Monday, July 15, 2024

85 Years Ago Today - July 15, 1939 - Biddeford and Saco Railroad Open Car 31 Arrived in Kennebunkport, ME

Thank you to Reece Saunders for recreating this colorful digital version from
the original photo taken on July 15, 1939, of the "Parade" of Car 31
chained-together vehicles. The length of the combined pieces is said to
have been 90-100 feet long. Left to right: Old rear end from a junked
Mack dump truck with two rails from the end of Car 31 attached for
use as the rear wheels. Car 31's other end is held up by a chain held
by the crane of the Mack Truck wrecker. To keep the front wheels of
the wrecker on the ground, the front end of the wrecker is chained to the
back end of the truck to the far right - "Designs by Reece" Reece Saunders

Description of the "Parade" of chained-together vehicles as told by
one of the original eight founders of what we know now as the
Seashore Trolley Museum, John Amlaw. From his write-up in the September
1960 issue of The Trolley Museum Dispatch. Car 31's two truck assemblies
had been removed to transport the body to Kennebunkport. The last sentence
mentions ..."two rails sticking out beyond it...," - two rails were attached to
the underneath end of 31 so that the extended ends could be secured to the
top of a separate rear end from a junked old Mack dump truck. The overall
height of Car 31 had to be such that it could safely pass underneath a 
railroad overpass in Saco. 

A difficult-to-acquire, brass model of a Brill, 12 bench open car, and
a pair of Brill 22-E trucks. The car, and separately, the two trucks, were
acquired from England. Found by Tom Tello, with help from Tony Tieuli,
both are longtime members - the Seashore Trolley Museum. Working
together, they accepted my request to consider the possibility of creating
a model diorama reproduction of the incredible, "Parade of Car 31" and
the chained vehicles, that transported Car 31 to Kennebunkport on
July 15, 1939. - Photo courtesy of Tom Tello

A "teaser" for the work that Tom has done. Stay tuned for the 
announcement of the completed "Parade of Car 31" diorama creation!
Edited photo courtesy of Tom Tello

A copy of the original photo taken on  July 15, 1939 - The "parade" is pulled over
to the side of the Biddeford Road as it approaches what is now the main entrance
to the Seashore Trolley Museum. The crew needed to take a look at the 
entrance to the former right-of-way (ROW) of the Atlantic Shore Railway and 
plan the approach to backing this 90-100-foot long parade into the ROW
to access the property where Car 31 was to be unloaded. It was challenging!
The story is below.
 Image courtesy of the Seashore Trolley Museum.

Happy 85th Anniversary!!

Eighty-five years ago today, on July 15, 1939, open car No. 31, of the Biddeford and Saco Railroad, was delivered to the original ten-acre property in Kennebunkport that is now close to the main entrance to the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine. 

There will be many special events at the Seashore Trolley Museum during this 85th Anniversary season.
Click Here: The Seashore Trolley Museum's website home page.

This blog post is going to focus on the activities of the founding members of the Seashore Trolley Museum that took place following their Farewell Fan Trip at the Biddeford and Saco Railroad, on June 18, 1939.

Click HereRead about Car 31 and the Biddeford and Saco Railroad during the year that Car 31 arrived in
 the Biddeford-Saco area, 124 years ago, on June 6, 1900.

Car 31 has the unique distinction of being the first trolley car (anywhere in the world) to be saved by a group of individuals to start a trolley museum. Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, ME, was founded in 1939 with the acquisition of Car 31. Car 31 is recognized as the "Mother Car" of all trolley museums worldwide. Car 31 is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is also a member of Save America's Treasures.

Click Here: Ted Santarelli tells the story of how Car 31 was saved. Santarelli was one of the young men who saved Car 31 in 1939, and in doing so, became one of the founders of the Seashore Trolley Museum. Think about this...Ted was twenty years old and was the leader of the group. Amazing...

Click Here: to read and view many photos of Car 31 when it returned home to Biddeford, Saco, and OOB in 1999 - 60th Anniversary Home Tour

    Theodore "Ted" Santarelli, John Amlaw, and Gerald "Gerry" Cunningham were electric railway fans living in the Boston area in 1939. Ted in Boston, John in Somerville, and Gerry from Haverhill. During their trip to an electric railway fan trip in Lewiston, Maine, on May 30, 1939, they discussed the announcement of buses replacing the trolleys at the Biddeford and Saco Railroad by about June 20, 1939.

