Car 38 - Seashore Trolley Museum's Laconia Car Company-built Collection

In the hands of Seashore Trolley Museum member volunteers,

Ed Dooks and his granddaughter Chelsey Pino, as they work

in unison to carefully peel away the paper from the newly

applied the 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, 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 the second car acquired by the early members of, what has become, the Seashore Trolley Museum.

1906 - No. 38 - Manchester & Nashua Street Railway

Wood Interurban (Suburban) - Double/Air

Laconia Car Company - Seats: 40   L: 41' 0"  W: 8' 5"  Ht: 12' 1"  Wt:
Date Purchased: March 21, 1940

No. 38 on Seashore Trolley Museum's mainline 9-16-2006 PWM image

     The second car ever acquired by Seashore was No. 38, built by the Laconia Car Company in 1906 for the 18-mile run between the Merrimack Valley cities of Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire. It also saw considerable service between Manchester and Derry, and later was operated on the suburban run from Manchester to Goffstown. Car 38 has a railroad roof and double-width windows, an early forerunner of today's picture windows, and seats with green plush upholstery.

Acquired by Seashore when the rail lines in the Queen City were motorized in 1940, No. 38 has been thoroughly restored with polished cherry woodwork and new upholstery. The rather poorly designed and desperately battered Laconia 9B trucks have been extensively rebuilt, thanks to a generous grant from the Norcross Wildlife Foundation, which also supports historic preservation. Worn surfaces were built up, oval bolt holes were filled in and redrilled, and new bolts and other fasteners were installed, though most of the original fabric was faithfully retained. Historic Cars: The National Collection at the Seashore Trolley Museum by Ben Minnich. 

     The video below is a short clip of No. 38 operating on Seashore Trolley Museum's mainline on September 25, 2009.

     From a 1987 interview conducted by Edward Dooks, see and hear the founder of Seashore Trolley Museum, Theodore Santarelli de Brasch, talk about how No. 38 was acquired and brought to Seashore Trolley Museum in 1940. The first minute of the video below is an intro then he tells the story of acquiring No. 38.
To watch the full interview of the beginning of Seashore Trolley Museum by Theodore Santarelli de Brasch - Click Here

     Edward Dooks, a long-time Seashore Trolley Museum member/volunteer, conducted, recorded, and transcribed, recollections of  Seashore Trolley Museum members' experiences involving the Museum. In addition, Ed recorded, collected, and transcribed recollections of local neighbors to the Seashore Trolley Museum. Here are some of those transcriptions, as they relate to the acquisition of No. 38 in 1940.

Transcripts from 1988 interviews conducted by Ed Dooks. Interviewees:

A = John Amlaw, one of Seashore's original members

B = Henry Brainerd, one of Seashore's earliest members

A: We were on a fan trip over to Manchester and everybody liked those "rapid cars".  There were 2 sets of them. There were 12 altogether: 6 long ones and 6 short ones, and the long ones had been retired. They were up at Lake Massabesic as summer camps.

38 was originally numbered No. 4. It was renumbered in the '30s as 32. 38 had had a bad accident. The newspaper up in Manchester came out with quite an editorial about the miserable conditions of the cars and the terrific damage that had been done to this car. The MSR had 32 in the shops at the time being overhauled. They renumbered it to 38 and put it out in the street and said, "Now the newspaper is telling about all the damage that was done. How come if it was the car out in the street today?" It was a different car, and if you opened the inside panel on the left side of the doors on 38, in the body itself (bulkhead), you'll see the old number 4, the new number 32, and nothing about 38.

No. 32 disguised as No. 38

Fan trip 1939

Seashore Trolley Museum Collection

Dooks: How did you get 38?

There was another trolley fan trip and several people had seen what we had done with 31 and they said, "Well, suppose we buy 38. Can you take it over with 31?" And we said, "Sure."  That originally started as a separate group led by Gordon Pilkington (from Danbury, CT, and Roger Borrup) who came to us and said, "It hardly seems worthwhile to have two competing groups when we could pool our assets and thereby have twice as much track and wire and other supplies for the same amount of money instead of having two separate locations." (They also found how much was entailed in paying for it, moving it, and finding a place to keep it and all the details involved.), some of his people were members of Seashore, so everyone agreed it was a much better idea if we made it a cooperative effort and just had one group. (The other group was mostly from NH and CT)

Gordon Pilkington had not at that time even gone to the Manchester people to buy the car or to arrange for buying it, so we took over that end of it and went up to see Roger Moscroft who was the Executive Assistant of the Manchester Street Railway, or the Power Company which owned the Street Railway.

