W.W.&F. Discussion Forum
WW&F Railway Museum Discussion => Museum Discussion => Topic started by: Matthew Gustafson on December 28, 2008, 01:52:27 PM
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Are there any remaining out there that if were lucky or after we have enough money or even after we are finished with all of the current projects at the Sheepscot's yard for us to still purchase in the future? ???
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No engines survive, except #9.
There is a *rumor* that one engine ended up in China bog, but that has been debunked many times.
The boiler for one of the engines (someone here will know) ended up as a culvert much further north on the ROW.
The only known cars are coach 3, flat 118, box 309 and box 312. We own or lease 3 of those four (box 312 is owned by Boothbay Railway Village.) There is also the Flanger being constructed in Albion using some of the original hardware.
There is an original WW&F handcar somewhere - which museum has that (or is it privately owned?)
It is possible that a boxcar or two may still exist as a barn somewhere, or maybe even another handcar.
I'd like to see us try to acquire and preserve what (little) is left of some of the remaining buildings. Some of the stations still stand (and have been converted into houses.) There is some parts left of the Week's Mills freight house and water tank (but both heavily modified.) There are probably other examples.
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Is the remaining WW&F flanger being constructed for the WW&F or for someone else? ??? :)
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It is being constructed by the Albion historical society. (Albion was, effectively, the end of the line for the WW&F.)
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The "original WW&F handcar" was (re)built by Lawrence Brown using handcar remnants pulled out of the tidal flats at Wiscasset. It was given to Boothbay Railway Village long before the WW&F came along.
There are other rumors of handcars located "in the woods" somewhere, but these are probably right up there with the engine in China Bog. However given all the handcars that were used by enterprising kids to have fun back between the railroad's shutdown and scrapping, one would think at least one of them ended up in a barn.
The best way to learn about "what's out there" is to buy the Narrow Gauge in the Sheepscot Valley series by Gary Kohler, et. al. There's 6 or 7 books covering the right of way mile-by-mile for both the main line and the Winslow branch, plus the engines and freight equipment. There's another book due out soon for passenger cars. By the way, our Museum Store has them all in stock (even the out-of-print Volume 1) and we take MasterCard and Visa as well as check ;D ;D
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Does any WW&F members own the privately own WW&F handcar? ??? :)
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Is the WW&F engine that was believed to be in China steam or diseal? ??? :)
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First off, not China as in the country, but China Bog as in on the WW&F ROW.
The WW&F only had steam locomotives, so that would be it. Again, this rumor has been debunked many times - I believe there are photos of each of the locomotives being scrapped.
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As James stated earlier, the W.W. & F. Ry. handcar resides today at Boothbay Railway Village. Also as James recalled, the car was rebuilt using pieces found around Wiscasset yard. Former W.W. & F. Ry. museum member Lawrence Brown (deceased) worked as a carpenter for the Maine Central and in the late 1930's, he replaced all the wood work on the handcar. He lettered the car for some of the Maine narrow gage roads which may add some confusion when viewing photos of the car in use either on his private two foot gage railroad in South Gardiner, Maine (circa late 1930's, early 1940's) or on one of the railfan excursions at the Bridgton railroad of the same time period. As Lawrence Brown is one of several photographers/enthusiasts that I am actively researching, I have some photographs of his own "backyard" railroad and the handcar. I continue to seek copies of his original photos taken of various two foot subjects at or around their abandonment dates. It may interest newer W.W. & F. members and other readers of this forum to note that Lawrence Brown and others such as Edgar Mead where helpful to Harry Percival in the early years of our museum's development.
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!f as stated in one of the posts above that there is one of the locomotive boilers from WWF RR that was made into a colverted that boiler would have to be #1's as all others are acounted for correct? Could this have been the prototype for the other boiler shell later used for that same purpose? Has this colvert been located and is it still in place?
Paul Horky