Narcissus 1912 Renovation Project: April 2017

Friday, April 21, 2017

Narcissus Restoration Update - 4-21-2017

Laconia Car Company Works Builder Order #661 shows the order for the

Narcissus and its three family interurbans were created on April 24, 1912.

The Seashore Trolley Museum has ten accessioned vehicles on campus that were

built by Laconia. This writer and Donald Curry will be visiting the Laconia

Historical and Museum Society in mid-August and will be searching for

additional information on the Laconia vehicles in the Museum's collection.

Order page courtesy of the Laconia Historical and Museum Society

Had to recognize the 105th anniversary of the order being placed to build the Narcissus and its three sister interurbans before I gave the Narcissus Restoration Update :)

The Laconia Historical and Museum Society archives, in Laconia, NH, where some Laconia Car Company Works records reside. The LHMS has in its collection a list showing that in April 1912, the Laconia Car Company Works received the order to build four interurbans for the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad. This is the same month that the Titanic set sail on its maiden and final voyage, as well as the month that Red Sox rookie Ted Williams hit his first major league home run (April 23) out of the new home field, Fenway Park, which first opened on April 20th. The PGLRR became the Portland-Lewiston Interurban in 1914.

April 11, 2017, was just warm enough for Donald Curry,

lead restoration technician, to sand the mahogany clerestory

window openings on the left side of the interior of the

Narcissus. Left side? Yes. Left and right are determined when

facing the number one end. This image has us facing

the number two end, hence, Donald is working on the left

side of the Narcissus :) PWM

The sanded mahogany clerestory arched window openings on the

left side of the interior of the Narcissus. All twenty-four arches

failed, as seen here. Thankfully, most of the pieces of the broken arches

were split, but remained in place and could be glued back into place.

Those arches with missing, broken pieces had replacement mahogany

pieces made and glued into place. In this image, some of the

various wiring. There is a mixture of household wiring that

was added by Mr. Vallee when the Narcissus was the

Vallee family summer camp at Sabattus Pond/Lake. This

household wire will be removed. PWM

Seen here is one of the split mahogany arches of the

mahogany sash of the clerestory window opening. The

mahogany board below, with the brass screws, is the board

that covers the wiring. The "lines" seen in the

mahogany board are a series of inlaid Holly (white), then

Ebony (black), followed by another row of Holly (white).

This beautiful inlay is used throughout the interior of the

Narcissus. PWM

Donald Curry works on restoring the mahogany boards that cover

the wiring. The process is to carefully use denatured alcohol to

remove the old shellac coating without causing damage or swelling

inlay of Holly and Ebony. April 20, 2017, PWM

After the old shellac and/or varnish is removed, the boards are

wiped dry and then softly sanded smooth. And be careful of the

inlay of Holley and Ebony boards. Next, the first of three coats

of new shellac is applied. The holes are seen in the other mahogany

boards that were originally where the additional light bulb

sockets were to be. However, during the original build at Laconia,

a change was made to not have these additional lights after the

mahogany boards had their holes drilled for the sockets.

So, rather than waste the mahogany, each hole is covered with an

ornate circular mahogany "button". PWM

Mahogany boards with inlay of Holly and Ebony await their

turn at being restored. PWM

Some of the ornate circular mahogany "buttons" are still in

place on some of these boards from the Narcissus. PWM

One of the "buttons" - PWM

The exterior of the left side of the clerestory arched window openings

of the Narcissus is made from poplar, and they all experienced the

same sad fate as their interior mahogany counterparts, broken/missing

arched pieces. The right side has had all of its exterior poplar arches

repaired with vintage poplar. As the weather warms up, the left-side

pieces will all be repaired as well. PWM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We continue the restoration work on the 1912 Narcissus, the only surviving high-speed, luxury interurban coach of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban.

Click Here: Narcissus Restoration-Related Posts

Being more than a century old, the stately "Elegant Ride," Narcissus, is a gem. This shimmering precious stone of Maine transportation history is brilliantly resplendent as it emanates so many elements of history, including time, places, people, and events, that it was coupled to, that when just a smattering of its seemingly innumerable stories are shared, the contents captivate, fascinate, and then generate interest to learn more 🙋. The majestic Narcissus is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Please consider joining the epic journey to complete the Narcissus Project by making a donation today!

Click Here: Donation Options

The restoration of this majestic icon of Maine's electric railway history is but one in a series of captivating stories containing an abundance of incredible coalition narratives.

Click Here: History-Related Posts - Narcissus and Portland-Lewiston Interurban

The Narcissus is featured in the national Gold Award-winning novel, Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride. The "Elegant Ride" is the Narcissus. Theodore Roosevelt was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914, between Lewiston and Portland, Maine, while campaigning for the Progressive Party candidates.