Dooks: To get to Manchester Public Service my understanding from Ted (Santarelli de Brasch) said was that you had a big problem trying to get to the people to talk to you. They kept putting you off and he mentioned a way that they were able to get to the President of the company.

A: All I remember is that Roger Moscroft was sympathetic to us and I think he was the one who interceded. Their offices were up at (I think) 1000 Elm Street and they were in the same building, the same set of offices and a different floor as the power company up there, and the manager, as I recall was probably 70 years old at the time, wouldn't see anybody, but as I said, Roger Moscroft saw him for us and arranged for an interview for us to go up and talk to him.

We agreed we would buy one of the cars. The only drawback was they were afraid that if there were a bad accident or fire and the car was destroyed we would then hold them liable and want them to replace the car. So I told them that we would take in order either car No. 38, or 36 or 42, or 44, or if by any

ill fortune, none of them were available, simply return our deposit. Under those conditions, the company gave us the contract and the price was $75 for the car body plus trucks and $50 for each of the (4) motors. We were not able to raise money enough to buy the motors, so we agreed to buy the car itself and the two trucks.

(When questioned about some difference in figures for the cost of 38 he said, "That was 48 years ago, and the original books I think were lost when Eliot Sterling took them out to his house because we had a nice dairy. It was a beautiful book, about 'that thick" and about 'so big' with plush covers on it and leather bindings, but he lost that completely and that gave all the story of the first days of Seashore; who went up there and what they did on those trips. It would have been worth its weight in gold today.")

At the time the company went out of the streetcar business and went to buses, Goodman, the junkman (later A said ran a second-hand place and junk shop in Manchester) who bought the cars (to break them up), was at the carbarn. Roger Moscroft came down and said, "You've got everything in this building and the ones across the street except car 38." And Goodman asked him, "Now how about this car? Isn't this the one I don't get?" And Moscroft said, "That's right, This car and everything in it was bought by these people and they're going to take it over to Maine to preserve it, so don't touch anything on it." (later A says Moscroft said, "That car is theirs, everything just the way it stands." So he gave us the motors.) There were 3 or 4 of us there at the time looking over 38 to see what needed doing to it.

A: Incidentally, he offered us car 18 for nothing if we wanted to take it. It was a work car and he was just saying that it was so well built and maintained so well that he hated to burn it up, but we couldn't afford to move it at that time.

We used to go over there occasionally and work on the car even before they did away with the streetcars. They put the car on the track at the back of the barn where we could get to it and wouldn't interfere with anything and we would clean it and paint it and repair it. At the time 36 was going to be scrapped so we transferred the better stuff from it over to 38, such as cracked windows we replaced or torn seat cushions or broken panes of glass and things like this, and afterward, someone bought 36 and took it down to Bedford, NH.

B: I think I heard he wanted to buy all three of them and make them into one long dinner or something and he was a bit unhappy that we got one of them.

Dooks: When 38 was moved, we turned on the power and you say whoever was the operating man or power man when he threw the switch in to energize the trolley wire, he hoped that people that might be stealing the trolley wire would be on it and get the jolt. (His name was McFarland) 

A: Yes, they had stolen quite a bit of the wire, apparently for 5 or 6 nights and the police were unable to catch them, at least they didn't, and they didn't want to leave the power on. I remember there was a big switch up on the pole and that switch was off. McFarland came over to us and said, "We'll turn the power on so you can run 38 down to the railroad station." So on this particular occasion, he said, "I just hope they're up there right now!!" They weren't and we didn't read anything about a fellow being hit by electricity and killed. Dan Twomey and Ted Santarelli were on board.

