September - the Seashore Trolley Museum

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Vol 6
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September 2014!
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THE
MAIN LINE
No 7
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The Monthly Bulletin
of the New England Electric Railway Historical Society Libraries
September as been a really nice Fall month all in all although it picked on Member’s Day just
a bit with a quite quite cool day. As you will read below we did back a nice weather payback
for Pumpkin Patch.!
It is giving all the appearances of some potentially nice foliage color this year. Along the
coast things are just starting to turn in bits and pieces - I think the run of dry weather the past
few weeks may have sped things up a bit. However the colors that are starting to appear,
particularly the reds and oranges are hinting towards a nice show. We can only hope that
the missing rain doesn’t arrive all at once in a howling nor’easter. !
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Happenings Around Seashore -!
Member’s Day - As I mentioned above 13 September rolled into Kennebunkport as cool and
damp - it didn’t rain but it certainly felt as though it wanted to and this suppressed the
attendance a bit of both members and visitors to what was actually a fun day despite the
weather.!
BER # 5821 - J. G. Brill Co. (1924) awaiting the
first public departure.
Early in the day Scott Hooper was pulling
BER 396 - St. Louis Car Co. (1900) !
up to the Visitor’s Center for a members’ trip.
Wheeling Traction Co. #639 - Cincinnati Car Co. (1924)
Glen Snow bringing Montreal Tramways Co. #2 Montreal St. Ry. (1906) down from Riverside
Tom Laroche prepares B&SRR #31- !
Chuck Aronovitch manning the “stern” of MTC #2
as it departs for Talbot Park. It really does look
as though there should be a tiller back there.
I was fascinated by the golden beaver with
a spray of maple leaves emblem that
appears on both lighting arches of MTC
#2. Of course the beaver and maple leaf
are symbols utilized by both Montreal and
Canada. This particular emblem has been
used by both the Canadian Pacific and the
Société Saint-Jean-Baptiste. Although in
both of those uses the beaver faces in the
opposite direction. I don’t know heraldry
well enough to attach any meaning to that.!
Improvements Around The Property - !
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Visitors to Seashore will now find touch
screen kiosks spotted at various locations
around the museum grounds. These give
direct access to the museum’s internet site
to help answer questions that may arise
during a walking tour.!
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Also, through help from a grant by
Maine Humanities Council a series of
new attractive and informative signs
have been added to the grounds and
buildings.!
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City of Manchester II!
As I am sure most of you are aware the Museum reached an agreement with an individual to
construct a replica of the City of Manchester built for use on his estate in Biscayne Bay,
Florida. A suitable truck was located in Dallas, a Brill 21E truck from Brussels, Belgium,
which had turned out to be too big to use for a Birney car. The Seashore shop will build the
basic frame, a boatbuilder in Rockport, ME will build the passenger compartment and then
Seashore will finish with the roof. Following are some pictures of the progress on this
interesting project.!
An isometric projection of the frame
The basics
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A birds-eye of the deck coming together
Dick Avy examines the newly constructed deck resting
on shop trucks for the moment.
A thank you to Randy Leclair, Seashore’s shop manager, for these images.!
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Also on the property -!
In wandering to and fro on Member’s Day I noticed the very attractively restored hand car
currently sitting in the Arundel shelter. In asking about it I found that it is presumed to have
its origin with the Maine Central Railroad although that is not fully documented. However,
whatever its origin, a pretty artifact.!
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Pumpkin Patch -!
I made it to the Saturday of the second weekend of Pumpkin Patch and the weather more
than made up for its somewhat unkind treatment of Member’s Day. Saturday was absolutely
beautiful, sunny, dry and in the low
80s. I was not able to be back on
Sunday but the weather was the same.
There was steady stream of visitors
with the parking lots quite full all of the
time. Triple headers were the order of
the day on the line with # 303, # 639, #
838, # 1160 and # 5821 sharing
passenger duty while PD&Y (ASL )
#108 fitted in between the passenger
car movements to provide the heavy
lifting of moving the visitor’s selected
pumpkins back to the Visitor’s Center.
