New England visit 2012

[DavidLong]

I indicated in a previous posting, http://www.rmweb.co....ad-information/ ,that my wife and I would be visiting New England during the last week of September and first week of October and, indeed, here we are.

On Sunday we set out with the intention of taking a ride up Mount Washington using the Cog Railroad but were cautious as there was a little more cloud around than had been the case on Friday and Saturday. When we got there the top of the mountain wasn't visible and it didn't look like it was going to appear any time soon. As we are less than 25 miles away we decided to leave it to a little later in the week to try again. However, I will show a couple of the snaps that I took while we were there.

There is only one daily run with a steam loco and it is at 8.30 a.m. in the morning but the loco and coach were still sitting simmering in a siding.

 

 

The steam locos have been largely replaced by some eco-diesels that have been built by the railway. Eco they may be but stylish they ain't.

 

 

Whoever designed the livery for the coaches had also had a style by-pass and I find them somewhat undignified.

 

 

After the Cog we decided to carry on down Crawford Notch to North Conway for the delights of the Conway Scenic Railroad, a little piece of the Maine Central that we had visited last year. This time we intended to take the middle distance trip of the three on offer which goes up the valley to Bartlett, a round trip of around 20 miles.

When we arrived this was the line up in the station area at North Conway:

 

 

On the left is ex-Maine Central GP7 #573, in the middle is ex-Maine Central/Ex-Boston & Maine GP38 #252 and on the right and about to set out on the short trip south to Conway is ex-Grand Trunk 0-6-0 #7470. Here's another shot of the two Geeps.

 

 

Around the yard there are various items of stock, some awaiting restoration but here is a really nice piece of work:

 

 

Sadly, ex-B & M F7A #4268 hasn't progressed at all and was in the same place in the yard as in 2011.

 

 

The station at North Conway is impressive and delightful and would be the envy of many a heritage railway anywhere.

 

 

I'll finish with some gratuitous shots of 7470 which I hadn't seen operational before but it's an excellent little machine. They don't over use it and it only does the short shuttle down to Conway which doesn't overtax it.

 

 

 

 

And a final reminder of whose country we are in:

 

 

And I've got the T-shirt now. . .

 

More soon.

 

David

[Phil Copleston]

David,

 

Great photos, I really enjoyed seeing these. Thanks. But so jealous too, and wish the Mount Washington Cog and the Conway Scenic could be on the agenda for one of our 'field trips'! We could do New England, Peterborough, I suppose... but somehow not the same! Anyway, enjoy the rest of your trip.

[dibber25]

David,

 

Great photos, I really enjoyed seeing these. Thanks. But so jealous too, and wish the Mount Washington Cog and the Conway Scenic could be on the agenda for one of our 'field trips'! We could do New England, Peterborough, I suppose... but somehow not the same! Anyway, enjoy the rest of your trip.

 

Not the same at all - now ToysRus, B&Q and the main LIncoln Road, I think.

[Alcanman]

Great pics Dave, brings back fond memories of my visit in 1994.

 

This is how North Conway looked back then,hasn't really changed much

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mal

[DavidLong]

Today we went back to the Mount Washington Cog Railway but before adding a few pics about that I have an update on the fate of the F7A #4268 that I commented about at the Conway Scenic. I had noticed a couple of unfamiliar locos parked at the back of the North Conway yard but they were not in a good place for photographs. I did manage one shot:

 

 

From information on the Wiki it appears that this pair of GP9s have only recently been delivered to the railway and, at some point in the next five years, the loco at the back, #1757, will have its engine transferred to #4268 and the shell will be scrapped.

Anyway, back to the Cog. Today, unlike in the UK, was a perfect autumn day with clear blue skies and unbroken sunshine; just the sort of day for going up 6288' in the air while keeping yourself on terra firma. Unlike on Sunday the railway had four trains in operation with two ascending and two descending simultaneously and with all four crossing at a central passing loop.

Here is a shot of the 12.30 and 12.31 departures preparing for loading.

 

 

I still maintain that the outside decoration of the coaches is in poor taste but the interiors are very tasteful and quite stylish in varnished wood.

