Narcissus Memory, 1965 - The Last Maine Car Available For Restoration

The Narcissus seems to be hovering above the floor inside the

Donald G. Curry TownHouse Restoration Shop at Seashore Trolley Museum.

Its trucks have been rolled out from under the Portland-Lewiston Interurban survivor.

Major sill work will follow shortly. October 2017 photo by PWM

     This Narcissus blog post looks back...and ahead. Ahead, of the restoration work in the coming weeks. Looking back at 1965 and how the members at Seashore Trolley Museum were hopeful. Read below to learn what the early members were hopeful for in 1965. Perhaps after reading the post, you too will be hopeful. Hopeful that the restoration of the PLI gem will continue in earnest. Your help is needed to make hope become a reality. We are within $2,000 of raising the initial $40,000 to meet our goal for the $40,000 Matching Challenge Grant from the 20th Century Electric Railway Foundation. Please consider a donation today. Scroll down to see the variety of options for making a donation...Thank You

This image of Narcissus was used in an advertisement to

promote the newest innovation for improved connectivity

by replacing the trolley wheel at the end of the trolley pole,

with the new trolley shoe with a carbon insert being advertised.

Photo courtesy STM

Extracted from The (Seashore) Trolley Museum Dispatch volume eight number four (Jul/Aug) 1965

THE NARCISSUS PROJECT

     This month's DISPATCH heading shows one of the Portland-Lewiston cars as it looked at one time and as it might look again someday - but it's a long story and the ending is still in doubt.

     Among the 20,000 plus visitors to the railway in Kennebunkport, each summer is a number from central and southern Maine. Many of these people ask to see one of the famous PORTLAND-LEWISTON INTERURBAN cars. Unfortunately, the interurban was abandoned in 1933 and the equipment was broken up long before our society started its work.

     Only one P-L-I car was saved only to be lost forever, broken up for junk in 1946. This car, No. 10, the ARBUTUS, had the distinction of making both the first and last trips over Maine's finest interurban electric railway. 

No. 10 Arbutus with many shop crew members in Lewiston.

Taken just before the opening of the line in 1914.

The Arbutus just after the final trip in 1933.

Mrs. Gertrude Libbey Anthony is on the right.

     After abandonment, the ARBUTUS was taken to Camp Ellis near Old Orchard Beach and set up in a garden on the estate of Mrs. Gertrude Libbey Anthony, daughter of the line's builder. Here it reposed, complete even to its destination signs on a short piece of track, protected from the elements by a portable shelter in the winter.

The Arbutus in Bay Views at Mrs. Gertrude Libbey Anthony's

home in Saco, Maine. circa 1941.

One of the original destination signs from the Arbutus is now at the Gray Historical Society.

     In 1939 SEASHORE moved its first car to Kennebunkport, only a few miles away. Cars and equipment were saved that could not at any cost be duplicated in later years. It was, of course, tragic to realize that cars were saved from as far away as the Orient, Australia, and New Zealand, and yet one of the finest interurban specimens of all was now beyond recall.

     Those who knew or took the trouble to find out were aware of a certain legacy of the famed interurban line. Various artifacts and photos exist in private collections. A short history, by now long out of print, had been written by O, R. Cummings. Grass-grown rights-of-way exist for the enjoyment of those who know where to look. The knowledgeable are aware that certain presently existing buildings in the Lewiston area and Portland areas served once for a more noble purpose. Two hulks, (alas without equipment of any sort), the remains of suburban cars 40 and 42, (small cars, not the big fast cars), long used as sheds at South Casco, were strong enough to be picked up and moved to Kennebunkport to await possible restoration. The body of car No. 22, named Maine, was greatly modified for use as a diner and even now repose on Park Street in Lewiston, still retaining a vague trolley car-like aspect if nothing more.

Maine as a diner in Lewiston.

     At Sabattus for many years, the hollow shell of the NARCISSUS, No. 14, the former sister car of the ARBUTUS, has been used as a summer camp. 

The Narcissus when was a summer camp in Sabattus.

     The memory of the line refuses to die in the minds of residents along the route and elsewhere who remember that Maine once had an interurban line equal to any. Newspaper articles appear from time to time and the legendary speed of the cars increases with every passing year.

     Toward the end of 1964, there were significant rumblings heard by those who tuned to such things. The long-dead interurban was beginning to show faint but certainly unmistakable signs of life. A new, larger, and finer edition of the history of the line was nearly ready for publication. The owner of the remains of the NARCISSUS revealed that he would soon retire and move to Sabattus. Rather than live in an old car body he would modify it into a house.

The Narcissus is ready to travel to Kennebunkport. The

"replacement" year-round home is seen in the background.

October 1969. Photo courtesy of Danial A. Vallee.

     In Oshawa, Ontario, a pair of Baldwin motor trucks, complete with motors, the property of the CNR, became surplus. These trucks are similar and in appearance identical to the trucks the NARCISSUS once had. In Chicago, seats like those the NARCISSUS once had might become available. It became clear that it was a technical possibility to restore the NARCISSUS to full operation. The examination of the car's body revealed that it was surprisingly sound. It had retained stained glass windows and the interior woodwork was in good condition. Up to now, there had been a minimum of modifications. Negotiations have been going on. It appears that the car body can be saved --IF it is replaced with a small framed cottage (frame and exterior only -- no interior). The CNR has agreed to hold the Baldwin trucks intact for a time awaiting further word.

     NARCISSUS is the last Maine car available for restoration. For the people of the area it served, the NARCISSUS should be meaningful as a tangible living link with the past.

     While Seashore did everything within its limited means to save cars in the local Maine area after the war, (and did manage to save the Aroostook Valley and nearby Sanford cars as well as Biddeford & Saco 31), the typical cars of the large systems of Bangor, Waterville, Augusta, and Lewiston-Auburn, and Portland are gone beyond recall. Surely, a restored Portland-Lewiston Interurban, especially one of the early, ornate Laconia manufactured cars, would be fitting to represent the local State of Maine in a collection that has become world-famous. Operating over the finest electric line in the State, between its two greatest population centers, the interurban cars acquired fame out of all proportion to the length of the line and it would be fine indeed to relive this bit of history at Kennebunkport on a nearly identical roadbed.

One of the five (of eight) restored mahogany sash

windows from the bulkheads of the Narcissus.

Thank you, Jim Mackell, volunteer extraordinaire :)

October 2017 photo 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 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