A drawing by Francis Monahan - No. 44 of the Biddeford & Saco Railroad.
From the Maine Historical Society archives in Portland, ME.
Front cover of the July 1938, Volume l, Number 5, issue of the
Portland (Maine) Division of the Electric Railroaders Association
(ERA) newsletter, The Maine Electric Transiteer.
the July 1938 issue of the Transiteer. Here is a Charles Duncan photo
of No. 44, taken on March 26, 1936, from the O. R. Cummings Collection
2009_2_14_026 Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library
Last summer (2023) I conducted research on the Seashore Trolley Museum founders during 1939. I reached out to some Museum friends asking them to share any information they might have to help with my research. Several were able to share some great information. I was very grateful. Kevin Farrell shared two original copies of the Maine Electric Transiteer newsletter from 1938. I had never heard of the newsletter. I found them incredibly interesting, full of wonderful information, and very timely as the contents clearly were stepping stones for the path leading to what would become the activities that saved Car 31 and began what we know today as the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.
Click Here: for the post on the March 1938 (The Very First Issue) Transiteer newsletter
Click Here: for the post on the April 1938 Transiteer newsletter
Click Here: for the post on the May 1938 Transiteer newsletter
Click Here: for the post on the June 1938 Transiteer newsletter
Click Here: for the post on the Feb/Mar 1939 Transiteer newsletter
I looked online and was able to acquire one original copy of the Maine Electric Transiteer newsletter from 1939. It too was full of stepping stones for the path leading to the founding of the Museum. And that was how the summer ended. Only three newsletters were located.
Last week, I began my summer 2024 research for additional materials on people and places during the late 1930s. This year, I subscribed to the Portland Press Herald so that I could access the online newspaper archives. Wow! What a great choice I made. I located more than 50 articles so, far (in just a few days ) that feature the Portland (Maine) Division of the ERA, their members, activities, fan trips, etc.
Seeing how several of the members lived close to the greater Portland area and in Charles D. Heseltine's case, for some time, he worked for the Maine Historical Society (MHS) in Portland. I reached out via email to the research department at MHS. Gave some background on what I was up to and asked for help on a couple of topics...Charles D. Heseltine and the Portland Division of the ERA and in particular, the Transiteer newsletter.
I received a prompt reply from Mia Sigler, Reference Librarian at the Brown Research Library. She provided a list of Charles's Collections and yes, there were five original issues of the Transiteer newsletter. Three that I did not have. Mia shared the process and costs related to the scanning of the items. We moved ahead and I received all three copies this afternoon!! (Thursday, June 19, 2024) Awesome!
Thank you, Mia 😊 I look forward to planning time to spend checking out the Charles D. Heseltine Collections :)
I will be reviewing the three previous posts released last year on the Transiteer newsletters. To see if I need to update.
This is one in a series of posts related to the Portland Division of the ERA. I look forward to sharing their activities over the short time they were an active group. I haven't located the date when the end of the group came about. Conversations have generated ideas that perhaps when the trolley operations in Portland came to an end in 1941. The onset of WWII may have had an impact on the ending of the group. I'll keep searching...
The Portland Division of the ERA was officially established on October 4, 1937.
This page shares the schedule of the June 5th fan trip and the Boston
excursion.
Page 2
Schedule for the ERA fan trip on Sunday, June 5, 1938.
Portland Press Herald - June 4, 1938 - Page 12
Map of the YUCo system
O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_5_059
Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library:
The ERA fan trip began in Sanford at the York Utilities Company (YUCo) carbarn on River Street.
The York Utilities Carbarn on River Street in Sanford. The line car on
the far left, No. 108, was originally a U. S. Mail/Express Car (1904-1918).
The other two car numbers are unknown. Both look to be Birney cars.
