Pictures from the Wiscasset Waterville and Farmington Railway museum's spring work weekend. Two track crews were at work during the weekend. One crew ballasted, line and tamped tracks laid in the North Yard last fall. The other track crew extended the mainline 600 feet down the to the first missing culvert and washout on the grade down the mountain. Volunteers also started work on reassembling the frame of Bridgton and Saco River boxcar 67. A major rearrangement of shop machinery and space has been underway in the shop and this effort continued during the weekend. We also received 169 tons of 60 pound rail and joint bars over the last two weeks. Track 7 in the lower yard was also shortened to make way for turntable construction scheduled to start this month. Track 7 will be shifted over to become the new turntable lead.

Laying track down the mountain.



















































Ballasting, lining and tamping in the North Yard.











No. 9's old boiler was removed from flatcar 126 and placed in a cradle on a spare truck.







The big lathe in the original end of bay 2 was moved up onto the concrete in the shop extension. The lathe move provides more space in bay 2 for car construction and rebuilds. The wood pattern makers lathe was moved down to the metal lathes old spot.



Work on B&SR boxcar 67.























Lifting track 7 the easy way.



The center of the turntable is the orange cone all the way to the left. The future roundhouse will be be behind the forklift where the snowplows and coal pile are.





Unloading rail.









Joint bars

Wow quite impressive!! Looking forward to joining you all at a work weekend sometime!

I love seeing progress photos from the WW&F. I have admired their work for years, and I look forward to visiting while I'm in the area for the National Narrow Gauge Convention this summer.

I'm sure this has been asked and answered, but I notice the ties appear to be untreated, at least without creosote. How come?

-otto-

We are using recycled guard rail posts for ties. The posts are pressure treated for ground contact. The wood post are being swapped out for metal posts and we buy the wood posts from the contractor.

Very impressive work from the WW&F. I recall seeing similar photos just last year building to their current terminus.

How far does the group plan to ultimately extend the tracks to?

We just purchased 1.5 track miles of rail. That should bring us to the logical extent of the railroad (about 4 miles total) over the next 5-10 years. Of course, like any other preservation effort, we move at the speed of money. Anyone who would like to help us should check out our 21 Campaign.

The Strasburg of the northeast. The volunteer and work ethic of these men and women is second to none.