A large group of Boy Scouts from
Methuen, MA were onsite and provided
assistance with the movement and
Conn. Co. #303 15 Bench Open Car - J. G. Brill Co. (1901) loading one of the first runs of the day
delivery of the pumpkins.!
Conn Co. #1160 - John Stephenson Car Co. (1906) pulling Into The Visitor’s Center Loop - ASL #108 is
already at the Library Crossing unloading the pumpkins
Conn. Co. # 838 - 15 Bench Open Car - !
J. M. Jones (1905) - waiting to pull up with
Ass't Director of Railway Operations !
Roger Tobin at the controls.
Heavy Traffic! Conn. Co. #303 waits behind Arundel at the Visitor’s Center Loop north switch for a green signal
while Boston Elevated Ry. # 5821 Boston 'Type 5’ - J. G. Brill Co. (1924) - and Conn. Co. # 838 pass inbound.
Pumpkins arrive on Portsmouth, Dover & York Street Railway (ASL) No. 108 - !
Railway Post Office/Express Laconia Car Company (1904)!
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Saturday not only provided the chance for pumpkins in trolleys but also pumpkins in people The King Arthur Flour Pumpkin Dessert Recipe Contest was held with prizes to the winners
provided by King Arthur Flour.!
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PRIZES:!
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First Place: $75 gift certificate to the Baker’s Catalogue at kingarthurflour.com !
and a !King Arthur Flour Cookbook!
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Second Place: $50 gift certificate to the Baker’s Catalogue at kingarthurflour.com !
and a King Arthur Flour Cookbook!
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Third Place: $25 gift certificate to the Baker’s Catalogue at kingarthurflour.com ! !
and a King Arthur Flour Cookbook!
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Judges this year were Meredith Goad, long-time food writer for the Portland Press Herald,
and yours truly. Maureen Bear a volunteer from Norway Savings Bank provided the tiebreaking taste buds. First place went to a pumpkin mousse cake, pumpkin scones took
second with pumpkin pie squares in third. After Executive Director Sally Bates announced
the winners the various entries went on sale (entrants submitted samples for judging and
then quantity to sell).
Executive Director Sally Bates
announces the winners
My New Seashore Apron
Lots of visitors
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The Library Committee-!
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Library Committee Chair Karen Dooks reports as follows:!
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The Collection – !
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The several levels of inventorying of the overall New England Electric Railway Historical
Society (NEERHS) collection are continuing. Specific materials such as albums and
individual photos continue to be transported to York County Community College (YCCC) for
individual identification, inventory, scanning and packing in protective sleeves, etc. as
needed.!
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Amber Tatnall reports that work continues on the greatly anticipated Maine Street Railways
Atlas based on original maps and text by Charles D. Heseltine with editing by O.R.
Cummings. The atlas with some 41 maps and upwards of 160 photographs should be ready
for publication by late Summer 2014.!
Please remember when sending donations for the library to note that it is for Library
Development – Fund 951.!
Do You Recognize?!
Last Month’s Do You Recognize-!
This freight-only industrial railway was suggested to me by Leo Sullivan and he supplied
copies of the two images of this road that we know to exist. I put this fairly high up on the
difficulty scale especially because of the lack of images. !
Baldwin steeple cab of the AIRwy crossing a
trestle over the Powow River.
The Amesbury Industrial Railway was a late arrival
on the scene, not having been constructed until
1916, and made use of its own track and those of
the Massachusetts Northeastern Street Railway to
serve iAmesbury, MA. Its principal traffic was
shunting steam railroad freight cars to and from the
freight yard of the Boston & Maine Railroad and
various manufacturing facilities throughout the
community. Amesbury had a quite wide
manufactory ranging from nails and textiles to, in
later years, automobile bodies. The line was
owned by the Merrimac Valley Power & Buildings
! Company which had numerous factory interests in
! the town.!
