WW&F PICTORIAL TOUR

Engine #1

E. Sproul collection.

Notes: This engine was built in 1883, for the Sandy River Railroad as their #3.  It was built as a wood-burner, with a blind (flangeless) rear driver.  On the WW&F, it was converted to coal burning, and the rear driver was re-tired to have flanges.  It was a small engine, prone to frequent derailments, and not well-liked by either railroad.  On the WW&F, it was used during construction of the railroad, and afterward mainly on switching duties in Wiscasset Yard.

Note the angled cylinder and driving rods, which was old and out-dated technology even when it was built.  The engine underwent several changes of cab styles and smoke stacks, before being retired in 1912.

Engine #2

E. Sproul collection.

Engine #3

E. Sproul collection.

Notes: Favorite engine of the WW&F engineers, especially Earl Keef, who built a model of it after retirement.  #3 ended up being the “Old Faithful” of the fleet, running right up until 1933, even running sporadically after the arrival of #8 and #9.  Its last known run was the morning down train on June 11, 1933.

Engine #4

WW&F Railway Museum collection.

Notes: Bought for Franklin Construction Company for construction of the line from Weeks Mills to Winslow, then turned over to the WW&F.  Originally it had a full steel cab, but this was cut back after the Mason’s Wreck and eventually replaced with a wooden cab.  The boiler was set higher than normal on two-foot gauge engines, making it top heavy but an excellent snow fighter.

Engine #5

Walker Transportation Museum collection.

Notes: Built 1882 as for the Bridgton and Saco River Railroad as that road’s #2, and served the B&SR for 25 years.  In 1912 it was retired from a burned crownsheet, but the boiler was continued to be used in the WW&F’s Wiscasset shops (for heating and keeping other engine’s boilers warm) until the railroad ceased operations in 1933.

Engine #6

E. Sproul collection.

Notes: A powerful freight engine, this was the only engine on the railroad with 6 drivers and outside frame valve gears.  The engine arrived with Stephenson, but later was converted to Southern valve gears.  #6 was retired after being burned in the Wiscasset engine house fire in 1931; she wasn’t greatly damaged but she was never repaired or moved again.

Engine #7

WW&F Railway Museum collection.

Notes: The road’s high-stepping passenger engine.  Retired after being heavily damaged in the Wiscasset engine house fire in 1931.  It sat next to its sister #6, until scrapping in 1937. A reconstruction of this locomotive is one of the goals of the WW&F Railway Museum; boiler fabrication for this engine began in 2017.

Engine #8

E. Sproul collection.

Notes: Built 1892 for the Bridgton and Saco River Railroad as their engine #3, then it was sold in 1924 to the Kennebec Central, becoming #3 on that railroad as well.  Frank Winter bought the KC for both this and #4.  It ran for two days on the WW&F, in June 1933, until it derailed in Whitefield on June 15.  It was abandoned there, and later cut up on that spot.

Engine #9

E. Sproul collection.

Notes: Built in 1891 for the Sandy River Railroad as #5, the “N. B. Beal”, later re-numbered 6 after the Sandy River’s consolidation with the other two-foot railroads in Franklin County.  It was sold in 1923 to the Kennebec Central as their #4.  Frank Winter bought the KC for its two operational engines in early 1933, and it was renumbered to 9.  Nine ran off and on until June 8 that year, when it was sidelined for a broken frame member.  This engine made the final run on the original WW&F in 1934, when engineer Earl Keef ran it to the Top of the Mountain for prospective buyers of the railroad. #9 was sold to Frank Ramsdell in 1937, who kept it in Connecticut, and was later cared for by his daughter, Alice.  #9 returned to home rails in 1995. This engine is now fully restored and is the pride of the WW&F Railway Museum.

#9 is the only surviving locomotive of the original WW&F Railway, the Kennebec Central, and the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes system. As such, it is occasionally “back dated” to appear as it did when it served these roads.

Combine #1

Howard Kirkpatrick collection.

Notes: Combine #1 was a combination baggage, Railway Post Office, and Express car.  This car served the railroad almost until the end, but in its last years it was in very poor condition.

Coach #2

No photo at this time

Notes: When built, long coach #2 was identical to coach #3.  It served the railroad until the end. The WW&F Railway Museum is building a replica of this coach.

Coach #3

Coach 3 at Jackson & Sharp, on flatcar ready for delivery. Photo courtesy Delaware Public Archives.

Notes: Long coach #3 (a twin of coach #2) has a complex and storied history. The coach was sold by the WW&F to the Bridgton & Saco River RR about 1912.  At the B&SR it was given the number 18.  The coach survived the scrapping drives of the late ’30s to be bought by Ellis D. Atwood and moved to South Carver, Mass.  Atwood gave its old number and lettering back on his railroad, Edaville, for a while.  The coach survived sixty years of running, plus a fire that nearly consumed it in the late ’80s, to be brought back to Maine in 1994 as part of the collection at Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company and Museum, in Portland ME.  The WW&F Railway Museum leased it from MNGRR in 1999, and purchased it in 2011. The coach remains operational, but is usually reserved for special events. It is scheduled for a complete refurbishment to its original condition in the coming years.

Coach #4

WW&F Museum collection.

Notes: Coach #4 was originally configured as a purchased as a “smoking car” (a coach where tobacco use was permitted.)  It was rebuilt a few years later as a combination car, but was burned in a fire in 1901.  The railroad scrapped it, using its trucks under one of the cabooses.

Coach #5 – “Vassalboro”

Photo courtesy the Delaware Public Archives.

Notes: The Vassalboro was a short coach, and was ordered specifically for use on the Winslow branch.

Combine #6 – “Taconnet”

E. Sproul collection.

Notes: The Taconnet was a Smoker, RPO, and Baggage car, and like the Vassalboro was ordered specifically for use on the Winslow branch.

Combine #7

Photo courtesy the Delaware Public Archives.

Notes: Combine #7 was certainly the most unusual car on any of the narrow gauge railroads in Maine.  It was built as a trolley car, but the trolley company that ordered it canceled the order.  It was then sold to the WW&F, and entered service as the widest car to ever operate on any 2 foot gauge road, at 7 feet 5 inches wide.  In 1906, after the death of a rider changing seats mid-trip, it was rebuilt into a combination RPO and passenger car.  The car was the last operating RPO on any of the Maine two-foot gauge railroads; its last trip was on the day of the derailment that closed the WW&F: June 15, 1933.

Coach #5 – “Vassalboro”

Photo courtesy the Delaware Public Archives.

Notes: The Vassalboro was a short coach, and was ordered specifically for use on the Winslow branch.

Combine #6 – “Taconnet”

E. Sproul collection.

Notes: The Taconnet was a Smoker, RPO, and Baggage car, and like the Vassalboro was ordered specifically for use on the Winslow branch.

Combine #7

Photo courtesy the Delaware Public Archives.

Notes: Combine #7 was certainly the most unusual car on any of the narrow gauge railroads in Maine.  It was built as a trolley car, but the trolley company that ordered it canceled the order.  It was then sold to the WW&F, and entered service as the widest car to ever operate on any 2 foot gauge road, at 7 feet 5 inches wide.  In 1906, after the death of a rider changing seats mid-trip, it was rebuilt into a combination RPO and passenger car.  The car was the last operating RPO on any of the Maine two-foot gauge railroads; its last trip was on the day of the derailment that closed the WW&F: June 15, 1933.