Birth of WW&F Railway Museum
Wiscasset And Quebec Railroad
The narrow gauge?s roots date back to the 1830?s, when the townspeople of Wiscasset, Maine wished to revive their dying seaport with a railroad connection, and when the state legislature was interested in establishing a railroad connection with Quebec. The Kennebec and Wiscasset Railroad was chartered in 1854 to build Wiscasset?s connection to other railroads. Little action was taken until the 1890?s when a few wealthy locals revived the dream and the Kennebec and Wiscasset?s successor, the Wiscasset and Quebec Railroad, was formed. It was decided that in order to save on construction and operation costs, the W&Q would be a two foot gauge road.
Construction began in June of 1894. Operations to Weeks Mills, 28 miles north of Wiscasset, began on February 20, 1895. Albion, 44 miles away and the end of the first leg to Quebec, was reached in November of that year. The company, in debt, paused in their push for Quebec at this point. Several years later, the second leg was started, but was halted due to a dispute in crossing the Maine Central tracks at Burnham Junction.
Settling down to business, the W&Q bought two brand new Portland Company Forneys, numbers 2 & 3, in 1894. Operations were sufficient to provide enough income to keep going, but the W&Q had accumulated a lot of debt during construction and afterwards. After several periods in receivership, it was bought out by a gentleman by name of Leonard Atwood, who reorganized the railroad into the Wiscasset, Waterville, and Farmington Railroad in 1901. The W&Q was dead for the time being.
Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railroad
A north-bound train waits at the Wiscasset station for departure time. Photo from the E. Sproul collection.
While the WW&F dealt with operating in the Sheepscot Valley, the same Leonard Atwood chartered two companies to build to Farmington. The Franklin Construction Company would build from Weeks Mills to Waterville, while the Franklin, Somerset, and Kennebec would build from the Sandy River Railroad in Farmington and meet the branch from Weeks Mills. The FCC started building a bridge over the Kennebec River. The approaches were completed before the venture ran out of money, and the bridge was never finished. The railroad was built between Winslow and Weeks Mills, but the lack of the connection doomed the branch. The FS&K was stillborn from lack of interest by the SRRR and the Maine Central. Had the FS&K met up with the WW&F, it would have resulted in a huge 2-foot gauge empire, stretching from the mountains to the sea.
When the FCC presented the line to Winslow to the WW&F, they brought with them a brand new 28-ton Forney locomotive, which became #4. Four was a bit unusual, with a metal cab all around the tank, and slightly top-heavy, but excellent in snow plow duty. #4 was the engine in charge at the Mason?s Wreck, in 1905, and as a result was given a wooden cab afterward.
After ten years of operations, the railroad was deteriorating from lack of money to keep things in shape. Business was decent, as they were hauling lumber from the woods and coal to the American Woolen Company in Vassalboro, on the way to Winslow. They also had the mail contract and hauled passengers and many miscellaneous goods for the valley. However with their shaky past, they went into receivership in 1907, with the railroad being auctioned off to the highest bidder.
Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway
Help arrived in the form of Carson C. Peck, vice president of F.W. Woolworth Company, who paid the sum of $93,000 after spirited bidding. He reorganized the WW&F Railroad