Engine House Fire on March 27, 2010
At about 4 a.m. on Saturday, March 27, 2010, the Portland Fire Department responded to a fire at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum. The origin of the fire is being investigated and the authorities are not speculating as to causation.
The fire involved the east end (railroad west) of the engine house and about 1/3 of the structure was destroyed. This is a temporary A-frame structure of wood frames covered with 4x8 sheets of sheathing (OSB and Luan) and plastic. Many of the roofing panels of this building had blown off in a storm at the end of February. Following that storm, power to the building was shut off.
Repair materials were on hand and people came in Saturday the 27th to work on the roof only to find there was additional damage caused by the fire. Volunteers removed damaged panels from the roof and installed new sheets where the frames had not been consumed or damaged by the fire. The plastic sheeting which blew off during the storm was pulled back over the building and secured. The plastic over the engines inside the building was repositioned to cover the one engine that was not under the newly repaired roof.
The fire also damaged Bridgton and Saco River Engine 7 (Baldwin Locomotive Works, 1913). A preliminary survey of the damage to No. 7 indicates restoration of the locomotive may be delayed by as much as a year. Fortunately, many of the components of the engine, including the boiler, had been previously removed. Until this fire, we were planning on No. 7 being back in operation by November, 2010.
The engine house also contained various tools which were destroyed by the fire. This includes a bench grinder, parts washer, chop saw, etc. The 15 foot long steel brush used to clean the boiler tubes was bent by the heat of the fire. A complete inventory of the damage is underway.
Bridgton and Saco River box car 62 which was built in 1905 was also involved in this fire. The side of the car was badly scorched and the door burned. Volunteers secured the opening where the door had burned. This is our track tool car and there appeared to be little damage to the contents.
There was also minor fire damage to Combination Car 15 which was on a track next to the engine house. A 6 inch area of the fiberglass roof was burned through exposing the fiber material. This car was built in 1890 for the Phillips and Rangeley Railroad by Billmeyer and Small of York, Pennsylvania. Car 15 had been completely rebuilt in 2009 and used as our first class car for Polar Express.
The good news is that we if had to have a fire, today was a good day to have one. We had materials on hand, and volunteers scheduled to come in to repair the building 4 hours after the fire occurred. These materials and people were put to immediate use repairing what could be repaired, removing parts, and covering our priceless locomotives to protect them from the weather. But for this prior planning, we would have been unable to fully protect our locomotives today.
A total of 22 volunteers showed up today, including six board members.
On Sunday, March 28, two volunteers screwed battens to the roof every 4 to 8 feet to hold down the plastic.
|