Kingfield Maine engine house

A few days ago I posted a photo of the SR&RL station in Kingfield, Maine. Along with the photo I published a map showing the location of all the railroad buildings in Kingfield. This in the three stall engine house that sat behind the station. I took the photo in 1961 and don't know if this building has survived. 

Bachmann On30 Forney

On the Nantucket Railroad display I decided to use the Bachmann On30 Forney as the display motive power. The Forney is a close match to a 3-foot gauge Mason Bogey engine the railroad leased from the Boston, Revere Beach & Lynn RR. 

The Bachmann On30 Forney ran great for two years. When "crash-bar" type handles were added to the front of the layout, to give children a hand-hold, the track went out of level and the rear truck under the Bachmann On30 Forney tender would hop on and off the track. I tried all the tricks to get the engine to track better. 

Finally, I decided to try solder wrapped around the rear truck's plastic axels. I used the thinnest solder I had and wrapped the axels keeping the solder below the wheel diameter so the solder would not foul on track or guardrails.

It worked. The rear truck was heavy enough to track properly and not hop of the rail. Another two years of everyday operation.

Bachmann On30 "shorty" ore car

This is one of the new Bachmann On30 "shorty" ore or coal cars. This is the actual car that appeared in the Bachmann ads. I took the raw plastic car and painted and weathered it. There's a plastic coal load sold with the car. It's a nice car, tracks well and has a lot of detail. 

For you On30 2-foot fans - look at the Vulcan trucks. They are dead ringers for the SR&RL trucks - the only thing you have to do to make them perfect is to cut off the spring cover that extends above the truck frame in the middle of the truck.

Kingfield Maine

Here's the Kingfield Station in Kingfield, Maine on the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes RR as it looked in 1962. The building looked abandoned. I walked around it and there was no signs of life. 

On the rear side there's a loading or freight door with a log bumper. It was probably added after the railroad closed in the 1930's. 

Pardon the cheap camera with an awful lens and Anscochrome film.

From the map you can see that the train, at one time, ran through the station. This practice didn't last very long. Too many stations burned down. 

The map is reproduced from the Two-Foot Cyclopedia, Volume One, Kingfield, Maine by William H. Jensen, Jr. from my collection. 

I have photos of the engine house, somewhere. It was still standing in 1962 and used by an auto dealer to store cars.

B&M Stations Past

About 1960 I had a new camera and the first shots were railroad buildings near my home. Here's the Phillips Beach station in Swampscott, Massachusetts, on the Marblehead branch. This branch took commuters from the North Shore to Boston and from Swampscott to Salem and beyond. By the time I got there the railroad had been gone for four or five years.

About a mile away on the same branch was this slightly larger station in the Beach Bluff section of Swampscott. 

Here's a closer view of the station shows the classic "Eastern Station" design. Even the Maine two-footers used this same station design in Strong and Phillips, Maine.

Modeling ideas - Fish Shacks

Back in the mid-1970's I traveled throughout Nova Scotia looking for someone to build me a lobster boat. I never did buy a boat there. At the time the builders were changing from wood to fiberglass and the boats were cheesy but cheap. I, instead choose a Maine builder, General Marine, to build my boat. The boat is still in the water and works everyday hauling lobster pots.

I had a cheap Russian 35mm camera at the time and liked photographing the little fishing villages that lined the shoreline. 

Here are two of the buildings I saw.

Later in Maine, on my way to check out the progress of my new boat that was being built, I caught this scene. A great modeling inspiration!

Edaville #7

I made many trips to EDAVILLE as a young man. It was a 2-foot tourist railroad created by Ellis D. Atwood on his cranberry plantation in Carver, Mass. Here's B&SR #7 - my favorite 2-foot engine.

A short movie showing the 2-footer's in action and Edaville can be seen here.