    After returning to MA, they each wrote letters to friends to invite them to join a group that would try and save a trolley from the Biddeford and Saco Railroad (B&S). Gerry, with his family, had spent several summers in Ocean Park in Maine. Ocean Park is a village in Old Orchard Beach. The trolleys of the B&S
operated into Old Orchard Beach. Over the years, Gerry rode the B&S trolley often and got to know many of the motormen, conductors, shop personnel, and the general manager/president of the B&S, J. Burton Stride. Gerry wrote a letter to Mr. Stride and explained in the letter that this new group would like to save one of the trolleys by purchasing a complete car. 

    Ted had sent a letter off to Charles "Charlie" Brown in Hyde Park, MA. With Charlie joining the group, they decided to create a "Farewell" Fan Trip to raise interest and hopefully raise money to fund the purchase of a trolley. Charlie organized the trip for June 18, 1939, a day or two before the buses were scheduled to replace the trolleys.     

    Gerry didn't receive a reply from Mr. Stride. So, on a day before the June 18, fan trip, Gerry stopped by Mr. Stride's office at the B&S carbarn on Beach Street in Saco. Mr. Stride happened to be in his office and welcomed Gerry in. Gerry listened to Mr. Stride's response to the request made in the letter by saying the group was attempting a task that wasn't really doable. Stride went on to say he already had a contract to scrap all the trolley cars. In addition, as a member of the local Rotary Club, he had made a promise not to sell any trolley bodies that would be relocated to any property in the Biddeford, Saco, or Old Orchard Beach communities. Gerry replied on behalf of the new group that he could promise that if they could purchase a complete car, they would relocate it outside of the three communities. Gerry continued by stating the intention of the group was to save a complete car for operation in the future. Mr. Stride replied with a price of $300.
The Biddeford and Saco Carbarn on Beach Street in Saco.
The entrance to the office of the general manager/president,
 J. Burton Stride is to the right of the automotive vehicle.
 O. R. Cummings Collection 2009_2_14_161
Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum

    Gerry communicated the price to Ted, John, et others in the new group. They were initially struck with how challenging it would be to raise that amount of money, especially with so little time to do so. In addition, there would be a need for more money to acquire a place for the car to be relocated to, the costs associated with prepping it for transportation, and the costs to transport the car. It was during an economic time when one might have a job that pays a weekly amount of $15 to $20. After a day or two, they decided to approach Mr. Stride again to see if he would reduce the price.

    This time, Ted and John went to the Beach Street carbarn to see Mr. Stride. They were told Mr. Stride was at his home at Graham Street in Biddeford. They went to Mr. Stride's home. Mr. Stride was mowing his lawn. He mentioned he was busy and couldn't chat with them at that time. Ted offered to take over mowing the lawn so he could chat with them. Mr. Stride agreed. John thanked Mr. Stride for offering to sell the group a trolley, John then restated the group's desire to save a trolley and that they would comply with Mr. Stride's promise to the Rotary Club to have the trolley be located outside of the three communities, however, they were struggling with the price. They asked Mr. Stride to consider a lower price. This approach must have made a positive impression on Mr. Stride. He took a moment, then he replied, that the price would be $150. 

(Reading the transcripts from various interviews of many early members/founders of Seashore, conducted by longtime member, Edward "Ed" Dooks, during the late 1980s, it's unclear whether Ted and John began the search for a location and transportation sources, before the June 18 fan trip, or after the June 18 fan trip. For this post, I'll write the process taking place before the June 18 fan trip occurred)

    Once the group felt they could acquire a trolley, they next had to find and secure a location outside of the Biddeford, Saco, and OOB communities, and sources to provide transportation of the trolley and its trucks, to the location.

    
The former carbarn of the Atlantic Shore Line/York Utilities Railway
was located at Town House junction in Kennebunkport. After the YUCo
ended service, the building and some of its vehicles had been sold to 
Everett Greenleaf of Kennebunk.
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

    When asked for any suggestions for a source to talk to about a location outside of the three communities, one of the Beach Street carbarn staff members referred Ted and John to seek Everett Greenleaf. He was the owner of the former carbarn of the York Utilities/Atlantic Shore Line Railways in Kennebunkport.

    Ted and John traveled to the former carbarn and met up with Mr. Greenleaf. Upon hearing the story of the need for a location for a saved trolley in the coming weeks, Mr. Greenleaf explained his suggestion for Ted and John to seek a piece of property owned by a local farmer up the road. Mr. Greenleaf also offered to help with the transportation. He also referred Ted and John to a fella who had a wrecker.

