Wiscasset Upper Yard Artifacts

[Russ Nelson]

Is this circular clump of greenery in the center of this view the turntable pit? https://www.google.com/maps/place/Wiscasset+Elementary+School/@44.0080369,-69.6615472,146m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x693d14b9e9f02d78!8m2!3d44.0080638!4d-69.6620106

[Keith Taylor]

My guess would be no.  I believe the turntable location is a dark gray area behind the school and in between the school building and the river.

But I could be wrong….

Keith

[Benjamin Richards]

Per an older thread: https://forum.wwfry.org/index.php/topic,1803.msg13893.html#msg13893

...you'll see two baseball fields behind the Wiscasset Middle School. The field closest to the water is where the yard and shops were located, and in high summer, when it is quite dry, the outline of the turntable pit becomes visible in the grass in right field.

It also seems to me that a rough overlay map of the Wiscasset yard is floating around somewhere, but I'll be darned if I can find it.

[Bill Reidy]

The turntable was along the right field foul line of the ball field closer by the river.  Its foundation ring can (or could 14+ years ago) be seen during drought conditions.  Stewart Rhine provided this photo for the updated book Tours of the Narrow Gauge Railroad in the Sheepscot River Valley our Museum published in 2007:

[Ed Lecuyer]

Thanks Bill!

Those with Google Earth Pro will find the 9/2015 image shows the pit fairly well. I've attached a screenshot, and a second with the pit highlighted.

[James Patten]

I would love to take a chain saw, weed whacker and what not to the area beyond the leftside outfield fence.  Once long ago we were rummaging around in there and ran across concrete pits in line with the engine house tracks.  I would think that there's some interesting stuff to find.

[Stephen Piwowarski]

I would love to write a grant for an archeology program on-site at the school for a dig back there. What a great opportunity for the Wiscasset Elementary students, and a great opportunity for us to uncover some potentially interesting artifacts!

[Philip Marshall]

A formal archaeological dig would be a great thing to do. (Is there any risk of the property being redeveloped in the future? It's prime waterfront land after all.)

When the SR&RL was being scrapped, various small items of railroad property without scrap value were reportedly dumped in the Phillips turntable pit before it was filled in, and I can imagine something similar happened in Wiscasset.

There could be some really interesting artifacts buried there!

[Gordon Cook]

I am guessing that if we started a rumor that something was buried there, like WW&F No. 2, the digging would take care of itself.
  

[Ed Lecuyer]

It also seems to me that a rough overlay map of the Wiscasset yard is floating around somewhere, but I'll be darned if I can find it.

Ben Rockney sent me a GIS data file that rendered the Wiscasset Upper Yard overlaid onto a current photo. I have rendered it and attached it here.

[Mike Fox]

[Bill Sample]

A number of years ago Sue and I were slogging through the shore line mud and we saw what sure looked like the top of a rear tank from one of the earlier engines - this was over the left outfield fence.  Being in salt mud I don't know how much is left today.  There had been some discussion on the Forum on this, which IIRC was used as a water tank in or near the car shop.

[Dave Crow]

I have wandered through the woods just north of the ball field.  There appeared to be the remains of at least one flatcar, because you could see rotting timbers and smaller metal hardware such as corner J bolts.

Dave Crow

[Russ Nelson]

I would love to write a grant for an archeology program on-site at the school for a dig back there. What a great opportunity for the Wiscasset Elementary students, and a great opportunity for us to uncover some potentially interesting artifacts!

That would be an awesome project! I mean, we're a museum, right? We should seek as many artifacts as we can.

[Vincent "Lightning" LeRow]

There appeared to be the remains of at least one flatcar, because you could see rotting timbers and smaller metal hardware such as corner J bolts.

So, for the next restoration project we are going to jack up the corner bolts and put a new flatcar underneath? Right?