 

 

The ascent takes about forty minutes and the loco which pushed us up there was M2 and here's a shot of it perched at the summit.

 

 

As you may imagine the view at 6288' is pretty spectacular but it was very windy and the windchill took the temperature below freezing despite the sunshine. Shots of 'vistas' are never very enlightening when it comes to conveying an impression so I'll finish with one shot of a departing train which is already several hundred feet below the summit.

 

 

All in all an excellent experience and one that I would recommend to anyone coming to this corner of the country.

 

David

[highpeak]

The 1751 was originally C&O 6128, built 1956 and has been bought by CSRX. It received some attention at Derby shops before delivery.

The 1757 was originally PRR 7083, also built 1956, and as you note has been bought by the 470 Club with the intention of using the prime mover and other parts to make the B&M F7 operable. The 1757 has no traction motors so probably will never see any use on the CSRX.

Going into pedant mode for a moment, the headquarters of CSRX was actually B&M territory. The CSRX does operate over former MEC track through Crawford Notch. That track is owned by the State of New Hampshire.

Good to see their two MEC engines out and about. The 252 looks good, the shade of yellow's not quite right but it still is a great reminder of the way things were pre-Guilford. 573 was Mr. Miller's engine (E. Spencer Miller was the last President of the MEC) assigned to pull the business train and kept pretty clean.

I am glad you got some good weather to go up Mt. Washington, something that has eluded me. Both times I went up there the visibility was poor and it started snowing. Great pictures!

[Phil Copleston]

David,

 

Wonderful, evocative photos! Makes me wanna head for Heathrow and fly out there myself. Thanks. Gotta dash for work now, but will revisit these pics tonight. Have a great day!

[DavidLong]

The 1751 was originally C&O 6128, built 1956 and has been bought by CSRX. It received some attention at Derby shops before delivery.

The 1757 was originally PRR 7083, also built 1956, and as you note has been bought by the 470 Club with the intention of using the prime mover and other parts to make the B&M F7 operable. The 1757 has no traction motors so probably will never see any use on the CSRX.

Going into pedant mode for a moment, the headquarters of CSRX was actually B&M territory. The CSRX does operate over former MEC track through Crawford Notch. That track is owned by the State of New Hampshire.

Good to see their two MEC engines out and about. The 252 looks good, the shade of yellow's not quite right but it still is a great reminder of the way things were pre-Guilford. 573 was Mr. Miller's engine (E. Spencer Miller was the last President of the MEC) assigned to pull the business train and kept pretty clean.

I am glad you got some good weather to go up Mt. Washington, something that has eluded me. Both times I went up there the visibility was poor and it started snowing. Great pictures!

 

Thanks for that additional information. Can you confirm that Maine Central tracks actually begin at Mountain Junction which is about a mile north of North Conway? Unfortunately, when we arrived I realised that I had forgotten to pack my SPV New England rail atlas so I'm struggling a bit on these details. Btw, the guy doing the commentary on the train told me that the tracks are still in place for the full 60 miles from Mountain Junction to Portland even though they were last used about 1984. Can you or anyone else confirm this as thirty years seems to be along time to leave tracks in place without use. In the UK whole chunks would have been removed by scrap metal thieves as has been painfully demonstrated in the case of the Leamside line.

I think that 252 was the standby engine on Sunday as 573 took us to Bartlett and 216 came down from Crawford Notch.

Mount Washington Cog was awesome even though I had complained about the $62 round trip fare (its only $60 on the CSRX dining train) but concede that it is worth every cent! If I'm around this way again I may just get up early enough to take the 8.30 a.m. steam run which I would imagine is pretty spectacular. As my friend Mr Copleston has suggested we may just have to make that trip up Snowdon to get some idea of the experience even if Snowdon is a little shorter in the height department than the 6k+ of Mount Washington!

[Phil Copleston]

Mount Washington Cog was awesome

 

Tut-tut Mr Long, you must be going native. I never thought I'd hear you use that over-used American adjective "awesome". But then again, it sounds like you truly had an awe-some experience! Love the pics, btw

 

As my friend Mr Copleston has suggested we may just have to make that trip up Snowdon to get some idea of the experience even if Snowdon is a little shorter in the height department than the 6k+ of Mount Washington!

