in 1894 by the Portland Company. It was renumbered for the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington, and served the railroad until the end. The boxcar now rests at the Boothbay Railway Museum, in Boothbay, ME.
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Flanger 202 was in the Albion yard when the railroad ceased operations in 1933, as seen above. Flangers are companions to snow plows (seen to the left) because they're used to clean out the center of the track of snow in the wintertime (which is where the flange of a railroad wheel is, thus the name). When the railroad began scrapping, a local farmer bought it and a boxcar and had them both shipped to his farm. Once there, the farmer knocked out a wall on both cars and made a barn out of them. The farmer contacted Carl Buitta in 1996 and told him what he had. Carl has salvaged two sills and quite a bit of metal pieces. Carl is now restoring the flanger; follow this link for futher details.
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Note the metal bar on the sill in the middle of the picture. This would seem to make it stand out in any pictures taken of it, yet we haven't found any. Can any of you help? Send us email, and any helpful answers will be posted here.
Theory: Wolf-Jobst Siedler sent a note saying he received a copy of Mr. Heath's car roster from Gary Kohler, which clearly states Flatcar #52, one of the hopper-bottom cars, was missing during his 1934 survey.
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