A friend of mine was offered this velocipede by the Maine Central, years before Guilford corruptted the company. It was going to the dump, and he was asked to cart it away. It is still usable today. It was displayed on his lawn for a railroad gathering this weekend. The unit is well maintained and occassionally is used on a portion of the soon to be ripped up ex-MEC Calais branch.

The frame and members are made of oak, with steel castings. The workmanship is beautiful, but I could find no manufacturers plate or information on it. This is NOT the original paint.

We have a vintage 1912 powered 'inspection car' under restoration at IRM. Those wood center wheels must have been a common design or readily available at the year 1900 version of Home Depot. I have seen the same design on several different manufacturer's products. Ours has 20 inch diameter under the body side and 14 inch under the outrigger side.

It has a one cylinder gasoline motor (VERY PRIMITIVE) which can be push started to move the vehicle in either direction. I guess if only one man was present you would have to push start it and quickly jump on lest it chug away without you only to be found several miles later when it ran out of gas.

Bob Kutella

Do you mean the Sears, Roebuck & Co. catalog? The founders were railroad men.