 

You're on, David! Llanberis here we come (again). Granted, Snowdon might be only half the height of Mount Washington but I expect it's much craggier and dramatic. Incidentally, which is why Snowdon was selected as a training base by the 1953 Everest expedition team prior to conquering the similarly shaped highest mountain in the World. But me, I'd just settle for a train ride to the top. Toot-toot!

[roundhouse]

Those photos bring back memories of a similar trip we did some years back with similar weather- some great photos

[highpeak]

The connection between the Conway branch and the MEC Mountain sub-division was at Intervale. CSRX probably calls it Mountain Jct, on the MEC Mountain Jct was where the sub-division started in Portland.

Intervale was listed as a freight connection between the two roads in the 1953 Official Registers but I doubt it was very important. Most interchange work took place at Whitefield. Certainly by the 70s Intervale was not a connection for freight.

Intervale was important for passenger trains. The B&M operated the Mountaineer between Boston and Littleton that ran onto MEC rails at Intervale and left the MEC at Whitefield. The train was popular with sightseers and skiers. The service lasted till 1956 when it was cut back to Intervale, one reason being that when the B&M went over to Budd cars a single car would not trip the MEC's signal system so a second car was needed, even though patronage didn't really justify it.

The Mountain sub was important to MEC as a bridge route into Portland for traffic off the CP at St Johnsbury. Once Guilford had control of both the B&M and the MEC the route's value disappeared, there being very little local traffic.

The Maine DOT has an interesting summary of the current state of play at http://www.maine.gov/mdot/ofbs/documents/pdf/MtnDivExecutiveSummary_001.pdf

[Phil Copleston]

David,

 

As you've cleverly left your SPV railroad maps at home... try these half-decent New Hampshire RR maps http://www.nhrra.org/resources/map.htm

 

Hope these help

[DavidLong]

The connection between the Conway branch and the MEC Mountain sub-division was at Intervale. CSRX probably calls it Mountain Jct, on the MEC Mountain Jct was where the sub-division started in Portland.

Intervale was listed as a freight connection between the two roads in the 1953 Official Registers but I doubt it was very important. Most interchange work took place at Whitefield. Certainly by the 70s Intervale was not a connection for freight.

Intervale was important for passenger trains. The B&M operated the Mountaineer between Boston and Littleton that ran onto MEC rails at Intervale and left the MEC at Whitefield. The train was popular with sightseers and skiers. The service lasted till 1956 when it was cut back to Intervale, one reason being that when the B&M went over to Budd cars a single car would not trip the MEC's signal system so a second car was needed, even though patronage didn't really justify it.

The Mountain sub was important to MEC as a bridge route into Portland for traffic off the CP at St Johnsbury. Once Guilford had control of both the B&M and the MEC the route's value disappeared, there being very little local traffic.

The Maine DOT has an interesting summary of the current state of play at http://www.maine.gov...Summary_001.pdf

 

Thanks for that clarification. Interesting that you should mention Littleton which is the nearest large town to us in Franconia Notch. I took some pictures there this afternoon.

A couple of the passenger depot:

 

 

 

Turning around and looking across the road seems to show a freight depot:

 

 

Although there are bits of track in evidence on both sides of the road you can see that the actual crossing has been tarmaced over even though the crossing signs are still in place.

I've downloaded the Maine DOT document for a bit of bedtime reading!

On Friday we'll be heading down to the coast for the next week of our holiday, staying at Wells, Maine.

 

Thanks again for the information.

 

David

[Tony_S]

When we went a few years ago during August we drove up Mt Washington. The weather was really quite pleasant, and we were able to take some photographs of the trains. Then the weather turned hostile really quickly. The trip to the car park from the restaurant was very wet even wearing alleged waterproofs! Once back down into the valley it was a lovely summer day.

[Phil Copleston]

When we went a few years ago during August we drove up Mt Washington. The weather was really quite pleasant, and we were able to take some photographs of the trains. Then the weather turned hostile really quickly. The trip to the car park from the restaurant was very wet even wearing alleged waterproofs! Once back down into the valley it was a lovely summer day.