The line’s rails were constructed so as to handle
the deep flanges of the freight cars being moved
and those rails of the Northeastern that were
utilized were also so configured. Electrical
power was supplied from the local substation of
the Northeastern until motorization of that system
in 1930 and then purchased from the Amesbury
Electric Light Company.!
Initial motive power was supplied by a 4-wheel
snow plow acquired from the Northeastern
(apparently built by Patriquin in 189?) that was
The Baldwin at an unknown location in Amesbury.
modified by the removal of its plow blades and
outfitting with standard railroad couplers. The
freight railroad acquired its own locomotive from Baldwin although it seems that it was not
excessively powerful and if a freight car was heavily loaded the plow often to be called upon
to serve as a pusher to aid the move. A 4-wheel Taunton plow, also built sometime in the
1890s, was borrowed or leased from the Northeastern for most of the 1920s so that the
AIRwy could clear its own tracks. All maintenance on the cars was also contracted to the
Northeastern’s shops.!
When the Northeastern motorized in 1930 the industrial railway purchased that trackage of
the passenger road that it used in moving freight cars.The freight operation effectively closed
in 1932 although the overhead remained in place for a couple of years.!
This is a bird’s eye view of Amesbury produced in 1914 looking SSE. Unfortunately the
engraving made the Merrimack look like the “Mississippi” and consequently numbers of
readers were drawn to focusing on operations along the Connecticut.!
Amesbury, MA - 1914
If anyone has additional pictures, maps or information about the Amesbury Industrial I would
greatly appreciate knowing of such. As I noted last month, in 2010 O.R. Cummings was
considering writing an article on this operation and he asked me to try and locate and copy
some materials he had donated to a historical group some 15 or 20 years prior. I located
these same two photos that he had in his collection but I was unable to locate other images
and a system map that supposedly existed.!
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This Month’s Do You Recognize - !
We are staying in New England this month but changing states. Our street railway of
interest, featuring the name of the city it served, was approved by the city council in January
1887 and the council’s endorsement given to the application for a state charter. In February
of 1888 the state legislature granted the incorporation
and the governor signed the document four days later.
The city had steep enough hills and this was late
enough in the development of railways that this system
did not pass through the horsecar phase but proceeded
directly to electricity. There had been an earlier and
unsuccessful attempt
with an omnibus but
that was it for animal
power. Actual
construction began on
No.12 16-foot box - Newburyport Car Co.
(1888)
August 16, 1888 with
the Boston firm of Gore
& Woodward constructing the roadbed and laying rail while
Thomson-Houston Co. installing the overhead and
generating equipment. Thomson-Houston offered to take
No.13 - 16-foot box - Newburyport Car Co. partial payment in blocks of the new company’s stock as
(1888)
was its practice in building other street railways and
electrical generating plants in the area. In 1892
Thomson-Houston merged with Edison General
Electric to form the General Electric Company and
consequently GE held substantial stock in this and
other area trolley and lighting and power generating
companies. Four 16-foot closed cars were ordered
from the Newburyport (MA) Car Company. Service
began on May 21, 1889 with two cars in service over
three miles of track. Four 8-bench open cars and an
18-foot closed car were purchased from Newburyport
8-bench open - Newburyport Car Co. (1890)
Car Co. in 1889. To meet rising demand an additional
(probably just before the turn of the century
no motorcars
ten closed cars and eleven open cars were purchased in 1890, all from Newburyport Car Co.
Because of the size of this order it is likely that some
cars were built for Newburyport by the Ellis Car Co.
of Amesbury, MA although they were all referred to
as “Newburyport cars.”!
