gokeefe wrote:bmcdr wrote:MEC combine 501 was never part of the Steamtown collection, nor was it ever on loan to Steamtown.
Thank You for the clarification!
Was the car was sold directly by the MEC to the Otter River Railroad?
This thread has been listless for a while, but has fascinated me as I am interested in the history of MEC passenger cars. Re the question posed above, according to Ron Johnson, editing the marvelous book on the MEC Mountain Division, published by the 470 railroad club, on page 200 of that book he states that #501 was obtained (from MEC I presume) and was used for some years as the place where the 470 club had their meetings. That must have been quite interesting to say the least. He goes on to state that when the club outgrew the seating capacity of #501 the car was sold to the Henry Ford Museum, in Dearborn, MI, in 1984, for use on their railroad. But I have seen a photograph of it on the Otter Valley RR in 1979 so something is wrong with all of that.
I lived in Bartlett, NH several years ago and got deeply interested in the Beecher Falls Mixed trains which ran for a number of years. Wooden combines, #501 being one of them, ran in those trains until they stopped. I am trying to solve the mystery of what combines were used where. The book by the 470 club has pictures of #501 and #502 that are identified and you can see the numbers clearly. There are numerous other pics of wooden combines, in that service, but one cannot distinguish the numbers. According to the roster of MEC passenger equipment that I have, wood combines #501 through #510 were built by Laconia in 1910. I have seen others state that Laconia built #501-#506. But now for the mystery of these cars. I have good pictures of #501 and #502. Both of these cars have 13 windows in each side of the passenger compartment. There are numerous other pics in the Mtn Division book that show wood combines.......that have only 8 windows in the passenger compartment. But no numbers can be discerned in any of the other photos that I have seen.
I am trying to find out, anyway I can, just which of these Laconia built cars were used on the Beecher Falls Branch, and what their numbers were, and where did they go. I am trying to model mixed train operations in that area and want to be historically accurate as I can be.
In the Maine Central Photo Album by Edwin Robertson, on page 12, is a picture of combine #506 that was obviously one of those old combines. That was used for many years on the Pittsfield-Harmony line. It also has 13 windows in the passenger compartment, just like #501 and #502.
In the Liljestrand and Sweetser book it gives a different roster of MEC passenger cars. It shows #501,502 and 503 as being built by Laconia in 1910. It shows #504 and 507 being built by Pullman in 1905. It shows #505, 506 and 508 being built by Pullman in 1905 also. Then it shows #509 and 510 being built by Laconia in 1909! There are some discrepancies from one roster to another for sure.
I am really intrigued by the mystery of these cars, which ones have the 8 windows, instead of 13, which ones were used where over the history of that mixed train operation. I came to know some guys in Bartlett with MEC background and some of them said that one of the combines hung around Bartlett as a storage car, after regulara use was stopped, but nobody remembered the number.
Can you, or anyone else point me to other places where there may be identifiable photos of any of these cars, or any written history of any of the cars? i don't want to give this up until I figure out what cars were used where, and maybe where they went later on.
Gil Ford took a lot of photos along the Beecher Falls branch, I don't know if he ever saw any of the cars or not. I wonder if he is still around and could be contacted, or anyone else with info on that era in that area.
SRM