The current edition of The Stanley Museum Quarterly, the newsletter of The Stanley Museum, Kingfield, Maine, has a very interesting reprint of a 1917 presentation by F.E. Stanley, inventor of the Stanley Steamer, to The New England Railroad Club on the topic "Stephenson and Transportation". This includes his whole presentation as well as a question and answer session afterward. George Stephenson, an Englishman, was one of the first to successfully build a locomotive to carry freight and passengers beginning on the Killingworth Railway, July 25, 1814. No matter what the gauge, as many widths were tried, most steam locomotives that followed used Stephenson designs and patents. I'll not try to review it all here, but if you would like a copy, it is available by contacting The Stanley Museum,(Please offer a small donation as all museums are hurting), Maine@stanleymuseum.org . As a side note, during the question and answer session, Mr. Stanley revealed information about his Unit Railway Car under development at that time. Very little has ever been written about this Stanley designed, steam propelled, self contained railway car that ran between Rochester and Bethel, VT. This Quarterly, and the next to follow, will tell us whatever is known of this failed venture. I expect Mr. Stanley's untimely death in 1918 while driving one of his steamers left the Unit Railway Car without a leader. As we now have a Model T Railway Car on the WW&F, this is right on target.
