Some sad BAR News

[sandpvrr]

Hello All,
Today I was informed that some pieces of BAR history are no more.
Two of the BAR Troop Sleeper cabooses along with another caboose and some other BAR cars and rolling stock have been scrapped. These are the pieces I can confirm were scrapped.
These were the pieces that were located outside Brownville Junction in a field, on the right if you were heading North, towards the Junction from Milo.
Judging by the last Captive Caboose listing I have from Mr. Kirkpatrick, (apologies if I misspelled that) Their might have been as many as 7 cabooses in that field, along with other pieces. As far as I know, all pieces in that field have been cut up.
The three cabooses that I can confirm are gone were the ones slated to go the Belfast and Moosehead Lake railroad, apparently, that deal fell through.
I now regret not going and photographing those pieces, I have been by there many times, without going in.
If anyone has photos of those pieces they could provide to me, I would appreciate it.
--Joey Kelley

[sandpvrr]

Hello Again All,
I apologize, but the report I recieved on this matter was not entirely accurate.
The cars are, by all accounts, still slated for scrapping, however, as of last Sunday, they all did still exist.
That is as much as I know, I will try to keep everyone informed!
cya, Joey

[sandpvrr]

Hello All,
I have recieved word that the cabooses, and I assume the other pieces also located at that same site, have been cut up.
A week after I confirmed that all pieces were still in one piece, a good friend went to Brownville Jct, and informed me that many of the pieces were already in the process of being cut up.
I recieved information last weekend that they have all been cut up.
This is a sad state of affairs, as these are the last troop sleeper cabooses that I know to exist.
If anyone knows of one, please contact me.
Thanks!
cya, Joey

[BAR]

Joey,

Thanks for the updates on the MM&A.

Two troop sleeper cabooses still exist and are on public display in northern Maine. One is in Frenchville where it is used as a town museum and the other is in St. Francis in a town park. The one in Frenchville is adjacent to the MM&A tracks and next to a steam era BAR water tank. The BAR tracks in St. Francis are long gone. Anyone know of any others? They certainly were an interesting caboose variation and unique to the BAR. Concrete floors were installed in some of them to improve their ride and tracking.

Bill O'Connell
Williamsburg, VA

[BARModlr]

OK, I can personally vouch for the existence of 3 of the troop sleeper cabooses. As of Sat, July 3rd, there is the one located south of Greenville, C-91. The other 2 are in the field in brownville that Joey spoke of. These are C-97, and C-98. Also in this field, there is one that was converted from a boxcar. Again, this is current as of the 3rd.

[BARModlr]

A question for you guys. Can someone tell me what the numbers are/were on the 2 cabooses up north? The ones in Frenchville, and St Francis? Also, maybe a pic or 2 of each would be appreciated, thanks.

[BAR]

The troop sleeper caboose on display in Frenchville is C-87. I don't have the number of the one in St. Francis.

[AmtrakFan]

OK, I can personally vouch for the existence of 3 of the troop sleeper cabooses. As of Sat, July 3rd, there is the one located south of Greenville, C-91. The other 2 are in the field in brownville that Joey spoke of. These are C-97, and C-98. Also in this field, there is one that was converted from a boxcar. Again, this is current as of the 3rd.

At least their are a few left but It's sad they had to Scrap them are they owned by MMA?

AmtrakFan

[sandpvrr]

Hello All,
There appears to have been some confusion on this - perhaps I wasn't clear about what was scrapped - where - when.
Two major scrapping operations went on in the General Derby Shops area at the same time - privately owned BAR rolling stock outside Brownville Jct, located in a gravel pit, which included a few troop sleeper cabooses, along with some other MoW cars.
The other scrapping activities going on were within Derby Shops - the MM&A decided to clean up the storage tracks, by scrapping some of the equipment that had been there since the Iron Road days, and some prior to that. I assume they scrapped the least servicable pieces, but frankly, Derby still looked full the last time I was by there.
Hope this helps - and makes things a little clearer!
cya, Joey

[BARModlr]

Per my request of Jul 9, I have found out one number on one of the cabooses 'up nawth', Thanks to BAR for C-87, the one in Frenchville. I still need to find out what number the one in St Francis is. I have also found out that there is possibly one in Easton, on Rt 10 I believe, next to an antique shop(?). Would like to get the number of this on also, if possible.

[BARModlr]

Hi all, Here's another request. Can someone, or more than one someone tell me of a place/website, where I might find some info on some of the other bay-window cabooses BAR had? These ones aren't the troop sleepers, but some of the other ones used on some of the locals. Specifically, what I need to find out are the major dimensions of the series in which C-68 was a part of. This one is a particular favorite of mine, as I used to see it just about every day on the Houlton local back in the early 80's. I might even take a shot at scratchbuilding it, but need as much info as I can get, as I only have one pic of it.