...and I swear, it's in a quarry!

Old timer told me a great story at "Touch A Train" this weekend,and it was confirmed by another individual. The Lime Kiln Railroad of Rockland had several pits from which the quarrying was done. The stone was carried by rail to to multiple kilns , cooked, and made ready for loading on small coasting schooners, and on to wherever. After the industry was played out, a Baldwin 0-6-0 of standard gauge was shunted to the edge of one of three quarries and simply disposed of, with the help of Sir Isaac Newton. The quarry was flooding with spring water and the locomotive went to the bottom, either upside down or on its side. For many decades since, the quarry was used by locals as a dump for trash, and anything that required disposal. I think it's fair to say, whether in the locomotive still remains intact or not, it's probably under a tens of feet of old couches, moose and deer bones, and perhaps the lost automobile or two.

I have not yet found documentation, but I'm told the story is recorded and part of the historic record. And no, I'm not leading a charge to go looking for it!

Richard, that's totally fine. You can sit on the boat while I take the scuba gear down to confirm/deny the existence of this 0-6-0. So, there are two questions to this.
1) Who was the original owner of that Baldwin
2) Who can teach me how to use scuba gear?

I wonder if these "lost locomotive" stories did not arise thanks to the demise of steam engines? Whatever the origin, these stories sure are nifty.

You 2 can man the boat. I'm a certified S.C.U.B.A. diver who enjoys exploring and finding trains. The lobsters are safe from me. One of the certifiable members of my club can be my dive buddy.
Pity that we didn't know this 4 years ago. Editor Emeritus Jim Boyd could have brought his commercial diving gear.

I think this would be like diving in very cold, vegetable soup.

I have to agree, these long ago tossed off locomotive stories rock. Ever notice, there's something about human psychology that gets us fired up about finding a drowned, buried wreck, when so many accessible locomotives are staring us down each and every day?

I'm leaving this to Dylan and the younger generation.

I was assured by a senior lady old enough to have been present that a steam locomotive fell in the Missouri River off the MIlw's least known of its four floating bridges back in the day. I checked and sure enough one did. Pulling seven cars of ballast from the Oacoma, SD gravel pit, a 4-6-0 derailed and went over the side of the 300' by 40' scow (I think that is correct marine terminology), locally referred to as a pontoon. The engineer went in the drink, grabbed a timber and floated to shore. The locomotive didn't. The fireman didn't get wet having stepped off onto the track deck when it was prudent. All of this was reported in the local Chamberlain paper.
Alas, the locomotive isn't still there. A photo at the Chamberlain displayed in the courthouse shows the locomotive sans lead truck and tender on rails on dry land.
However... the woman who told this story said there were two locomotives!
Alex Huff

Does that leave "a locomotive and a huff" in the river?

I wonder how deep the locomotive would be in the quarry. Divers are usually ready and willing to go and check out these stories, but the search is often thwarted by limited visibility or a muck bottom that renders the alleged locomotive buried. I would think a quarry would offer decent visibility and a hard bottom.

Hello Richard,

Glad the "Touch A Train" event went well.

The rumor I heard concerning the Rockport Lime railroad was that one of the 3 foot gauge locomotives had been left in a shed which in turn was buried by a mountain of waste rock.

Anyway, I know the line into the Rockport Kilns was 3 foot gauge and that others were standard with some run under electric as part of the Rockland, Thomaston & Camden street railway.

A number of years ago I created a set of drawings of this rustic little electric beast. Apparently when not used for clearing the line during the winter months it was used to move lime rock from the quarries.





A good book to have on the subject Maine's Lime industry is:
Quarry to Kiln by Roger Grindle (1977, Courier-Gazette, Inc.)

Best regards,

Terry Harper

These quarries have accumulated an awful amount of unpleasant things in the past 9 decades. You are apt to find missing motor vehicles, machinery, cables, plastic bags filled with household refuse, moose and deer carcasses, worn out tires, anything that couldn't go elsewhere without incurring disposal fees. You can't be too careful in these places. Before I went looking, I'd want it pumped clear and use power equipment to dig it out. The hazard and reward don't necessarily balance out in a location like this.

That being said, of course I'm curious!!!

Not that I have experience it but for years it was common knowledge that if you wanted to get rid of a car and claim it stolen you took a drive to Rockland.....