2 Steamers, abandoned in the Maine Woods

[Terry Harper]

Tom,

Yes a standard 4x4 will be just fine. In fact except for the last few miles you could (if careful) use a car.

Good point concerning the route to the west of Chamberlain. That how I went this last time. Just before you cross the bridge at the Telos Ranger station take a left past the parking lot towards Umbazooksus. Just before you get to Umbazooksus Dam the road will split. Bear right. If you come to the dam or the road to Umbazooksus East Campsite you have gone too far. Umbazooksus East campsite was the terminal on Chesuncook. The road follows part of the old roadbed and some of the cribwork etc. that supported the wharf and building still remain.

As you head north west you will in fact cross the EL&WB right-of-way. (N46-11.694', W069-23.227') Its easiest to spot where it comes in on the left. However, it does intersect at a slight angle and can be hard to spot. If you feel like taking a hike head west down the right-of-way to Umbazooksus - its about 3200 ft. from the road.(wear your boots and pack some real strong bug spray!)

Driving north a short distance after crossing Allagash Stream you will come to an intersection with a road coming in from the right and the main road making a very tight bend to the left. Turn right. This is a less traveled road with grass etc. Take the first right and you will be at the boulders.

From what we could tell they are getting ready to harvest this area. Whether or not they will provide a protective corridor for the trail I do not know. If they don't, the trail will most likely be obliterated and you will have to free-lance it through the cutting area.

[oibu]

Hi Terry,

just was lookinhg at your articl ein NG&SLG and noticed mention of the two Plymouths still existing in a private collection. With all due respect to whomeever the owner(s) may be, would you be abel to elaborate at all on the ownership, location, and/or accessibility?

[Terry Harper]

Yes,

Both Plymouths were purchased new - one by Great Northern Paper (GNP) the other by The Madawaska Co. (Ed Lacroix) Both were used during construction. Great Northern trucked thier Plymouth overland from Greenville on a trailer hauled by a Best tractor to Ripogenus Dam. Then it was floated on a barge up to Chesuncook Meadows. Lacroix moved his in from LacFrontier via Lombard Log Hauler.

Following completion of the railroad one (GNP's) was used at Umbazooksus and on the Five Mile stretch. The other - lettered for the Madawaska Co. was used at Tramway. After the railroad shutdown in Spetember of 1933 both Plymouths were removed. I know one went out via Greenville - Iam not sure of the other one.

Both ended-up with Great Northern Paper. I have a photo of one serving a GNP log dump on the BAR at Sheridan, ME. as late as the 1960's. Both were purchased by a gentleman in Southern Maine who collected quite a bit of logging equipment etc. and are in secure storage. He passed away a few years ago and the family still retains ownership. They are not accessable at this time and out of respect for them I am not comfortable providing contact info.

Best regards,

Terry

[Terry Harper]

And another photo

[bubbytrains]

Reading this thread, I suddenly realized it may be clearing up a long-standing mystery for me! I once saw an old small industrial engine in someones possession once. Looking closely at it for a clue to its history, all I could find was what I thought was lettering on one side of the cab that said Great Northern or GN (I don't recall exactly). At the time I naturally thought of Great Northern Railway and was puzzled how the GN could have had such a small engine and how it ended up in Maine. Now I realize it might have been the engine you are writing about! The person did die a few years ago, the engine (and other goodies) have since been moved, and likely still belongs to the family and was a southern Maine location. I don't want to publically reveal the information you wish to keep secret, but I would like to know for my own satisfaction! Would it be too much to ask if I give you the individual's first or last initials for you to corroborate? Thanks!

-Alan S.
Lisbon, ME

[Terry Harper]

Hello Alan,

I believe this will solve your mystery: H.C. just a short ways from you.

Best regards,

Terry

[bubbytrains]

Hello Alan,

I believe this will solve your mystery: H.C. just a short ways from you.

Best regards,

Terry

That's it! Thanks Terry! Facinating! Now I wish I knew then what I know now. It would have given me a whole different perspective. Plus I would have taken some pictures. From '89 to '02 I lived a quarter mile from where that equipment was. (If I recall correctly, there was also some scrap rail nearby but I don't remember the size/weight. Maybe that was from there, too.) When it was all cleaned up I was worried it was all junked. Good to hear that it was preserved and kept in the family. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!
Best, Alan S.

[oibu]

Thank you Terry,

While it would be -awesome- to be able to see them, that obviously depends on the owners' preference. IF by any chance anyone does at some time find that the owners are comfortable sharing, perhaps perhaps it could be a happy compromise if anyone in the area who knows the owners would be able to get permission to take a coupel pics and post them publicly, so we can at least see what they look like now and better appreciate that tehy are still of this world? (Just an idea for a possible way to be able to share without compromising the familiy's privacy or any security concerns they may have). I never would have guessed for a moment that they still existed, that is for sure!