By the end of 1890 the railway had built two
additional lines giving it a total of 7 1/4 miles of track
and by 1900 trackage had expanded to a total of 9
3/4 miles with 13 closed cars and 15 open cars in
service. With the exception of one line this company
built no suburban extensions but rather these came
into being in 1905 when various local lines and
power companies under a common holding company
were merged into a single railway & electric
Perhaps the first decade of the 20th century!
company. At this time General Electric not only held
the motorcar is on the scene
significant blocks of stock in local companies but also
nationwide and it organized the Electric Bond & Share
Company to take over these GE interests across the country. Locally various lighting, street
railways and water power companies, including our initial railway, were brought under a
common entity. Immediately following the merger the combined fleet included 25 closed
cars, 24 open cars, 3 work cars, 6 snow plows and
one miscellaneous car of some type. In 1906 another
adjacent street railway was acquired adding another
28 miles of track. With this addition the new company,
the state’s fourth-largest for a number of years, had
56 miles of main track and 2.7 miles of second main.
Serving this system were 29 closed cars, 25 open
cars, 3 motor freight cars, 20 freight trailers, 3 work
cars, 7 snow plows and the “miscellaneous” car. Also
No.82 30’ 8* Semi - JG Brill (1910)
merged in 1905 were two power companies and a
water company - another two power companies, a water company and a realty company
acquired shorty thereafter.!
The Patton car and trailer
A 28-mile street railway acquired in 1906 is somewhat
interesting in its own right. Begun in 1898 the line
received a certificate of safety by the state railroad
commissioners in December of 1898 although it was June
of 1899 before operations got underway. The line was
built without poles or overhead. Passenger service and
freight power was to be provided by a 32-foot selfpropelled closed car. The car furnished by the Patton
Motor Company of Chicago consisted of two
compartments, one for the power plant and one for passengers. A 50 hp gasoline engine
drove a 30 kw direct current generator which charged a bank of 110 storage batteries.
Current from the batteries was fed through controllers to two 50 hp traction motors. The
passenger equipment consisted of the Patton car and a 16-foot trailer (former Boston
horsecar) with the same Patton car serving as a freight motor for pulling boxcars or flats.
The Patton car proved noisy, smelly, underpowered and unreliable and in April of 1900,
slightly under a year, service was suspended and the entire line was re-equipped with
standard overhead and new rolling-stock was acquired. Service resumed in May of 1901.
There was limited passenger traffic but as this part of the railway did not parallel a railroad it
was able to build up a substantial carload agricultural business. Unfortunately it was not able
to survive the development of motor truck transportation and was abandoned in 1930.!
In an interesting if not terribly successful attempt to generate traffic for its lines the newly
consolidated railway established a farm to demonstrate “modern farming practices” as well
as building warehouses for agricultural crops it hoped to transport.!
From 1898 until 1916 the railway leased and
operated a major entertainment park adjacent to its
namesake city on a 10-acre site overlooking the
neighboring river. This park was initially leased to a
predecessor line and then became part of the
consolidated line 1n 1905. In its heyday the park
saw a dozen cars at a time delivering patrons to the
park. The park included a large open-air theater
featuring band concerts and vaudeville with
nationally-known acts. The park also featured a
midway with a shooting gallery, baseball throw and
No.86 30’ 10* Semi - Wason (1913)
concession stands, which sold hot dogs, popcorn,
peanuts, candy, and soda. There was also a bowling alley, merry-go-round, Ferris wheel,
wooden swings, dancing pavilion, open-air stage casino, picnic spots along the shore, and
even live alligators on display in their own specially built pools. !
A major disaster, the Great Fire of 1911, reshaped the city's landscape, burning 55 acres,
destroying 267 buildings, damaging 100 more resulting in almost half of the city destroyed
and the business district all but gone.!
The line had many problems with crossing the river and recurrent washouts of various
bridges. One division of the railway was not connected to the central system until 1914
when a steel bridge was finally constructed. The bridge at this location had a long, spotty
history. Originally built in 1832, it was carried away in a flood or freshet in 1846. Rebuilt in
1847, its middle span was demolished in another flood in 1902 but was replaced by a steel
span but declared unsafe for trolleys. By 1914, after multiple delays and lots of bickering, the
whole bridge had been replaced with steel capable of carrying trolley cars.!
