Eagle Lake & West Branch *PICS*

[Terry Harper]

Stephen,

Unfortunatly the story of the locomotives being hauled in over the lakes has been told so often and for so long its become fact to most folks. Its totally un-substantiated.

The first I heard of them being hauled overland (through the woods) was via Edwin Robichaud (deceased) Edwin's Great Uncle worked as camp cook at Tramway and Ed and his brother spent summer's there. His ealiest recollection is of carrying lunch to the crews swamping and grading the line. Later he went on the payroll. We had a long corrospondence until his death. Anyway - when I asked him about hauling the locomotives over the ice he was emphatic that they never traveled an inch over the lakes. In fact he drew a neat map showing the route.

Later we substantiated his claim both on the ground and with ancidotal evidence and photographs. In fact, today you can still walk and see traces of thier route. One of Edwins jobs was transfering oil from the tank sleds to the big storage tanks. He talked about the Lombards hauiling oil and how you could hear them as they rounded the corner at the outlet of Russell Brook. Again this serves as additional evidence that the route was overland.

One thing to remember is that all the rail, pulpcars, oil everything had to be hauled overland in the winter. Lacroix used this route to move everything. In fact Edwin talked of riding a big workhorse over the trail to Churchill on ocassion during the summer. So with this in mind one has to ask the question why construct an overland route if you can haul across the ice? Simple - a good haulroad will remain usable longer and is of course safer than a series of lakes with open water at the narrows. You also must remember that the big 2-8-0 didn't arrive at Tramway till late March. In fact the day after it arrived it began to rain and the roads became impassable.

Another myth is the passing siding at Ellis Brook. I have the orginal alignment plan/profiles (and original blueprints for the Allagash Stream trestle) - other than the two sidings at the top of the grade coming out of tramway there are none shown. In fact when we counted all the pulpcars we came up with 45. That means 15 being unloaded, 15 in transit and 15 being loaded. (average train was 12-15 cars) Needless to say that means only one locomotive at a time. In addition the production records bear this out as well.
Mr. Robichaud also refuted this claim and was insistent that the only thing at Ellis Brook was the trestle, a hovel and bunkhouse used when they built the line. Oh yes, and the Vikery family who lived down near the mouth of the brook.

The story of the Eagle Lake & West Branch railroad is absolutly fascinating. My first exposure to it was a story penned by Jim Shaugnessy. At the time I thought - Thats it? There's no more information? Little did I know the path that question would lead me down.

[Terry Harper]

[/quote]
Ed, Eagle Lake No.1 was never a NYC engine, it was built in 1897 by the Schenectady Locomotive Works for the Chicago, Hammond and Western.
Keith
[/quote]

The Chicago, Hammond & Western became part of the Indiana Harbor Belt which was part of the NYC. In fact the flag holders on No. 1 (the 4-6-0) are marked as Mohawk and Hudson Railroad.

[Terry Harper]

Very Grainy photo from a Quebec newspaper showing boiler of No. 2 in a compromising position during the move to Tramway.

[Ed Deere]

Terry---

   With all the knowledge and information you have gathered, a book would be a wonderful thing for you to put together. Even if it mostly a picture book with captions explaining things like the road they made for bring in the equipment, fuel and other supplies. It would be too bad for this information not to be recorded and lost forever.
 

Ed Deere

[Terry Harper]

Ed,

Belive me the thought has crossed my mind more than once. The problem is I keep finding new info!

[Terry Harper]

If your interested in Lombards (the beasts used to haul the locomotives to tramway) here is a link to an article I wrote a while back.

http://oldsnowplowequipment.wetpaint.com/page/Lombard+Loghaulers+and+Tractors

[Stephen Hussar]

Terry, thanks so much for posting here. Nothing beats being "on the ground" and doing your own research. And I agree, a book would be a very worthwhile endeavor.

Stephen

[Keith Taylor]

Ed, Eagle Lake No.1 was never a NYC engine, it was built in 1897 by the Schenectady Locomotive Works for the Chicago, Hammond and Western.
Keith
[/quote]

The Chicago, Hammond & Western became part of the Indiana Harbor Belt which was part of the NYC. In fact the flag holders on No. 1 (the 4-6-0) are marked as Mohawk and Hudson Railroad.
[/quote]
Hi Terry,
The NYC was a majority stock holder in the IHB, but the IHB was not part of the New York Central System. It is still a seperate Class 3 railroad. I'm pretty sure that had the IHB been a part of the NYC, it would have been absorbed in either the Penn Central or Conrail mergers. It is not surprising to find NYC parts on the loco, as heavy repairs may well have been done at a NYC shop. Many shortlines farm out heavy repairs to Class 1 roads. There is a nice history of the IHB at this web page: http://www.dhke.com/ihbarchive/ihbhst.html