Click Here: Bookstores and Businesses promoting the Narcissus Project

Independent book publisher Phil Morse, holding

Gold Book Award Winner plaque for

Middle Reader category for The Eric

Hoffer Book Award. Congratulations to

award-winning Maine author,

Jean M. Flahive

Sunday, April 16, 2017

September 1967 - Portland-Lewiston Interurban by O. R. Cummings - Maine's Fast Electric Railroad

This post is of photos taken of each page (92 pages including covers) from my personal copy of O. R. Cummings's original, September 1, 1967, book, Portland-Lewiston Interurban - Maine's Fast Electric Railroad. It was originally published as Bulletin No. 3, New England Electric Railway Historical Society, Inc. (NEERHS). The NEERHS is a 501 c 3 nonprofit educational organization located in Kennebunkport, Maine, that owns and operates the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine, and the National Streetcar Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts. Originally, when first published, O. R. shared the royalties from book sales with the Narcissus restoration fund. O. R. so wanted to see the Narcissus restored. Sadly, he passed away before being able to take that first exciting ride on the restored Narcissus. In a letter of support for grant applications to benefit the Narcissus, O.R. wrote in June 2010, "I rode the Interurban just once - in 1932 when I accompanied my mother to her 20-year reunion at Bates College. We traveled from Newburyport, Mass., to Portland by train and continued on to Lewiston over the PLI because of problems that day on the Maine Central. When I matriculated at Bates in 1940, the Interurban was gone, but the right-of-way was very much in evidence, and I was able to trace a lot of it as I traveled by auto between the Twin Cities and Portland. I am the author of two histories of the Interurban, and the third version is in the process of preparation."

This September 1967 book on the Portland-Lewiston Interurban is the second of a trilogy, written by O. R. Cummings. The 1967 book and the May 1956 book (available by CLICKING HERE) were obviously both published. Sadly, O. R. Cummings passed away in 2013. He left a significant portion of his electric railway collection to the Library of the New England Electric Railway Historical Society (NEERHS) in Kennebunkport, Maine. One of the files that O. R. left, the NEERHS Library, was a manuscript, with about fifty pages of text, that includes materials on the Portland-Lewiston Interurban. The manuscript is not titled, but Chapter One is labeled, "MAINE'S FAST ELECTRIC RAILROAD - 1905-1933

RAILROADS AND RAILWAYS - Rail travel between Portland and the Twin Cities became possible as early as December 4, 1848, when the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad, organized in 1845 to build from Forest City through Maine and northern New Hampshire and Vermont to the Canadian border, commenced operation between Portland and Danville Junction on the outskirts of Auburn, 27 1/2 miles." This third book, yet unpublished, clearly digs much deeper into the relationships between railroads and electric railways. What would be nice is if we could publish and then release this third book at about the same time Narcissus is released, a fully restored and operating interurban of the PLI :)

The Narcissus Project Blog was created in April 2015 to reach a large number of folks through social media to introduce them to Narcissus. The Narcissus is a luxury, high-speed, wooden electric interurban. The Narcissus was built in 1912 in Laconia, NH, and operated on the Portland-Lewiston Interurban in Maine between Portland and Lewiston from 1914 to 1933.

Theodore Roosevelt was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914. The blog posts appeal to folks with an interest in Theodore Roosevelt's connection to Maine, to folks generally interested in regional/local history, as well as those folks within the greater railway family. Hopefully, these posts will endear many of the readers to help support the Narcissus financially, as it undergoes a complete restoration over the next few years at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.

The final full paragraph on this page (37) is the story of Theodore Roosevelt as a passenger

on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914. A photo of a postcard on page 38 includes text that

states TR actually was a passenger Narcissus that day. This story is an

updated account published on page 20, under the title "Important Events" - in O. R. Cummings'

May 1956 book - "Portland-Lewiston Interurban" - A History of the Finest Electric

Interurban Railway to run in the state of Maine. The opening paragraph in that 1956 piece

speaks to August 18, 1914, the day that Theodore Roosevelt, after a hunting trip up in

Maine was a passenger on one of the interurbans, believed to have been the Arbutus.

This writer did additional research in 2010 and found two newspaper articles

about TR's visit to Maine in 1914. A local story mentions that TR specifically

boarded the Narcissus for his trip to Portland. It also mentions the Gray stop.

The New York Times story mentions that TR took the train from Boston

to Lewiston that day. There was no mention of a hunting trip in Maine

before TR rode the Narcissus from Lewiston to Portland. So, I'm not

sure where the hunting trip part of the initial story came from. Click Here to

read the post about TR's visits to Maine and see the two newspaper accounts from

his August 18, 1914, visit.

This drawing is a folded page within the binding that unfolds to show

the Arbutus. Some of the clerestory stained glass windows and mahogany

sash were made available for use in the Narcissus restoration.

Click Here: to see the post on the leaded stained glass used in the

Narcissus restoration.

The last image above of the "new" highway -

This stretch of New Gloucester-Danville road parallels the PLI and is

where many a race between autos and interurbans took place.

Click Here: Clyde Walker Pierce, post, of racing the interurbans in the early 30s.