The late teens and early nineteen twenties were
not kind to the company. A 1916 strike disrupted
service for a short period and resulted in union
recognition by the company but few changes in
working conditions. Nineteen-twenty brought
heavy snows and terrible operating conditions.
The winter of 1922-23 saw more severe storms
with drifts of six and eight feet. The street railway
managed some semblance of operation through
M-6 Rotary Plow - Ruggles (1901)
clearing the tracks with its rotary plow. In one
major fire the fire department was unable to move through the snow clogged streets and the
street railway moved fire fighting men and equipment on flat cars behind double-headed
freight motors and the rotary.!
In 1918 the railway joined the national trend with the arrival of one-man Birney cars. Three
were received from American Car Company in 1918 and another twelve in 1919. Another
two were acquired from Wason in 1922 and a final second-hand Birney, built by American in
1918, was acquired in 1923. With this purchase the equipment history of the railway and its
successor company was effectively complete.!
A little side note and hint: In a 1923 US Department of Commerce publication, the railway is
listed as the owner of one of the city’s radio stations - one that still exists as a radio and
television station to this day. It is the oldest operating radio station in the state although its
operating frequency changed several times due to national frequency realignments, its radio
call letters were changed in 2009 and its power has increased from 100 watts in 1923 to a
current output of 5,000 watts.!
No. 14 29’ 6” safety - Wason (1921)!
This railway loved to reuse numbers - you
would think every new number cost extra
M-12 Dump Car - Mangor (1912) and
Box Express No. 106 - Wason (1913)
S-68 Service Car - Converted from 18’ Box - !
JG Brill (1902)
In 1924 the General Electric Company divested
itself of the Electric Share & Bond Company. A
new company was organized to assume operation
of the local railway. At the time the new company
began operation in March of 1925 the system was
operating 53.7 miles of main line track. Rolling
stock consisted of 9 double truck semi-convertibles,
7 double truck safety cars and 18 single-truck
Birneys. With the Birneys in place the railway
rebuilt its large double-truck semi-convertibles to
one-man operation while scrapping some older
double-truck cars.!
In the late 1930s through 1941 ongoing state
highway reconstruction made the continuance of various lines infeasible. By 1941
significant cutbacks in routes and equipment became inevitable with the total fleet declining
from 39 units of all kinds in 1940 to 23 units in 1941. A motor subsidiary was formed in
1940 to replace electric railway service on some routes. It had been the company’s
intention to end railway service in 1943 but wartime demands intervened and the cars held
on until the last trips were run on December 31, 1945.!
This railway lay claim to being the first electric railway in its state and only lost out to being
the last by a single three-mile electric railway that continued passenger service to 1947 and
freight through 1949.!
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Just Interesting -!
Last month I included some older West End cars in this section. Of course we have more
West End/BER images in the collection than could be accommodated in several year’s worth
of issues. I thought I would dip into this area one more time and then move on before boring
everyone to death. This month I have selected some images of early experimental cars with
before and after shots where available.!
In 1889 the Robinson Radial Car Truck
Company placed an order with the
Newburyport Car Company for a 22-foot
closed car for service on the West End Street
railway to demonstrate the Robinson sixwheel radial truck. !
West End No. 1522 as delivered in 1889.
West End purchased the car for $2,500 in June of 1890
and numbered it No. 1522. In 1892 it was fitted with a
similar West End radial truck and in 1896 the truck was
replaced with West End swivel trucks. In 1897 its roof
style was changed to a No. 1 type.!
No. 1522 with its new roof and swivel trucks
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Also received by West End in 1890 from Newburyport for
$1,800 was a 28-foot car equipped with a Robinson radial
truck, West End No. 258. By 1897 this car also rode on
West End swivels.!