38 on the siding in Manchester 1940

Seashore Trolley Museum Collection

B: He ran the car down from the barn, down to the railroad crossing in the freight yards, derailed it, then rerailed it on the railroad. In other words, rode down the pavement and derailed it and rerailed it on the railroad, ran it about a few hundred feet to where he had the flatcar, and then jacked it up and ran the flatcar under it/ It was unloaded in Kennebunk on a siding. (The body was moved to Seashore but) the trucks remained in Manchester. Chase Transfer supplied a little bit of a trailer and moved it from the railroad to Seashore and set it on blocks more or less over the end of the track but partly blocking the road on the ASL roadbed. As it went by the Kennebunk Inn, two ladies from Manchester were sitting on the front porch and one of them said to the other, "Oh, there's one of our Manchester trolley cars coming by.

38 being jacked up for placement on the flat car in Manchester 1940

Seashore Trolley Museum Collection

No. 38 on the rails - destination Kennebunk, Maine station, then a trip to

Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport. 1940 image from the

collection of Seashore Trolley Museum

Loaded at the Kennebunk railroad station siding, 38 traveling

to its new home, Seashore Trolley Museum 1940

Seashore Trolley Museum Collection

We got to the Log Cabin Crossing. (It was called Biddeford Road but was renamed Log Cabin Road later because there were one or two other streets called Biddeford Road or Old Biddeford Road and it was confusing. There was a tourist cabin with fake log cabins that was called "The Log Cabin" and so the road was named for that."

(I wasn't there) And then we got to the railroad crossing. At the time, the only protection was the train's whistling and someone had checked with the B & M dispatcher and found no trains were expected and we got over the crossing. It barely cleared the crossing when a freight train came by and then I think they had to use something to lift the telephone cable to get the car under it.

The next time I got back to Seashore, the car was standing on blocks, lined up over the end of the track and it stayed there a year too, I think it was the 4th of July weekend of '41. I remember I found sleeping in that was much more comfortable than sleeping on the bench of 31 and I found you could take a seat cushion, and prop it up in the aisle on a wooden soapbox. It was much more comfortable sleeping than out in the chill of 31.

That summer of '40, there was a forest fire and I think the fire engines cut slightly, having to detour around where 38 stuck out over the roadway. The right-of-way belonged to the power company, then Cumberland County Power and Light before it became part of Central Maine Power. Sometime in '41, they said, "We damn well had to stop blocking the roadway any longer."

I think I remember that I was in on negotiating the trucks brought over and we had to make a deal with somebody and had to enroll him temporarily as a member to make it legal for him to bring them. We got them over there and they were placed right way round, lined up at either end, one on the track out on the roadway. I was there. Well, the day we actually did it, we had barely enough blocking (materials) and we first jacked up the end that was over the track and we had to get it damn high and we didn't really have enough blocking to follow up the jack, so we had it way up in the air and just on the jack with no protective blocking. The jack was pretty well extended and we could just about get the truck under the low platforms. (They stepped lower than the main body.) We got it under and let it down and put the kingpin in.....We got it down on July 4, 1941. I remember I was crawling under the car and the car not actually swaying but up pretty precariously on an extended jack, and I remember sort of thinking, "Well if anything happens, I'm a goner." Nothing happened, thank goodness...We got it up on the permanent track and took up the temporary rail that we laid then we had it on our land, clear of the roadway.

No. 38 at Seashore Electric Railway (Seashore Trolley

Museum) - top image circa 1946. lower image-probably

earlier. Images from the collection of Seashore Trolley

Museum

No. 38 outside of Shop #1. Circa 1956

Collection of Seashore Trolley Museum

No. 38 on the Town House Restoration shop lead at Seashore Trolley

Museum 3-29-2003 - Donald Curry image

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 - 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

We are still in need of funds for creating the interpretation programs that will tell this fascinating 100+-year-old story of the Narcissus. For information on donation options, scroll down this post and find the one that best fits your position. Fund 816 to help with the restoration and Fund 817 (PLI Education-Interpretation programs ) should be noted when making a donation.

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Click Here for the post that has the short virtual 3-D video of the digital model of the Narcissus, with components added to the file from earlier this year (the gold leaf file had not been added yet).

Restoration work continues on the Narcissus. The Narcissus is more than 110 years old now and has so many incredible stories to share. The restoration of this majestic icon of Maine's electric railway history is but one of those incredible stories.

     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.