 

The same can be said for Snowdon: one minute bright sunshine; the next fog and rain. This sudden changeability from benign to hostile conditions is the main reason unprepared climbers get into trouble on mountains. But at least the ones with a rack railway and a restaurant at the top can provide a hot cuppa and and a rapid and very griceable means of escape!

[Mike Boucher]

Today we went back to the Mount Washington Cog Railway but before adding a few pics about that I have an update on the fate of the F7A #4268 that I commented about at the Conway Scenic. I had noticed a couple of unfamiliar locos parked at the back of the North Conway yard but they were not in a good place for photographs. I did manage one shot:

 

 

From information on the Wiki it appears that this pair of GP9s have only recently been delivered to the railway and, at some point in the next five years, the loco at the back, #1757, will have its engine transferred to #4268 and the shell will be scrapped.

Anyway, back to the Cog. Today, unlike in the UK, was a perfect autumn day with clear blue skies and unbroken sunshine; just the sort of day for going up 6288' in the air while keeping yourself on terra firma. Unlike on Sunday the railway had four trains in operation with two ascending and two descending simultaneously and with all four crossing at a central passing loop.

Here is a shot of the 12.30 and 12.31 departures preparing for loading.

 

 

I still maintain that the outside decoration of the coaches is in poor taste but the interiors are very tasteful and quite stylish in varnished wood.

 

 

The ascent takes about forty minutes and the loco which pushed us up there was M2 and here's a shot of it perched at the summit.

 

 

As you may imagine the view at 6288' is pretty spectacular but it was very windy and the windchill took the temperature below freezing despite the sunshine. Shots of 'vistas' are never very enlightening when it comes to conveying an impression so I'll finish with one shot of a departing train which is already several hundred feet below the summit.

 

 

All in all an excellent experience and one that I would recommend to anyone coming to this corner of the country.

 

David

 

Looks like you had a great day on the summit. Believe it or not, clear views in the summer aren't all that common. The first time I hiked it (up the opposite side of the mountain from the Cog), it was late September, 70F and sunny at the trailhead, mid 30s and rainy at the summit. The 2nd time (same trail, but early mid August), it was clouded in when we got to the top (and about 50F) but the clouds lifted enough to get the same view to the North that you did. Only diff between your pic and mine is that mine has a steamer in it.

 

BTW - Wind at the summit is also quite common. Gale force winds are "routine", winds 100mph+ aren't rare, and winds over 200mph have been recorded. And the highest temperature ever recorded at the summit is 72F, IIRC.

 

BTW II - if you get over to Clarks Trading Post, go up to the loco before the bear show starts and ask the engineer for a cab ride. You'll likely get a "sure" if he hasn't already filled up the cab! The usual engineer (Leon) doesn't mind having visitors in the cab with him! Mid-week it'll probably be a GE 44 tonner, but weekends might see the Climax on the train. And also walk up to the covered bridge to see the restored Lombard Log Hauler on display just across from the enginehouse.

[Mike Boucher]

Thanks for that clarification. Interesting that you should mention Littleton which is the nearest large town to us in Franconia Notch. I took some pictures there this afternoon.

A couple of the passenger depot:

 

 

Although there are bits of track in evidence on both sides of the road you can see that the actual crossing has been tarmaced over even though the crossing signs are still in place.

I've downloaded the Maine DOT document for a bit of bedtime reading!

On Friday we'll be heading down to the coast for the next week of our holiday, staying at Wells, Maine.

 

Thanks again for the information.

 

David

 

Just noticed you've already left the White Mountain region for the Maine seacoast. I'll suggest you go here http://www.chaunceycreek.com/ for Lobster some day. Voted by Yankee Magazine as one of the 12 best Lobster shacks in New England. It doesn't look like much, but its worth the trip IMHO!

 

Mike

[DavidLong]

Last Friday we drove from northern New Hampshire down to the coast at Wells, Maine. After the mostly excellent weather we had enjoyed previously, Friday was terrible as it just rained the whole day. It looked like it would be the same on Sunday but, fortunately, about 2 the rain relented and we decided to go the short distance to the Seashore Trolley Museum at Kennebunkport. We didn't get too long there as it was due to close at 5 p.m. and there was also a little more rain about 4.30 which curtailed the photography.

