No. 100 - Seashore Trolley Museum's Laconia Car Company-built Collection

In the hands of Seashore Trolley Museum members/volunteers,

Ed Dooks and his granddaughter Chelsey Pino, as they work

in unison to carefully peel away the paper from the newly

applied, Laconia Car Company decal on the side sill of the

Laconia Car Company-built, and then newly restored,

1906 electric locomotive from the Atlantic Shore Line Railways,

No. 100. Image by PWM 6-30-2009

The Laconia Car Company was located in the center of

Laconia, NH. Over the years, it expanded and took up 7 acres

of land. There were woodworking shops, foundries, set-up

shops, storehouses, and paint shops. The extensive

four-story brick building was dedicated to the iron foundry, which was

connected with the car fabrication business.

     This blog is all about the Portland-Lewiston Interurban, No. 14, Narcissus.....which was built in 1912 by the Laconia Car Company. From time to time, a blog post will extend its coverage of related information to include electric railway topics that enhance understanding of the collection of the Seashore Trolley Museum. This post will be one, in a series, that digs deeper into the Museum's collection of Laconia Car Company-built vehicles.

     Laconia Car Company was one of the important electric railway streetcar manufacturing companies at the turn of the 20th century. Seashore Trolley Museum has ten accessioned electric railway representatives from the Laconia Car Company among its collections. The Laconia collection at Seashore Trolley Museum is diverse. Starting with two early single-truck models from 1895, with a 1902, double-truck, streetcar, and, a 1904, double-truck, 15-bench, open car, a 1904 postal service/express car, a 1906 wooden interurban, a 1906 wooden steeple cab locomotive, a 1912 wooden interurban, a 1914 semi-convertible, and a 1918 semi-convertible.  Not all of these vehicles have been restored yet.

     Three of these Laconia vehicles in Seashore's collection are listed in the National Register of Historic Places; 1904 Portsmouth Dover & York Street Railway, No. 108, wooden Railway Post Office/Express, 1906 Atlantic Shore Line, No. 100, wooden Steeple Cab Locomotive, and 1912 Portland-Lewiston Interurban, No. 14 - Narcissus, wooden Interurban Coach.

     This post will focus on one of the cars acquired in 1949, by Seashore Trolley Museum, from York Utilities Company in Sanford, Maine:

1906 - No. 100 - Atlantic Shore Line Railway

Steeple Cab Locomotive - Double/Air

Laconia Car Company - Seats:       L: 34' 0"    W:      Ht:     Wt: 45,000
Date purchased: 1949

No. 100 on Seashore Trolley Museum's Town House Restoration Shop lead.

Fresh from a complete restoration in September 2009. PWM

     Three identical double-truck freight locomotives of wood construction, Nos. 100-102, were ordered by the Atlantic Shore Line Railway from the Laconia (NH) Car Company Works in 1906 and all were on hand by the end of the year. Of the so-called "cab-on-raft" variety, each was 34 feet long overall and was mounted on what was described in a 1908 ASLRy roster as Laconia "Special" trucks with a wheelbase of 5 ft. 6 in.. Other initial equipment of each locomotive included four General Electric 80 (40-hp) motors, K-28F platform controllers, and General Electric automatic air brakes. There were knuckle couplers of the MCB type, and, wooden bar pilots at the ends, and single trolley poles on the cab roofs.

No. 100 in its original configuration in Sanford at the Goodall Mills in 1907

Seashore Trolley Museum collection

     An early picture suggests they were painted green with white trim and carried the company name on their side sills. No. 101 was rebuilt into a box express car in 1908 and at about the same time the cab on No. 102 was enlarged to almost double its original size. No. 100, however, remained in its original configuration and became the property of the Atlantic Shore Railway on Jan. 1, 1911, and of the York Utilities Company on Feb. 1, 1923.

Coal Pier at Bickford's Island, Cape Porpoise, ME

Schooners would have their coal cargo unloaded into coal

gondolas and 100 would haul the train of coal to the coal

pocket in Kennebunkport or to the mills in Sanford.

Postcard PWM

Coal pocket in Kennebunkport.

Seashore Trolley Museum Collection

     Geared for power rather than for speed, Nos. 100 and 102 were used primarily to haul standard steam railroad freight cars to and from physical connections with the Boston and Maine RR at Springvale Village in Sanford, West Kennebunk, and Kennebunk. Beginning about 1913, one of them also moved carload lots of cordwood from Harris siding, near the present entrance to the Seashore Trolley Museum, to the Kennebunk interchange for forwarding to destinations via the B&M. (The wood was harvested on both sides of the ASLRy-ASRy-YUCo private right-of-way between Log Cabin Road, Kennebunkport, and Granite Street Extension, Biddeford.)

