Trolley Museum Gets $10K to Restore Freight House

(SOURCE:  The Recorder) 

By DIANE BRONCACCIO
Recorder Staff

Thursday, January 29, 2015
(Published in print: Friday, January 30, 2015) 

 

SHELBURNE FALLS — Ever since the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum bought the historic Shelburne Falls Freight House in 2004, the old building has been a work-in-progress. But now, thanks to a $10,000 grant, volunteers will be able to finish restoration of the building’s exterior, says Trolley Museum President Sam Bartlett.

Volunteers have already restored and painted two sides of the Freight House, but the H. Albert Webb Award will pay for materials and labor to complete the building’s exterior siding, trim, slate roof and windows. Also, a modern overhead garage door will be replaced with a more historically accurate wooden sliding door.

The museum’s long-range goal is also to restore part of the interior and eventually to move its Visitor Center into the Freight House. 

“We’re delighted to have been selected as this year’s award recipient, said Bartlett. “Improving the outward appearance of this rare building will help to preserve the building, make our (rail) yard more attractive to visitors, and make it look more like it did 100 years ago.”

The Freight House was built around 1867, when the Troy and Greenfield Railroad arrived in Shelburne Falls. Control of the railroad yard passed to the Fitchburg Railroad, then the Boston & Maine Railroad and finally to the Guilford rail system, now known as Pan Am Railways. When owned by the railroads, the Freight House was used for handling less-than-carload (LCL) freight for neighboring towns. 

It also handled freight transfers to the Shelburne Falls and Colrain Street Railway. In 1910, while a new depot was being built, the Freight House temporarily served as a passenger depot for Shelburne Falls riders.

The building was bought in 1963 by Blassberg Trucking, which had taken over the freight business of the Shelburne Falls and Colain Street Railway. Blassberg used it as a warehouse and as a shipping facility for the mills in Colrain.

The award was given to the Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum by Leigh A. Webb and Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts President David Brown at the Amherst Railway Society Hobby Show this month.

The Trolley Museum bought the rail yard and all its buildings 11 years ago. Today, the yard is used for the museum’s demonstration trolley car rides, and the Visitors Center is housed in an adjacent former grain store. Also a new two-bay car barn is under construction, paid for by donations. When finished, it will house the current Trolley Car No. 10, which once ferried freight and passengers over what is now the Bridge of Flowers, and a new acquisition — an unrestored trolley car to be housed and restored at the Trolley Museum as soon as it can be moved into the barn.

The museum is now closed for the winter, but it reopens in late May.

Bedford MA B&M Depot Work Continues

The Boston & Maine station at Bedford MA has seen many alterations to its appearance through the years.  Currently, work is being done to return it to something much closer to the original design, while still being a usable rental space.  These photos were taken on August 24, 2014.  You can see where non-original windows have been removed and are being replaced with more period-correct ones.  All around the building are clues to the past...

More information can be found at the Friends of Bedford Depot Park website.

Front of station

Rear of station

Brick foundation as viewed from right side

Ghosts of past trim...

Maine Two-foot Steamer on Track to Restoration

(SOURCE:  Trains.com Newswire)

PORTLAND, Maine. – One of Maine's best known two-foot gauge steam locomotives, Bridgton & Saco River 2-4-4T No. 7, is on track to being under steam within the next year and a half. The engine is currently under restoration at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum in Portland.

The nonprofit group has been working on the locomotive since 2008, but suffered a major setback in 2010 when a fire destroyed the museum's engine house. No. 7 was inside the structure at the time and the cab and tender tank were completely destroyed. According to museum Steam Program Manager Jay Monty, those two pieces have been a major part of the restoration, but volunteers have also been focusing on a complete rebuild of the locomotive's boiler. That part of the project is being completed at the Boothbay Railway Museum and should be completed this summer.

No. 7 was built in 1913 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and ran on the B&SR, and later the Bridgton & Harrison, until 1941 when the railroad was scrapped. At the time, the B&H was the state's last two-foot gauge railroad. Later that year, No. 7 and sister engine No. 8 were purchased by Ellis D. Atwood, a Massachusetts businessman who set up his own two-foot gauge railroad around his cranberry bogs in South Carver, Mass. The Edaville Railroad ran as a tourist attraction until 1992 when the entire collection (which included four original Maine two-foot gauge steam locomotives and dozens of freight and passenger cars) was returned to Maine and set up as a museum on the Portland waterfront. No. 7 remained in Massachusetts for nearly a decade and finally returned to Maine in 2002, where it ran under steam for a year before being sidelined. In 2008, the group began another full restoration of the engine.

The Edaville built the locomotive’s current boiler in 1959 and during this most recent restoration, volunteers repaired the shell and installed a new firebox, dry pipe, flues, and stay bolts. Last week, Monty estimated the boiler would return to Portland in mid-summer. Meanwhile, the new tender tank is about 95 percent complete and ready for the final mounting on the frame.

In the past year, the museum has raised more than $40,000 for the project, however the group still needs another $10,000 to cover the re-assembly of the locomotive. Anyone interested in helping should visit www.mainenarrowgauge.org/winter-fundraising-campaign.

When No. 7 is restored to steam in 12-18 months, it will be the museum's only operating steam locomotive. On March 29, former Monson Railroad No. 4, a 4-4-0T, made its last run before being sidelined due to the expiration of the engine's Federal Railroad Administration certificate. The event included photo runs and a night photo session.

VIDEO: The Last Train to Bedford MA (1998)

The Friends of Bedford Depot Park have uploaded a video showing the moving of their ex- Boston & Maine RDC, #6211, which has been cosmetically restored and now sits next to the freight house.  The video shows the RDC at the (then) Guilford shops at North Billerica MA, being made ready for the drive to Bedford, the drive itself, and then its arrival at the old yard at Bedford.

Since the video was shot, the whole depot area has been upgraded.  I only wish the yard was still there...