The museum has a long history of acquiring all manner of transit vehicles having begun with its first acquisition back in 1939. It has a large site with various 'barns' for covered accommodation and a restoration shop for working on the vehicles.

As we came out of the main entrance building the first vehicle to be seen was this 1914 vintage car from the Dallas Railway and Terminal Company which was presented to the museum in 1954.

 

 

The next photo shows one of the car barns and, on the left, the car that was doing the rides on Sunday. This is car No. 639 from the Wheeling Traction Company, Wheeling, West Virginia and was a product of the Cincinnati Car Company in 1924.

 

 

The car picked us up from the building which you can just see on the right in the above picture but a better one is here.

 

 

This is a beautifully restored shelter which, if I remember correctly, came from Boston. We took the three mile round-trip ride which is along the trackbed of the original trolley route from Kennebunkport to Biddeford (the two ds are correct!). Our motorman was an ex-pat Englishman who has lived for many years in Georgia and has volunteered a couple of times a year at the museum for the past twelve years. Oh and when he is in the UK he is one of the guides on Northern's Settle and Carlisle trains!

We took a look in the restoration shop which is stuffed full of vehicles and it is quite difficult to get decent photos from the observation area but I'll include this next one as, over on the right, is 1924 Blackpool car No. 144 which was presented to the museum in 1954 by the mayor and corporation of Blackpool. It looks like it has had some work done on it and is in better shape than some of its companions in the shop.

 

 

I wandered up toward the back of the site and came upon this line of transit vehicles that haven't turned a wheel for some time and don't look like they will any time soon.

 

 

I've saved the best find almost to last. This was also away from most of the main exhibits but drew me immediately. It is a product of the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1920 and came from the Oshawa Railway in Ontario and has been at the museum since 1964. Its attraction is that it is similar to locomotives that were supplied to the Sacramento Northern Railway in California which is one of my favourite trolley systems. So, a couple of shots of No. 300.

 

 

 

Finally, on the way out, I spotted this familiar message on a familiar piece of signage in an unfamiliar location.

 

[DavidLong]

A bit of a delay in the updates as we have had a couple of longish days and there wasn't really time in the evening to report.

Anyway, on Monday we went up to Portland and paid a visit to the Maine Narrow Gauge Museum which we found down on the waterfront. The $10 entrance fee includes a ride on the 1.5 mile narrow gauge line around the edge of Casco Bay. The train runs on the hour every hour and was due to leave soon after we arrived so we bought our tickets and went and joined the train.

The loco in use was No.1 which is a General Electric 23 tonner (described to me as 'half a 44 tonner'!) which dates from 1949 and came from an industrial site in Massachusetts.

The photo shows it at the platform outside the museum with its three coach train. The first coach is a combine, the second an ordinary coach and the last is a caboose.

 

 

We travelled in the seating area of the combine which is in the next photograph.

 

 

The museum's line is laid on the trackbed of Grand Trunk Railway's standard gauge line into Portland to access its India Street passenger terminus and also to give it access to Portland's waterfront. I understand that grain from Canada for export was originally routed this way and was a principal traffic. The track is now laid to 2' gauge and uses track and ties that were acquired when Maine Central was disposing of permanent way items from line closures. This does give the track a rather strange look with heavy main line standard rail and ties that are somewhat wider than usual! The round trip is about 45 minutes and the next photograph shows No.1 at the end of the line prior to propelling for the return. Both the engineer, visible on the photo, and the conductor have visited the U.K. and were especially enthused about our heritage railways.

 

 

The access to Portland had been via wooden trestle with a central swing girder section but a fire on the trestle in 1984 served as an excuse to truncate the line on the other side of the crossing. Accordingly the girder section was swung open, the motor removed and just abandoned and here it is:

 

 

The standard gauge rails can still be seen on a surviving part of the wooden trestle. Pan Am Railways still serve a baked bean factory on the other side of the bay. The chimney of the factory can be seen on the right of the photograph.

After returning to the museum I had a wander around the outdoor storage areas of some of their stock and a selection of these can be seen in the following photos.