     After the York Utilities Company abandoned its trackage between Sanford and Biddeford via Kennebunk and Kennebunkport on Sept. 15, 1927, Nos. 100 and 102 were based in Sanford and the former was active until the end of trolley freight service between the Springvale interchange and various industries in Sanford village in June 1949. It was acquired by the Seashore Trolley Museum later the same year but received little attention there during the ensuing half-century. ASL-100 was fully restored, to operating condition, over the years 2006-2009. 

     The only known serious accident involving No. 100 occurred Friday, June 11, 1915, when it collided with the 15-bench open passenger car No. 47 in Sanford. The force of the impact was so great that the roof supports of No. 47 were snapped off and the roof came crashing down on the passengers, injuring a number of them. (The most seriously hurt was Morris Gampert, 25, of Sanford, who had his left foot amputated after suffering multiple fractures when he jumped from the open car.) No. 47 was scrapped but minor damage to the locomotive was quickly repaired and No. 100 soldiered on for another 34 years. ASL-100 has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places since 1980.

History by O. R. Cummings, Historian, New England Electric Railway Historical Society

1949, No. 100 travels to its new home,

Seashore Trolley Museum.

Seashore Trolley Museum Collection

The Video below features ASL-100 before restoration and after.

The video below of ASL-100 receiving one of its Laconia Car Company Decals in 2009.

No. 100, very tired, but operating under its own power - September 17, 2005

as it makes its way to Town House Restoration Shop.

Initial restoration would begin late in the year. PWM

No. 100 on September 1, 2009. The first trip out of the Seashore Trolley

Museum's Town House Restoration Shop to check clearances, brakes, etc.,

through switches and around the visitor center loop. The $135K restoration

 was a combination of Federal and State Funds through

the TEA-21program, local matching funds, including major grants through Massachusetts

Bay Railroad Enthusiasts, H. Albert Webb Memorial Railroad Award and

Amherst Railway Society Heritage Awards. Many thousands of hours

of restoration work were provided by many volunteers. PWM

     This full restoration was my first as the volunteer project manager. Initially, in 1999, a group of us identified the Portland-Lewiston Interurban, No. 14, Narcissus, as a prospect for possible TEA-21 funding. We had second thoughts on having our first TEA-21 application be for such a complicated, multi-year restoration, as Narcissus, so, it was determined that we should choose a less complicated complete restoration as our "practice" applicant to TEA-21. The 1906 wooden electric locomotive, No. 100, with a total of $55(!) in its restoration fund, was our choice. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, our research led us to believe that 100 was one of only two in all of North America to be of this type and in its original configuration. The first application was made in 2000 and was not approved. The 2002 application was not approved either. Persistency and more than 40 letters of support for the 2004 application tipped the scales in our favor and the project was approved. Contracts, public hearings, state project manager assignments, etc., took some time before restoration work began in earnest in November 2006. The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the completion of the project was held in September 2009. The $185,000 project included the complete restoration of 100, a beautiful 40' x 40' exhibit in the Museum's display room, and an online curriculum. Many videos of the restoration work were posted on YouTube. Search ASL-100 and any number of clips will present themselves. Below is the very first video on September 17, 2005.

Click Here: Video of Theodore Santarelli de Brasch explaining the "Birth" of Seashore Trolley - 1939

Additional blog posts on Seashore Trolley Museum's Laconia Car Company-built Collection:
Click Here: No. 14 - 1912 Laconia Car Company-built Collection
Click Here: No. 38 - 1907 Laconia Car Company-built Collection
Click Here: No 60 - 1895 Laconia Car Company-built Collection
Click Here: No. 100 - 1906 Laconia Car Company-built Collection
Click Here: No. 108 - 1904 Laconia Car Company-built Collection
Click Here: No. 235 & No. 50 - 1895 & 1902 Laconia Car Company-built Collection
Click Here: No. 4175 - 1914 Laconia Car Company-built Collection
Click Here: No. 4387 - 1918 Laconia Car Company-built Collection

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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 captivates, fascinates, then generates, 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 of 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

the Gold Book Award Winner plaque for

 the Middle Reader category for The Eric

Hoffer Book Award. Congratulations to

award-winning Maine author,

Jean M. Flahive