Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway
The Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway (WW & F) is a former railway company in Maine ( United States ). It existed partly under different names from 1854 to 1940.
history
prehistory
The company was founded on April 15, 1854 by Henry Ingalls as "Kennebec and Wiscasset Railroad". Initially, he planned to connect the existing line of the Penobscot and Kennebec Railroad with the coastal city of Wiscasset . After the Knox and Lincoln Railway had opened the coastline Bath Rockland, which touched the city in 1871, he renamed the company in 1873 in "Wiscasset and Moosehead Lake Railroad". Another renaming in "Wiscasset and Quebec Railroad" followed three years later.
Construction and other planning
However, it took another 20 years before construction began in 1894. In 1895, the entire 70-kilometer route from Wiscasset to Albion was completed. The track width was 2 feet (610 mm). The line was initially built in the direction of Burnham . However, after the Maine Central Railroad objected to a crossing of one of its routes due to the threat of competition, construction was abandoned and Albion was finally the terminus.
From March 29, 1901, the company traded as "Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railroad" after the Waterville and Wiscasset Railroad founded in 1890 and the Franklin, Somerset and Kennebec Railroad founded in 1897 were bought. The Waterville & Wiscasset had, as its name suggests, planned a route from Wiscasset to Waterville, which opened in 1902 as a branch route from Week's Mills to Winslow (23.3 km). In Winslow, the line met a line on the Maine Central Railroad, which also ran from there to Waterville. The main line of the company was henceforth the Wiscasset – Winslow line, the section to Albion was downgraded to a branch line.
Franklin, Somerset & Kennebec planned to connect the existing WW&F facility with the town of Farmington . This route should also start in Week's Mills. Construction was led by Franklin Construction Company and began with a bridge over the Kennebec River , which was never completed as the construction company ran out of funds.
The end of the train
Right from the start, the railway had little passenger traffic. On the Week's Mills – Winslow route, he was hired after just a few years. The main transport goods were agricultural products from the catchment area of the route, as well as coal from Vassalboro to Winslow.
After the company had to file for bankruptcy on December 14, 1906, it renamed itself again and was called from 1907 Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway . When the Lewiston, Augusta and Waterville Street Railway built a line through Vasselboro, the WW&F lost the contract to transport coal to the new competition. The branch to Winslow was then unprofitable and closed in 1915, whereupon the main line was again called Wiscasset-Albion.
After locomotives 6 and 7 were destroyed in a fire in the locomotive shed in 1931 and the supervisory authority certified that the three remaining locomotives had a maximum operability of one year, Frank Winter, who had acquired WW&F in 1930, bought the Kennebec Central Railroad because it was shut down in 1929 and had two locomotives in the required gauge.
After a derailment on June 15, 1933 south of Whitefield , in which the last operational locomotive 8 crashed into the Sheepscot River in front of a mixed Albion – Wiscasset train , the Wiscasset – Albion line had to be shut down. Locomotive 9, which had to be taken out of service two days beforehand because a broken frame was discovered, was bought by railroad enthusiasts along with one passenger car, four freight cars and 400 meters of track on the Kennebec Central Railroad. The line was then dismantled and the company dissolved in 1940. However, the operating facilities remained in the possession of the Winter family.
reconstruction
At the end of the 1980s, the railway experienced a renaissance. Since the predecessor company of WW&F, the Wiscasset and Quebec Railroad, was never officially dissolved, Harry Percival, who had acquired a large part of the operating facilities from the descendants of Frank Winters, was able to take over the company. He planned to rebuild part of the route. In 1989 the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum, Inc. was founded. The Sheepscot – Alna Center section was reopened in 2002 and has been a museum railway ever since.
vehicles
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A total of nine steam locomotives were used on the line during the 38 years of operation:
| Locomotive no. | design type | built | Manufacturer | Destination locomotive |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0-4-4 | 1883 | porter | initially Sandy River Railroad (No. 3), taken over in 1895, retired in 1913 |
| 2, 3 | 0-4-4 | 1894 | Portland | Retired in 1932 |
| 4th | 0-4-4 | 1902 | porter | Retired in 1932 |
| 5 | 0-4-4 | 1882 | Hinkley | initially Bridgton and Saco River Railroad (No. 2), taken over in 1906, retired in 1913 |
| 6th | 2-6-2 tenders | 1907 | Baldwin | Destroyed in a fire in December 1931 |
| 7th | 2-4-4 | 1907 | Baldwin | Destroyed in a fire in December 1931 |
| 8th | 0-4-4 | 1892 | Portland | first Bridgton and Saco River Railroad (No. 3), 1922 to Kennebec Central Railroad (No. 3), taken over in 1932, destroyed in an accident June 15, 1933 |
| 9 | 0-4-4 | 1891 | Portland | first Sandy River Railroad (No. 5), from 1908 Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad (No. 6), 1922 to Kennebec Central Railroad (No. 4), taken over in 1932, decommissioned June 13, 1933 after broken body, today in Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum in Portland |
Today's steam locomotive No. 10 was never used on the original route. It was built for plantation railways in Louisiana and originally had a gauge of 762 millimeters. The locomotive was acquired by the Edaville Railroad in 1999 .
In the 1909/10 business year, WW & F's fleet of cars consisted of three passenger cars, two mixed cars, a mail and baggage car, five company cars, 40 flat freight cars and 41 closed freight cars.
List of Presidents and General Managers
The founder of the railway company, Henry Ingalls , was president from 1854 to 1893 and again shortly before his death in 1896. It was not until 1893, when preparations began for the actual construction of the railway, that a general manager was introduced, initially in personal union with the president. After Ingalls' death there was no president for two years, during which time his duties were apparently taken over by the general manager. From 1929, the two offices were filled again in personal union.
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Individual evidence
- ^ Poor's Manual of Railroads, 44th Annual Number. Poor's Railroad Manual Co., 1911.
literature
- Robert C. Jones, David L. Register: Two Feet to Tidewater (Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington) . Vermont Evergreen Press, Burlington, VT 2002 (2nd extended edition).
- Robert L. MacDonald: Maine Narrow Gauge Railroads . Arcadia Publishing, 2003, ISBN 073851179X .