During the late 1940s, the Seashore Trolley Museum acquired No. 108,
in addition, the Museum acquired; No. 8 (single-truck baggage trailer),
Nos. 80 & 82 (single truck Birney cars formerly from Denver, CO),
No. 88 (double-truck Birney car formerly from East Taunton, MA),
and No. 100 (double-truck electric locomotive)
Charles Duncan Photo c1935 (One of the earliest members along with
the founders of what would become the Seashore Trolley Museum)
in the O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_5_083
Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library
Click Here: for the post on the history of the York Utilities Company 1923-1949
No. 108 is listed in the National Register of Historic Places
Originally, Portsmouth, Dover & York Street Railway (PD&Y)
PD&Y No. 108 came to Seashore from York Utilities Co.
in 1949. 108 had exterior restoration work in the early 1980s
in preparation for use in 1983 for the first-day-issue stamp
ceremony at STM (1983). It needs the interior restored and
its exterior needs to be refreshed. PWM photo
Click Here: for the post on the ten Maine railway vehicles listed in the National Register of Historic Places - including the vehicles acquired from YUCo; Nos. 8, 80, 82, 88, 100, and 108.
The ERA fans used a freight motor for the trip around the YUCo system. Currently, which freight motor was actually used is uncertain. Research shows that in 1938 there may have only been three active YUCo freight cars available. Nos. 101, 104, and 105. Nos. 104 and 105 had been set aside for several years and only used rarely. No. 101 seems to be the most likely one that was used for this fan trip.
No. 104 - Built in 1907 - is at the Atlantic Shore Line Carbarn.
This photo was taken c1915. The carbarn was one of the stops
the ERA members made and found some nuggets to keep.
Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library:
O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_7_099
Click Here: for the post on the history of the Atlantic Shore Line 1900-1910
No. 105 - Built in 1906 - photo c1910
Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library:
O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_9_065
No. 101 - Built in 1906 - was originally a locomotive - the original
locomotive center steeple cab and storage extensions were removed in 1908.
Those removed materials were added to No. 102 (See the story below
at the end of the newsletter segment). No. 101 had a complete
Freight Box body constructed on top of the original deck.
Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library:
O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_9_064
Gene O. Hill - Superentendent of the B&SRR 1919-1942, is
mentioned in the newsletter as one who made all the fans
attending the excursion at the B&S feel right at home.
Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library:
O. R. Cummings Collection 2009-2_15_122
Click Here: for the post on the history of the Biddeford and Saco Railroad
Click Here: for the post on the arrival of Biddeford and Saco Railroad Open Car 31 and the operations during its first year - 1900
Biddeford and Saco open car, No. 246, with the Portland Division ERA
fans on board during their excursion trip on June 5, 1938. With the
Portland Division ERA banner displayed on No. 246's dasher, they are at
the end of B&SRR line in Old Orchard Beach.
Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library:
O. R. Cummings Collection 2009-2_15_108
After the Biddeford and Saco Railroad trip came to an end, the ERA fans traveled to Mrs. Gertrude Libbey Anthoney's home next door to OOB, at Bay View, in Saco. There Mrs. Anthoney would host the fans for dinner and they would have the opportunity to tour the
Click Here: for the post on the visit to see the Arbutus on June 5, 1938.
One of the Portland Division ERA members with the Arbutus at
Mrs. Anthoney's home in Bay View, Saco, Maine on June 5, 1938.
O R Cummings Collection
Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library
Sadly, later, near the end of WWII, Mrs. Anthoney did scrap the Arbutus to benefit the War coffers.
A few years later, in the 1960s, the members at the Seashore Trolley Museum were able to negotiate with the owner of the body of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban, No. 14, Narcissus, and by building the owner a new home, to replace the Narcissus where they had lived, the members were able to acquire the Narcissus body.
Click Here: for the post on looking back 50 years at the Narcissus being acquired.
Click Here: for the post on the beginning of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban on July 2, 1914
Click Here: for the post on the end of the Portland-Lewiston Interurban on June 28, 1933
Click Here: for the post on the sudden death of W. Scott Libbey
Click Here: for the post of the biography of W. Scott Libbey
Click Here: for the post from his Biographical section of History of Maine - pgs 175-177
This page mentions developing plans for a Labor Day excursion.
Page 3
Editorial page
Page 4
This page has a "Look Back" list for various electric railways in Maine.