These are far from ideal conditions and most of the stock seems to be out in the open with only three or four items actually inside the museum building.

 

 

There was a nicely restored boxcar lettered for the Bridgton & Harrison Railway but I have no idea if it genuinely originated with that road.

 

 

There was also No.11, a rather attractive little diesel which may be a Plymouth.

 

 

A rather attractive clerestory bogie coach caught my eye as did a couple of V tippers that look a bit the worse for wear and which don't seem to fit at all with the rest of the exhibits.

 

 

 

A rather run down caboose lettered for the Sandy River & Rangely Lakes is also present but, again, I have no idea if the livery is accurate in terms of the origin of the vehicle.

 

 

Lastly, tucked away around the back and amidst the undergrowth was this strange little beast. The only information that I have from the Wiki is that it has come from the Edaville Railroad which looks like a rather unpleasant little tourist road in Massachusetts. Whatever, I find it rather attractive but, looking at its present state I don't hold out much hope for a positive future.

 

 

From talking to staff it seems that there may be problems for the future of the museum due to lease issues on the site and they may have to find alternative accommodation. This may separate them from the waterfront line and could put that part of the operation in doubt unless it could be integrated in some form into a new site.

 

David

[DavidLong]

The final report from this holiday is from Wednesday 3rd October and covers our trip on the Maine Eastern Railroad from Brunswick, Maine out to Rockland, Maine. The mostly indifferent weather of our second week (Portland on Monday was an exception) continued and the rain was so heavy on our drive up from Wells that we considered abandoning the trip. However, by the time we got to Brunswick it had relented sufficiently for us to decide to continue. The former Maine Central Rockland branch had been taken over by the Morristown and Erie Railway in November 2003 and they formed a subsidiary, the Maine Eastern Railroad to operate it. The Maine Eastern operates a tourist service of two daily return trips over the 56 mile line Wednesday to Saturday between May and October. Rockland acts as the base as this is the location of the locomotive and stock servicing facilities. However, after a certain amount of lobbying, not least by the State of Maine, there are further developments. From November 1st the Amtrak Downeaster service between Boston and Portland will be extended three times a day through to Brunswick with an intermediate stop at the large scale retail location of Freeport. The $38m cost of the project, funded by the Federal Railroad Administration, has been used for track upgrades and also an impressive new station at Brunswick as can be seen from these couple of photos.

 

 

 

In order to provide some ongoing additional finance the building includes a medical facility and a couple of eateries.

The train from Rockland arrives from the east and, as the locomotives are single cabbed, the entire train has to be turned on a wye. The locomotives were one of the main attractions for me as these are ex-New Haven EMD FL-9s which are unusual in not only having a Co-Bo truck arrangement but also, in their original format, being electro-diesels. This was a facility that was required for working New Haven trains on the third rail when exiting New York via the tunnels under the river. This photo shows #488 and its consist in the middle of the move to re-orientate to face east for the return to Rockland.

 

 

The whole 56 miles is scenic but the first 25 miles or so is especially so as the line passes over a number of rivers and coastal inlets using a variety of trestles and causeways. We left at 10.30 and after 1hr 55minutes we arrived at Rockland.

 

 

A couple of miles before reaching Rockland a spur leaves the main line and this runs to the only cement plant in New England which, unsurprisingly, provides considerable freight income for the railroad. This is sent out not only to interchange with Pan Am Railways at Brunswick but also via another spur down to the waterfront at Rockland for pumping aboard coastal barges. Having spotted that there was no evidence of a wye at Rockland I concluded, correctly, that #488 would be turned on the turntable at the facility about a half mile before the terminus. Accordingly I set off up the road and was greeted by the locomotive backing down into the yard.

 

 

 

There were a considerable number of cement cars in the yard on either side of the main running line and over at the side was a small three stall roundhouse with a turntable in front. I was hoping to see the engine being turned but it was backed onto the turntable and the engineer climbed down and left it. It had also started to rain again so I decided return to Debra who was back in the town enjoying the delights of the Lighthouse Museum (!).

