Bell on #9

[Ted Miles]

Folks,
        I was re-reading my old newsletters and was interested in the bell that is now on #9. It is reported that the bell was found on a local barn and that it fit right into the bell frame on the #9.

This leads me to think it was from one of the railway's four Portland Company built locomotives. They are #2,#3, #8, and #9.

Since the #8 went down the bank and was scrapped in place by souvenir hunters; it is my guess that the bell started life there.

Does anyone have anymore information on which locomotive the bell is from originally?

Ted Miles
WW&F Life Member

 

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The bell is a Portland Company bell.  It was on a barn but came from a bouy (probably the channel marker type).  This can be confirmed by the clapper strike pattern which goes all the way around the inside of the bell.

Start 

[john d Stone]

Well, the original W.W.&F. did have some pretty rough track......

[Philip Marshall]

So when did 9 lose her original bell? Was it missing already when Moneypenny and Ramsdell purchased her?

[Ted Miles]

Philip,
         If you look in Two-Foot To Tidewater, there is a picture of the WW&F #9 loaded on a flat car for transportation down to Connecticut. The bell is gone in that picture.

There was an article in TRAINS about the locomotive and the pictures shown there show the locomotive without a bell. But bracket was still in place.

A further thought; is the bell bronze or steel?

Ted Miles
WW&F Member

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

It's bronze.

[Philip Marshall]

Hi Ted, Of course I have both of those on my bookshelf and didn't think to check the photos before posting! I suppose it only makes sense that Frank Winter would have stripped the bells and other "jewelry" off all the engines after 1934 to help pay the tax bill, sadly.

-Philip Marshall

[john d Stone]

Strangely enough, in "Narrow Gauge in the Sheepscot Valley, there are two photos taken in the shop building after shutdown. One of #3 and one of #9. They appear to have been taken by Moody on the same day. #3 still has her bell, while #9's is missing! Selective vandalism?