Skip to primary navigation Skip to content Skip to footer

WW&F Railway News

Bring Trains to Maine up from Africa

Progress Reports on the effort to bring two narrow gauge ballast hoppers from South Africa to the WW&F Railway in Maine.

News Update 13 – We Shipped the Trains Up from Africa!

Today, Oct. 10, 2024 we shipped the first of our two new ballast “wagons” from Edaville Railroad to the WW&F – just in time for the Fall Work Weekend! We still need your donations to replenish the “reserves” we tapped to pay for this $66,000 expense. Please help, if you can, at https://wwfry.org/africa/

News Update 12 – X-Cart Progress

One critical component of the overall plan for Mechanization of Railroad Maintenance and Expansion is the fabrication of the X-Cart, a two-foot gauge rail car specifically fabricated to host a small excavator. This will allow mechanization of ditching, tie replacement, brush cutting, and other critical maintenance tasks needed to sustain and grow our operations. On…

News Update 11 – Unloading Trains Brought from Africa!

On Monday, July 8th two ballast hopper wagons and two flatcars from South Africa were unloaded at Edaville Family Theme Park.   Each container was filled with a flat car, a ballast hopper, and sets of wheel trucks. A total of three containers were shipped from Sandstone Estates in South Africa. Three flatcars and one…

News Update 10 – Coming to Port

Our new-to-us ballast cars are due to arrive at the port of New York TOMORROW! Then they’ll be offloaded and shipped to Edaville RR to be unloaded from their containers. If all goes well, we could see one or both of the hoppers on WW&F rails by the end of July! Meanwhile, we’ve only raised…

News Update 9 – Take the Long Way Home

On June 3rd, the hoppers departed Colombo, Sri Lanka aboard the vessel “WAN HAI A07”. It will take approximately one month for the vessel to travel to New York via the “long way” around the southern tip of Africa. Meanwhile, our friends and followers from around the world have raised $18,125.00 to help defray the…

News Update 8 – Earl’s at it Again

Ugh! It appears that the delivery delay of the ballast hoppers in Singapore is due to ANOTHER misunderstanding by “Earl” at Pleasant Valley Junction! Thanks Sara Ironhorse Kammeraad for your continued support in raising awareness to the cause. Learn more and donate at: www.wwfry.org/africa

News Update 7 – Stuck in Singapore

Hurry Boys! They’re waiting there for you… IN SINGAPORE! On May 15th, the hoppers were offloaded in Singapore and are scheduled to depart aboard the vessel “WAN HAI A07” on 5-28-2024. It will take approximately one month for the vessel to travel to New York via the Suez Canal and Atlantic Ocean. Meanwhile, our friends…

News Update 6 – 26% Raised!

$16,970 Raised! We processed a bunch of mail-in donations tonight and were amazed to discover we’ve exceeded 25% of our $66,000 goal! Thank you for your interest and support. But just like the ballast hoppers are still far off, we have a long way to go to reach $66,000. Please consider donating at www.wwfry.org/africa or…

News Update 5 – Shipped!

We’re Shipping Trains In From Africa! Our ballast wagons have shipped from Durban, So. Africa and are in-route to the USA via Singapore! They departed on April 30, 2024 aboard the container ship Bay Bridge. Meanwhile we’ve raised 15% of the $66,000 needed to recoup the cost of purchasing and shipping these cars – and…

News Update 4 – Loaded!

We Bought the Trains down in Africa! Shipping Update: Ballast Cars On April 17-18, 2024, two ballast “wagons” were loaded at Sandstone Estates – Pty Ltd for shipment to the WW&F, with a third going to our friends at Edaville Family Theme Park. See the photos of the loading process. Fundraising Update: Nearing $10,000! Thanks…

News Update 3 – Gathering Momentum

  Thanks to Sara “Ironhorse” Kammeraad continuing to help spread the word on all places social media. In less than three weeks, we’ve raised almost $5700 online! We’re gaining momentum on this project. Shipping Update: Ballast Cars The shipping company and Sandstone Estates are currently in the process of making arrangements to load the cars,…

News Update 2 – $5000 in Two Weeks!

  Wow! In just two weeks we’ve raised over $5000! While just a drop in the bucket hopper, this is an amazing start to bring these hoppers from South Africa to the WW&F. Thank you to all who have contributed so far. Please help by spreading the word on social media – even just “liking”…

News Update 1 – Spreading the Word!

  Thanks to Sara “Ironhorse” Kammeraad for helping spread the word on all places social media. And also to our friends at Railfan & Railroad magazine for announcing this campaign to their readers: https://railfan.com/wwf-to-purchase-narrow-gauge-south-african-ballast-hoppers/ In just a week, we’ve raised almost $2500 online! Can we double that by the end of the month?

Campaign Launched!

Today, March 20, 2024, the WW&F Railway is officially launching the Bring Trains to Maine up from Africa fundraising campaign to purchase and transport two ballast hoppers from Sandstone Estates in So. Africa. Please help us by spreading the word about this unique opportunity to be part of a world-wide narrow gauge movement. We promise…