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

Seashore Trolley Museum Promo Video 

     

     The paperback edition of Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride can be purchased online through the Seashore Trolley Museum's store website. Books purchased through the Museum's website directly benefit the Museum and the Narcissus project. 

Click Here to go to the Museum Store web page to order online

Click Here to go to the Amazon page to order the ebook or audiobook online

Paperback books are available at these local bookstores in Maine:

Center for Maine Crafts, West Gardiner Service Plaza

The Book Review, Falmouth

The Bookworm, Gorham

Letterpress Books, Portland

Maine Historical Society Store, Portland

Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad, Portland

Morph Gallery & Emporium, Kennebunk

New Gloucester Historical Society, New Gloucester

Nonesuch Books and More, South Portland

Seashore Trolley Museum, Kennebunkport

Sherman's Maine Coast Book Shops, All Locations

Thompson's Orchard, New Gloucester

Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride

by Jean M. Flahive

Illustrations by Amy J. Gagnon

Listen to a 2-minute, 30-second, Retail Audio Sample of the Audiobook 

     Millie Thayer is a headstrong farmer's daughter who chases her dreams in a way you would expect a little girl nicknamed "Spitfire" would run full tilt and with her eyes on the stars. Dreaming of leaving the farm life, working in the city, and fighting for women's right to vote, Millie imagines flying away on a magic carpet. One day, that flying carpet shows up in the form of an electric trolley that cuts across her farm. A fortune-teller predicts that Millie's path will cross that of someone famous. Suddenly, she finds herself caught up in events that shake the nation, Maine, and her family. Despairing that her dreams may be shattered, Millie learns, in an unexpected way, that dreams can be shared.

A resource for teachers 

Companion curriculum State-standard-based units,

vocabulary, and reading activities for use in grades 3-8

are available online as downloadable resources through

Seashore Trolley Museum's website

www.trolleymuseum.org/elegantride/

Maine Historical Society has created eight companion lesson units in Social Studies and ELA that were inspired by Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride - These State-standard-based lesson plans for use in grades 6, 7, and 8 are easily adapted for use in grades 3-5.  Vocabulary and Reading activities for grades 3-8 along with the eight lesson plan units are available free and may be downloaded through Seashore Trolley Museum's website www.trolleymuseum.org/elegantride/

Go to the Teacher Resource Page in the pull-down for more details.

A 60-second intro to Teddy Roosevelt, Millie, and the Elegant Ride by author, Jean Flahive

Click Here to watch the video on YouTube 

Award-winning author, Jean M. Flahive

    

Please Consider a Donation to the Narcissus Project to help us tell the incredible story of the Narcissus through the interpretation portion of the Narcissus Project.

     Here is an example of how donations to the Narcissus Project now will help with the interpretation portion of the project. The interpretation programming will include exhibits, displays, and education programming. In 2019, through generous donations to the Narcissus Project, we were able to conserve, replicate, and have high resolutions digital image files made of the original, 1910, 28.5-foot long, surveyor map of the elevation and grade of the 30-mile private right-of-way of the Portland, Gray, and Lewiston Railroad (Portland-Lewiston Interurban)  Click Here 

Thank You!

Theodore Roosevelt on the Narcissus when addressing

the crowd gathered in Gray, Maine on August 18, 1914.

Image courtesy of Gray Historical Society

The Narcissus as the Sabattus Lake Diner in Sabattus, Maine,

circa 1940. Photo by John Coughlin in the Kevin Farrell

Collection at Seashore Trolley Museum

L. Henri Vallee (right) and family members in the

Narcissus, when it was Vallee's summer camp in

Sabattus, Maine circa 1958. Photo courtesy Daniel Vallee

The Narcissus in the restoration shop in 2022 PWM

   Inside the Donald G. Curry Town House Restoration Shop, the Narcissus is in the midst of major work as we strive to complete its restoration. We are now planning the interpretation portion of the Narcissus Project. Donations to the Narcissus Project may be used in the future to help tell the incredible 100-plus-year-old story of the Narcissus. Your donation to the Narcissus is helping to make the dream of the project's success, a reality.

See below for Donation options -

It starts with YOU

Your Donation Matters

Make a Donation TODAY

Please Help the Narcissus. 