 

 

We went and found some lunch and would have explored a lttle more but the rain started to come on harder so we decided to return to the train which we had been told would be available to us back at the depot. This is a view of the compact station at Rockland with the reserve car 'Elm' (Ex-NYC)sitting outside.

 

 

488 had been turned and was now sitting at the head of the train again.

 

 

 

The coach that we travelled out and home in was 'Magnolia' which had been built for the Florida East Coast Railroad in 1946. It clearly demonstrated the difference in the loading gauge with 2+2 seating in 'Coach Class' using seats that would only be possible in 2+1 format in First Class in the U.K.

 

 

 

On the way back we were immediately behind the locomotive so I was able to enjoy the sound of those wonderful North American horns at every road crossing. Horns in the U.K. sound just so wimpy compared to the U.S. version!

There are only two intermediate stops, at Wiscasset and Bath, and at the latter on the return I took the following shot:

 

 

Aside from the 'No Trespassing' message, I wonder what happened to the check rails?

 

All in all, an excellent day which could only have been improved by some better weather as the line runs through some attractive scenery which is enhanced by the classic fall foliage display in New England. If anyone finds themselves in this area at the appropriate times then I would thoroughly recommend this line for a visit.

 

David

[trisonic]

David, That type of "frog" requires no check rails - which is why it looks so complicated! Nomally in only low speed locations. I think that the P87 store sells them to scale.

 

Best, Pete.

[trisonic]

David, I've found a photo of a "self-guarding frog" taken from a different angle so you can see how they work easier.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railroad_switch

 

In the "you learn something new every day" Dept. I note from this article that the term "frog" comes from its similarity in shape to a particular part of a horses hoof that it looks like.

 

You need to page down a bit to find the photo.

 

Best, Pete.

[Supaned]

Great pics - thanks for the info about the Maine Eastern and Amtrak being extended - now I have an excuse to go back to Maine as I "need" the line beyond Portland

[Phil Copleston]

Thanks for the great pics and informative commentary, David. Much appreciated, though it sure does make me 'pine' for the "Pine Tree State". That FL-9 Bo-Co looks most intriguing, I wonder if anyone makes a model in N-scale?

 

I agree about our wimpy UK loco horns, no real 'umph', unlike the 'make-you-jump-out-your-skin' North American equivalent! Also, I remember hearing for the first time in the 1990s the steam chime whistle of the Watercress Line's S-160 2-8-0 blaring out across the Hampshire countryside, and I was suddenly transported across The Pond, as it were. Wowwweeee, from then on I was hooked on American railroading!!

 

You mentioned passing through Wiscassett: Next time be sure to head up to Alna, 4.5 miles north of Wiscassett town on route 218, to visit the headquarters of the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum which operates on 2 miles of original narrow gauge trackbed. See http://www.wwfry.org/ and http://en.wikipedia....mington_Railway. This is the only genuine Maine narrow gauge operation which I feel truly captures the spirit of the old 'Maine 2-Footers' in their original setting. Portland Museum is great for equipment, but somehow it's not the same for location and original atmosphere. I had a footplate trip and caboose cupola ride on the WW&F back in 2002 and will never forget the experience or the friendliness of the volunteers (indeed, some had also volunteered on the Ffestiniog and Severn Valley railways!). Definitely recommended for next time you're in Maine!

 

Anyway, thanks for the continuing updates, David. Looks like you had a wonderful rail-roady holiday (despite the rain)! Hope you and Debs have a safe trip home today. Chat soon I hope.

[DavidLong]

David, I've found a photo of a "self-guarding frog" taken from a different angle so you can see how they work easier.

 

http://en.wikipedia....Railroad_switch

 

In the "you learn something new every day" Dept. I note from this article that the term "frog" comes from its similarity in shape to a particular part of a horses hoof that it looks like.

 

You need to page down a bit to find the photo.

 

Best, Pete.

 

Thanks for the pointer, Pete. I note in the Wiki piece that these are used in slow speed situations and I photographed this example in a couple of sidings at Bath. I'm not sure that the switch is actually used all that much these days.

I really enjoyed the section through Bath where we passed the ends of gardens with no fencing between us and the lawn! That really showed up one of the differences between railways in the UK and US.

 

David