This is a short photo update on the Eagle Lake locos in the Allagash of Maine. All the images are courtesy of my "adopted son", Jeremy, seen sitting in the cab with brother, John (John is not an adopted son).

The guys went up in early spring, just after most ice was out. It is a wet area. You can drive in, almost up to the locomotives, but hiking the old lumber railway is wet and hazardous. Jeremy reported the mosquitoes "could carry away a small child". He and John were almost entirely clothed, including around the wrists, and soaked in "Ben's 100".

In recent years, this place has become far more accessible, however it is miles from the nearest phone, wrecker service, and convenience store. Get it?

Richard -

The one with the cab is a Consolidation. The other is a Ten-Wheeler.


Les

Old eyes, Les.

For those interested, here’s a YouTube video of a walking tour of part of the railroad and tramway. It’s a long one but interesting to watch.

https://youtu.be/UyUUThoALKM

Richard -

I have that problem too. The 4-6-0 is interesting as it is the only surviving Indiana Harbor Belt steam locomotive. Built in 1897 for the Chicago, Hammond & Western, through mergers/consolidations she became IHB #109 in 1907, later #115, then IHB #15, before being sold in 1918. Long gone from Indiana!

Les

IHB 765 sits derelict in Gary, Indiana.

Rick -

Mikado #765 in Gary, Indiana is an Elgin, Joliet & Eastern locomotive. Also did some time working for the Duluth, Missabe & Iron Range as their #1330. Never an IHB engine. Maybe the folks in Gary might one day consider donating her to one of the Indiana railroad museums where she could be properly cared for.

Les

I think the 2-8-0 is former New York Central 5780

If I recall my hearsay, the engines were in an engine house that was burned by the forest service to prevent someone else from randomly burning it down and starting a forest fire.

That whole place is very intriguing. I would like to see it sometime.

Kelly: The area was being cleaned up by Inland Fish and Game. The locomotives were under a soggy, collapsing shed. Part of the clean up was to remove debris and potential fuel for a rampaging fire. A younger or newer Forester got a bit carried away, and torched the shed. The only real casualty of that fire was the remains of a wooden cab. For years afterward, the locomotives were inhabited by porcupines and raccoons. The ties rotted out and the locomotives began to roll over.
A very dedicated group of railfans used snowmobiles and other vehicles to lug buckets of ballast and replacement ties to the site. They jacked up the engines and built new track under them! That's railroad preservation worthy of the Strasburg, in my opinion.
I've yet to see them myself.

By the way, the locomotives were dragged across the ice back in the early 20th century, in pieces, then reassembled.

I believe both came via NYC Lines.

Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad was not a Subsidiary of NYC??

Unfortunately they are now too accessible and have become a selfie magnet and place to scratch or paint your name.


EL&WB No. 1
June 1897
Chicago Hammond & Western No. 110 (c/n 4553) built by the Schenectady Locomotive Works , Schenectady, NY.

April 1898:
Chicago Junction No. 116

1911:
Indiana Harbor Belt No. 16 (class F-53)

1912:
No. 8 Potato Creek Railroad, Keating Summit, PA.

1923:
No. 63 Grasse River Railroad Conifer, NY.

1927:
Sold by the General Equipment Company, New York, NY. to the Madawaska Co. (Lacroix).

Here is the plate No. 1 had been carrying since its time on the Potato Creek. Note that the '3' was stamped backwards. The flag holders are marked NYC&H R R




EL&WB No. 2:
December 1901:
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern No. 780 (c/n 4062) built by the Brooks Locomotive Works , Dunkirk, NY.

1914:
New York Central 5780 (class G-43a)

January 31, 1928:
Ferguson & Allen, Batavia, NY.

March 1928:
Purchased by the Madawaska Co. (Lacroix) and moved to Tramway


Here is a view inside the shed before it was burned by the State of Maine who at the time seemed to have a fetish with starting fires and destroying historic structures.









In their burning mode they also torched the pulp cars

Li’l bit o’ info: CH&W and CJ were predecessors of IHB. NYC was the majority owner of IHB.

I was only marginally amused until I noted the tilted cylinders on the Brooks NYC 2-8-0, and recognized that as a relatively common class in this region, with no survivors that I knew of.

The wildly tilted piston valve cylinders with the inside valve gear (presumed Stevenson) seemed to be a rather unique design to Brooks and NYC.

I have a shot of one of those classes going down the street trackage about a block away from my house.

G43d instead of G43a, but just further north on that DAV&P at it's birthplace in Dunkirk, NY.
https://nycshs.omeka.net/items/show/160304

C&NW had quite a few slanted cylinder engines as well, with examples in their D-class Atlantics (One 'surviving' in St. Louis) and many of their 10-wheelers. All these examples, the 1015, 1385, and 444 were Schenectady products. Virginia #4 at VMT also has slanted cylinders, and was a Baldwin product- so this style was more widespread than one might think. All the surviving engines with slanted cylinders I've seen were built around 1900~1910. I'd guess the design at least in part fell out of favor because of difficulty accessing the piston valves.