Pictures of these two engines, still abandoned in the north woods of Maine:

The 4-6-0 in operation:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Eagle-Lake-West-Bra ... dZViewItem

Before the shed was burned by the forest service, exposing them to the elements and greatly accellerating their deterioration:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Madawaska-Co-EL-WBR ... otohosting

on Webshots of "moving in"... and other things of interest

http://news.webshots.com/album/87490988zpckXX

The LB Walker on the back of one of the photos stands for Laurence Breed Walker, founder of the Walker Transportation Collection. He would trade locomotive, street car, logging RR and maritime photos like they were baseball cards from the 1920's until his passing in 1969. Very interesting.

Has anyone been up to see the two locmotives? I know that there was a group that went in there several years ago to stablize the locomotives as one of them was in danger of actually tipping over due to settling of the roadbed. I know that, depending on how you view it, it is easier to canoe in as the the locomotives are located near the lake. I have heard that you can drive there and then hike about a mile or two on the ROW. Anyone try that?

If you have heavy duty, off-road vehicles, and can walk in the last mile or so, I'm told you can drive in. In a few months, the bugs will be the thing that governs you stay! There was a small group of very dedicated volunteers who went in over the past few summers and stabilized the two locomotives by jacking them up and placeing timbers under them. I believe they are sitting upright on rail because of their efforts. I live within 100 miles of Eagle Lake, but have never attempted to go in and see the two steamers.

A bunch of has have talked awhile of making a pilgrimage to see those two locomotives, but the logistics have been something to figure out. Two of us have Jeeps, a Cherokee and a Liberty. Both are stock and from what I have been told they should do the trick, but you have to time it right as you don't want to go when black fly season is in full bloom.

One of our Walker members visited the two locomotives back in the mid-1970's, but he hiked and canoed in there. He was not aware of the drive into there. He took many picutres, which we have at the Walker Transportation Collection. In fact we have a lot of photos showing a good portion of the Eagle Lake & West Branch operations.

There was a rumor that one of the locomotives was an ex-Rutland locomotive, but it really came from the New York Central, which, at one time had ownership of the Rutland.

Thank you for the info.

Dave

One of the locomotives is an ex-NYC engine. I was told that one is ex-Rutland. When you think about it, such as they are, the locomotives are priceless as heritage pieces. However, the ice no longer gets thick enough to sled the hulks over the lake in winter; and the state would NEVER consider allowing the locomotives out of the state. The locomotives are a major calling card for Aroostook County, and they appear in all kinds of tourism literature every year. IIRC, one of the major tasks was shoveling out all the porcupine doos from the smokeboxes and fireboxes!

Regarding insects; get yourself some "Ben's 100", marinate in it, stop at L.L. Bean on the trip north and get head netting. Wear long sleeve shirts and trousers. The bugs aren't too bad when the wind is blowing, but God help your exposed hide when it goes flat calm.

Hello Folks,

Hopefully those E-Bay pictures are not bootleg pictures. Copies are readily available through the Walker Transportation Museum for a modest fee which helps support the collection.

As for getting to the locomotives:

Any 4x4 will do fine. The roads are not that bad. However, finiding the trail head can be a challenge. It is un-marked and does not appear on the maps. Its approx. a 2 mile hike one way. However blow-downs can make it interesting. Plan on spending the night either camping or in Millinocket and get a real early start. There is a lot to see! As for black fly season there are two choices: Go now. i.e. before mid June or wait until late August.

As for the preservation efforts:

The group is the Allagash Alliance Group The locomotives are now resting on a nice firm roadbed. Last year volunteers installed a replacement stack on No. 1 as well as steel covers to replace the missing smokebox doors. (Any leads on the recovery of these would be greatly appreciated - No questions asked)

In addition No. 1 is now sporting a new headlight courtesy of the Cole Transportation Museum. Wether the drunk ice fisherman left the headlight intact this winter is another question.

There is no Rutland connection with these locomotives. This is one of the many myths surrounding the railroad.

Another myth that persists strongly is that the EL&WB operated both locomotives at once. This is not true at all. Once No. 2 arrived in 1928 No. 1 was used as the back-up engine.

There was no passing track at Ellis Brook either. Just a construction camp and a short trestle. My interviews with former employees and people associated with the LaCroix's operations and also with the original survey maps and of course walking quite a bit of the line confirm this.

No. 1 (4-6-0) begain life on the Chicago Hammond & Western which became part of the Indian Harbor Belt (thus the NYC connection). It later served on the Potato Creek and the Grasse River before being purchased by LaCroix's Madawaska Company (AKA EL&WB) in 1927.

No. 2 (2-8-0) was constructed for the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern (780) It was later renumbered NYC 5780. I have a nice photo of the locomotive sitting in Collinwood, OH just months before it arrived on the EL&WB in early 1928 via Ferguson & Allen.

I posted those photos over on Webshots a number of years ago. Unfortunatly I cannot remember my login information to up-date them.
but I certainly appreciate the interest.

FYI

Checkout the up-coming July/August issue of the Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette. if all goes well there will be a good article on the EL&WB.

Best regards,

Terry Harper

In view of the fact that we may have displayed Mr. Harper's photos without his permission, we've removed them from www.steamlocomotive.info and extended our apologies to Mr. Harper.

Doug

WAIT!!!

Those are fine. In fact I am the one who submitted in the first place so feel free to use them.

Best regards,

Terry

Terry,

Thank you for the information. In fact you and I spoke over the phone a few years back about the EL&WB and visiting the site. As stated above, a bunch of us from the Walker Transportation Collection have been threating to make the pilgrimage.

I'm glad your group has been making an effort to stablize and restore what you can of the locomotives. My hat off to you guys.

As for the L.B. Walker photos on ebay, I'm sure that they were in someone else's Collection. Over the years we have had a number of photo Collections donated to us that would have L.B.'s photos in them. They have come back "home" after all these years and goes back to his trading and sharing these images with others. L.B.'s mission was to share his interest in this stuff, instead of hording the images.

L.B. was absolutely nuts about logging RR's and he had collected a lot of information, rosters and photos of just about every operation in northern New England. We were also honored to have received H. Ben Crouch's Collection of photos. He was also really heavy into New England logging RR's and this adds to the wealth of the subject.

Thanks again!

Dave

Ooops. Sorry. I do prefer to err on the side of caution. I'll put 'em back this morning.

Regards,
Doug