Donation Options to Help the Narcissus Project:

The New England Electric Railway Historical Society

is the 501c3 organization that owns and operates the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME, and the National Streetcar

Museum in Lowell (MA). 

The New England Electric Railway Historical Society registered with the IRS (EIN# 01-0244457) and was incorporated in Maine in 1941.

Check or Money Order ***** should be made payable to:

New England Electric Railway Historical Society

In the memo: for a donation to the Interpretation programming

please write: PLI Education Fund 817

For a donation to help with the restoration write: Narcissus Fund 816

Mail to: Seashore Trolley Museum

              P. O. Box A

              Kennebunkport, ME 04046

Credit Card ***** donations can be one-time donations or you

may choose to have a specific amount charged to your card

automatically every month. Please contact the Museum bookkeeper, via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone, at 207-967-2800 ext. 3.

Online Donations - may be made by using a Credit Card: 

Click Here to make an online donation through the Museum's website - When at the Donation page: Fill in donor info, etc., when at "To which fund are you donating? Scroll down to "Other" and type in 816 Narcissus, then continue filling in the required information.

Click Here for PayPal - to make an online donation: you can use email: finance@trolleymuseum.org and in the message box write:

For "Narcissus Fund 816" - if supporting the restoration

For "PLI Education Fund 817" - if supporting Interpretation programs

Donation of Securities ***** We also accept donations of

securities. You can contact the Museum bookkeeper, via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone, at 207-967-2800 ext. 3,

for brokerage account information for accepting donated securities.

BONUS ***** If you work for a company/corporation that will

"match" an employee's donation to an approved 501c3 non-profit

educational organization, please be sure to complete the necessary paperwork with your employer so that your donation is matched :)

Questions? ***** Please contact Narcissus project sponsor:

Phil Morse, narcissus@gmail.org or call 207-985-9723 - cell.

Thank You :)

Thank You for our Current Funding Partners

* 20th Century Electric Railway Foundation - 2020/2018 - Major Gift, 2017/2014 Matching Grants
* Renaissance Charitable Foundation (LPCT) by Fiduciary Trust Charitable Giving Fund

* Mass Bay RRE - 2018 Railroad Preservation Grant 

* Thornton Academy (Saco, ME) - Staff & Alumni - Matching Grant Challenge 2014

* New England Electric Railway Historical Society (Kennebunkport, ME) - Member Donations

* Amherst Railway Society - 2015 Heritage Grant

* National Railway Historical Society - 2016 & 2015 Heritage Preservation Grants

* Enterprise Holding Foundation - 2015 Community Grant

* Theodore Roosevelt Association - Member Donations

* John Libby Family Association and Member Donations

* The Conley Family - In Memory of Scott Libbey 2018/2017/2016/2015

* The W. S. Libbey Family - Awalt, Conley, Graf, Holman, Libbey, McAvoy, McLaughlin, Meldrum, O'Halloran, Salto, - 2018/2017

* The Hughes Family 2017/2016/2010

* New Gloucester Historical Society and Member Donations

* Gray Historical Society and Member Donations

* Gray Public Library Association - Pat Barter Speaker Series

* Scarborough Historical Society - PRR/PLI

* LogMein - Matching Employee Donation

* IBM - Matching Employee/Retiree Donations

* Fidelity Charitable Grant - Matching Employee Donations

* Richard E. Erwin Grant - 2017/2016

* Seal Cove Auto Museum

The Narcissus, with interior back-lit, stained glass windows is majestic.

Make a donation today to help restore the interior of this Maine gem.

Help Theodore Roosevelt's Maine Ride get back on track! Once restored,

you will be able to ride in luxury on this National Register Treasure at

Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.

PWM photo

Please Consider Making a Donation to the project of the National Register of Historic Places member, Narcissus. We are currently raising funds to advance the restoration and to tell the incredible story of this Maine gem.

Various News stories during the summer of 2015 about the

Narcissus and its connection to Theodore Roosevelt. TR

was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914.

Photo by Patricia Pierce Erikson 

The Narcissus - July 31, 2015. Make a donation today.

Help Theodore Roosevelt's Maine Ride get back on track!

Once restored, you will be able to ride in luxury on this

National Historic Treasure at

Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.