Page 5
Click Here: for the post that will link you to the history of every electric railway in Maine
A look back at PortlandRR's "Coffin Transfers"
Page 6
An original ticket - unused - circa 1920 - PWM
Advertisement on the back of the ticket - PWM
Click Here: for the post on the history of the Portland Railroad - 1860-1941
Promoting membership in the ERA
Page 7
Talking about the Lewiston, Augusta, and Waterville Street Railway.
Details on why B&SRR Birney Car, No. 44, was featured on the cover.
Page 8
Click Here: for the post on the history of the Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville Street Railway
Mentions the ability to travel by trolley from Benton to Boston.
Many of the Maine Electric Railways are mentioned.
Page 9
Click Here: for the post on Destination Travel Times by Trolley - In-State and Out-of-State
Click Here: for the post that will link you to the history of every electric railway in Maine
Poetry and advertisements
Page 10
The A & K Railway is mentioned. Options for obtaining prints
and negatives of photos taken.
Page 11
Click Here: for the post on the history of the A & K (Androscoggin and Kennebec Railway
Promotional page
Page 12 Back Cover
The story of the YUCo freight motor car No. 101, most likely used during the Sanford visit on the ERA fan trip, Sunday, June 5, 1938.
The original No. 101, was one of three electric locomotives that the Atlantic Shore Line purchased from the Laconia Car Company Works in 1906. Nos. 100, 101, and 102, were identical, double truck, steeple-cab, locomotives. In 1908, the center cab and storage extensions located on each end were removed from the deck of No. 101. No. 102's cab and its extensions were moved to make room for the cab from No. 101 to be added and spliced together with 102's cab to make one large cab on the deck of No. 102.
No. 101's remaining undercarriage and deck had a complete box freight body added to it.
The original No. 101 when it was a locomotive. This photo was likely
taken during 1906, or early 1907, when the cab storage extensions on each end
still had their original metal covers.
Photo courtesy of the Sanford Historical Society
No. 102 - this photo shows that the storage extensions on either end of the center
cab had their original metal covers replaced with wooden lids. This photo
was likely taken in 1907. 1908 was when No. 101's center cab was added
to No. 102's. See the photo below.
No. 102 shortly after No. 101's center cab was joined with its center cab.
You can see where the two separate cabs were spliced together from the different
shades of the wood colors where the cabs' wood connects with each other.
The new look of the reconstructed No. 101 after the undercarriage and deck
had the body of the box freight body constructed on it.
No 100, remained in its original configuration with only some minor changes over the years. The earliest change made to all three of the original locomotives was to replace the metal hoods on each end, with wood hoods. The heat generated from the resistor grids housed under the hood became a safety issue.
In 2009, when No. 100's restoration was completed, research indicated, it was one of only two, wood, steeple-cab type electric locomotives to have survived in all of North America. The other one was known to be in British Columbia Province, in Canada, but its storage building roof/ceiling had collapsed on it.
No. 100 in its original design c1906/07 before its center cab storage
extensions' metal covers were replaced with wood lids.
September 15, 2005 - ASL-100 on its way to the
Town House Restoration Shop at Seashore Trolley
Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine. It would be more than
a year before the restoration work would begin on
the National Register of Historic Places locomotive would begin in earnest.
Fast forward to the ribbon-cutting ceremony that celebrated the successful completion of the complete restoration of the 1906 Atlantic Shore Line Railway electric locomotive No. 100 in September 2009.
Patricia Pierce Erikson (left) with O. R. Cummings.
O. R. Cummings was a member of the Museum for more
than 50 years. He wrote more than fifty books on New
England's electric railway systems, including the Atlantic Shore
Line Railway and the Portland-Lewiston Interurban. I couldn't
have been happier or more proud to have had O. R. be able to
have a ride on 100 that day of the ribbon-cutting.
September 25, 2009, PPE
Click Here: for the post on early restoration work on ASL No-100 in 2006
Click Here: for the post on the ten Maine railway vehicles listed in the National Register of Historic Places - including the vehicles acquired from YUCo; Nos. 8, 80, 82, 88, 100, and 108.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.