Didn't GNP also have a centercab GE at Millinocket, and another at the dumper at South Twin (somewhere I think there may be a pic of a Plymouth a a dumper either at S. twin or somewhere else near Millinocket?) and also some sort of critter at Dolby/East Millinocket?

[oibu]

Also just an afterthought, does any knowledge or documentation exist as to the original paint colors on thew Plymouths? Assuming of course that whatever colors they may be now, may or may not be the colors they wore as-delivered or in EL&WB service. I would guess based on the time, basic steam loco style black with white or perhaps yellow lettering as most early internal combustion units were not very colorful. Later photos indicate that at least one of them had turned a much lighter shade IIRC, unless the log-dumper Plymouth picture I'm thinking of was of another GN unit not associated with the EL&WB.

[Terry Harper]

Alan,

A good friend of mine saw them a couple of years ago. I will have to ask him about the color. In fact, from what I understand even that pile of old rail which was salvaged from the EL&WB back in the early 1970's is now back in use here in Maine on the WW&F while some of the other equipment has become prized peices of another private collection.

Not sure of the original color - I believe they were a shade of Green with white lettering. I beleive Ed Robichaud (former Lacroix employee - deceased) stated that in one of his letters. I will have to go back and check.

I do know Lacroix's crew got a bit fancy with the 2-8-0. I have one photo that shows it gleaming bright with white tires and white trim on the running boards. - Always thought that looked out of place on an isolated logging railroad. But then again any ex-LS&MS/NYC steamer would look out of place in that setting no-matter what!

One interesting tidbit as related by Ed Robichaud:
One spring the new clerk at Tramway decided to get the Plymouth out from Winter storage. It was usually stored in the shed just in front of No. 2. As usual the battery was dead so they hitched a team of horses to it and towed it up towards the cut - the idea being to jump start it as it came down the grade. (his idea) Anyway, they cut it loose and she started rolling quite smartly along as he franticly struggled to get it in gear. After a lot of grinding and nashing and other horrible sounds he gave-up and made for the hand brake. (there being no air the air brake wasn't working) As he struggled to wind-up the slack he realized they were going to hit the engine shed, he jumped and landed in a heap while the Plymouth punched in the engine shed doors.

The photo I have of the Plymouth at the GNP dumper is a much lighter color - Yellow perhaps?

[luong]

I visited the site this fall. Here are images of the locomotives. I've also written a short a short account of my visit to the locomotives. I've provided GPS coordinates for the locomotives themselves, which for some reason Terry omitted.

Thanks Terry for the directions. When I was in Greenville and Millinocket, nobody knew precisely where the locomotives are. Terry pointed me into the right direction, although I did not follow them exactly.

I think two of the GPS coordinates that Terry provided have been switched. After reading Terry's account, I went back to Millinocket to buy rubber boots, which in retrospect were not necessary (this caused me to start a bit late). I didn't find the trail to be very wet, although I was there during a rainy week. Also, I did not have any problems to drive the grassy road even with a car.

[highrail]

Outstanding! Thanks for posting.

[caduceus]

Wow, far better that I would have expected. It seems like it is in a well maintained clearing, not far in the middle of nowhere...

[3rdrail]

Is somebody doing a little maintaining on the girls ? One of them looks like it has a new smoke stack.

[Terry Harper]

Luong,

Excellent. Glad you made it. When I was there we had steady rain for quite number of days. You hit it right! Sorry about the mixed-up Coord! The small saddle tank boiler is from a Lombard Log Hauler. Just down the track towards the locomotives is part of the frame, pistons etc. It was one of four Lombards used by the Eastern Manufacturing Company from 1908 through 1913. After being abandoned on site in 1917-18 John Morrison swamped a winter road and salavaged three of the machines for use on his own operations. In 1926 Lacroix set the boiler up in a building and used it to generate steam to heat the oil for the steam locomotives so it could be pumped from the tank sleds (hauled in by Lombard) into the big trackside storage tanks. If you look closely along the track leading to the locomotives you can see the remains of the timbers these tanks rested on. You can also see the imprint where the water tank stood.

If you had turned right when you hit the tracks you would have come to the big cut. Hiking through the cut you would have come to the three-way stub switch and the other sidings filled with pulpcars.

A few years ago the Allagash Alliance Group (the group I worked with to put the new roadbed beneath the locomotives) fabricated and installed the new stack, headlight and smokebox door covers. The Waterway keeps the clearing trimmed.