Private owner 2 footer

[Richard Cavalloro]

I was just watching the latest Keith Rucker on Youtube and he was machining a steam valve for a 2 foot gauge locomotive.  He stated the owner had bought it as running gear from an estate sale in Maine about 10 years ago and had acquired a Porter boiler for it.  Anyone know anything about this locomotive?
   Rick

[Philip Marshall]

I don't know anything, but I've been watching the same video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHIyZrlPWrk). While Keith implies the engine is somehow connected to the Maine Two Footers, that obviously can't be correct even if the owner bought the running gear in Maine. He shows several photos submitted by the owner. I see plate frames which to my mind mean European construction, and the slanted tops of the valve chests plus five bolts on the cylinder heads look specifically like an Orenstein & Koppel design.

[James Patten]

I recall that Thorne Mead, son of Edgar Mead (who ran the Bridgton line for a summer in the late 30s), had a European steam locomotive of his own, stored at MNG.  This might be the estate sale.  I thought it was smaller than what we see in the video - that smoke box is mighty long!  That's the only one I that I know of that it could be from. 

[Mark Spremulli]

its not Mead's engine. His looked like the engines at Boothbay. I saw it in person at MNGRR way back when. that engine in the photos on the video looks to be a former saddletank steamer.

[Keith Taylor]

The chassis is apparently European….notice the plate frames and inclined steam chest.
American builders used bar frames.

[Wayne Laepple]

May I suggest that the frame of this locomotive is indeed Mr. Mead's locomotive? It's certainly possible that the original boiler was not repairable or would not meet American standards, so the owner secured another boiler and adapted it to fit..

[Andrew Toppan]

May I suggest that the frame of this locomotive is indeed Mr. Mead's locomotive? It's certainly possible that the original boiler was not repairable or would not meet American standards, so the owner secured another boiler and adapted it to fit..

That's what the original post and the video said - running gear supposedly from Maine, boiler off an unrelated Porter locomotive.