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No. 258 seen here at Forest Hills in 1898
after its conversion to swivel trucks.
At about the same time Newburyport Car Company built an identical 28-foot body to 258’s
for the Tripp Manufacturing Company to demonstrate
the Tripp new double-truck
design. On these trucks
the wheels revolved on
rigid axles fitted inside the
hub with Tripp roller
bearings. The West End
Street Railway acquired
this car for $1,800,
West End No. 8 set to leave Newburyport
numbering the car No. 8.
No. 8 at Forest Hills in 1898
The Tripp truck also did not gain success and in 1894 West End radials were substituted
and yet later West End swivels.!
The following is not a one-off experiment but certainly experimental
and qualifies as interesting. In May of 1912 the railway’s shops
completed the creation of an articulated car No. 405 (later No.
4000) by joining two 20-foot cars (Nos. 405 and 423) originally built
by Newburyport Car Co, in 1894. No. 405 was 62’ 10.5” over the
bumpers including the 12’ 10” center compartment. For obvious
reasons this car was dubbed “the snake car” by the Boston Post.
There were 31 additional articulated cars assembled in 1913 with a
total fleet of 191 built by 1919. No. 405 (4000) was scrapped in 1921.!
Reader’s Comments -!
Harking back to the August issue Gerry O’Regan and Kevin Farrell both commented that the
body of WF&O No. 60, formerly Brockton & Plymouth 400 (Wason Manufacturing Co. - 1922)
is in the Seashore collection. In addition Gerry noted that West End No. 1020 (Barney &
Smith Car Co. - 1895) shown in the “Just Interesting” section was part of the same order as
BER No. 1059, also in the Seashore collection. Thanks to you both for noting this
information.!
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2014 Calendar Of Events!
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Oct 11: Transit Day - Seashore’s “We’re More Than Just A Trolley Museum Day”!
Rapid transit cars, buses, and trackless trolleys, as well as streetcars are on the move. It’s a
day for visitors to enjoy the full scope of our vehicle collection. Lunch service by Ned’s Bakes
& BBQ.!
Nov 8: Night Photo Shoot at the Seashore Trolley Museum!
Photographers, enjoy an exclusive evening at the
Seashore Trolley Museum as you and 11 others take
night shots of various scenes that will be set up around
the museum campus. Please be aware, our shoot is
performed with mobile-handheld flash units with long
duration exposures. This may be a different way of
doing night photography than that which you are
accustomed to.!
What you'll need if you attend:!
Camera, Cable release or remote shutter control, Tripod and Flashlight!
Before starting the event, we will offer a basic introductory class on taking night photographs
and on railway safety and a pizza dinner for guests.!
Professional flash lighting and shoot coordination provided by Joey Kelley Photography T!
Tickets are $50 and must be purchased in advance for this event. Please note due to the
nature of this event, admission is limited to 12 guests.!
Dec 5,6,7 and 12,13,14: Christmas Prelude; schedule will be at trolleymuseum.org!
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Library Committee and Working Groups -!
Please come and join the Library Committee meetings, the committee all look forward to
seeing you and hearing your thoughts and needs. Can’t make the meeting – please drop an
email to the library SeashoreLibrary@ramsdell.com or use the contact link on the Museum’s
Internet site. Committee and Working Group dates have been established through
September 2014 (see below). !
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Committee Meetings With Work Parties! !
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Saturday, October 11 at Seashore (2PM) - Committee meeting only - no working party!
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November (Date TBD) at YCCC (10AM)!
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December 6 at Seashore (10AM)! !
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Let me know your thoughts, suggestions, criticisms, etc. The Main Line exists to share
and exchange information and ideas about your NEERHS Library. !
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Ed Ramsdell, Editor!
The Main Line
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TheMainLine@ramsdell.com!
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http://www.trolleymuseum.org!
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