    To keep the story short, through Mr. Greenleaf, Ted, and John met Fred and Mabel Clough. They owned a farm near the former right-of-way of the Atlantic Shore Railway. Mr. Clough was a former motorman for the railway. Mr. Clough told Ted and John, that there was a neighbor farmer, George Hill, who owned a ten-acre strip of landlocked property that ran parallel between the Clough farm and the former right-of-way of the electric railway. 

   Ted and  John next visited George Hill. Mr. Hill was interested in hearing the plan of saving a trolley and yes, he would lease/sell the ten acres to the group.

The original ten acres where Car 31 would be placed on
July 15, 1939. Shaped like a 22-degree acute triangle,
due to the length of Car 31, it would need to be unloaded
where the width of the property was wide enough
 for the complete car. That meant backing into the
right-of-way a few hundred feet before reaching a
wide enough piece for 31.

     Next up was following up on Mr. Greenleaf's referral for a wrecker. Bob Smart had owned a wrecker but he had sold it to Tom Scott. Mr. Smart wanted to help transport the trolley. Ted and John visited Mr. Scott and he too wanted to help. He and his wrecker were available to move the trolley when needed.

    The group then started thinking of the number of friends needed to achieve the goal of raising $150, plus additional money for the transportation-related costs. But, first things first. $150 to secure the purchase of a trolley. Ten people at $15 each was the goal for the June 18th Farewell Fan Trip.

Copy of a ticket for the Farewell fan trip
on June 18, 1939.

    It was during the Farewell Fan Trip while they were riding on Car 31, that the group decided Car 31 would be the trolley they would save.

The summary of the fan trip was noted in the newspaper.
Biddeford Daily Journal - June 18, 1939

    With only about 35 attending the Farewell FanTrip and the need to pay the B&SRR for the fan trip, the group didn't gain much from the Farewell trip. They did have a handful of friends in total, pledge or commit, to helping financially, but more money was needed.

     Fortunately, the delivery of the buses was delayed. That led to a change of date for buses to replace the trolleys to July 6.

    July 5 was the final day of trolley operations on the B&SRR before buses took over on July 6. It was also the day that the $150 payment was due for purchasing Car 31. The group only had $108. 

    On July 5, Ted had the $108 and tracked down Mr. Stride to negotiate the $108 being a deposit to save Car 31. Ted waited at the Old Orchard Beach train station for the train that had Mr. Stride as a passenger who would be disembarking from the train. The train arrived. Ted met Mr. Stride, Ted talked about the finances, Mr. Stride accepted the $108 as a deposit, and required the balance of $42 be paid by July 14 to the representative of the Salzberg Company that was under contract to scrap all the trolleys of the B&S. Mr. Stride and Ted shook hands on the negotiated deal. 

Postcard of the Old Orchard Beach train station PWM

    During the next few days, the group was able to raise the balance of the $42 for purchasing Car 31, as well as a few more dollars to pay for the wrecker and secure renting a used rear end from a junked Mack dump truck. The rear end would be used to secure one end of the body of Car 31 during transportation to Kennebunkport. 

    On Friday morning, July 14, Ted was in Biddeford. He didn't have the $42 with him. John Amlaw sent it to Ted via Western Union shortly after lunchtime. Ted met up with the rep from Salzberg Company and paid the balance due for Car 31. Ted then went to the Beach Street Carbarn to start prepping Car 31 for transporting to Kennebunkport.

The backyard of Beach Street Carbarn. Car 31 would use one
of those two tracks extending from the center bays to rest on a track
while awaiting to be prepped for leaving.
Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum Library:
 O. R. Cummings Collection 

    Car 31 was waiting in the backyard of the Beach Street carbarn. It was on a piece of track that extended through one of the bays into the backyard. Ted, with no experience in removing trucks from under a trolley car, borrowed a jack and the many, many pieces of wood blocks, from the Beach Street carbarn, to use for jacking up one end at a time, of Car 31, and removing each truck. 

Ready for the wrecker to arrive and hook up.
Car 31 with both of its trucks removed. The body is resting
on wooden saw horses. The end of Car 31, opposite the
carbarn, has two rails secured to the underneath of the body.
Those two rails extend out from the body and are secured
to the top of the rear end of a Mack dump truck. 
Courtesy Seashore Trolley Museum

    John Amlaw arrived after Ted got started and he helped with the process. Each end of 31 was jacked up 6 feet high or higher for the trucks to be able to be rolled out from underneath the body. The first end was lowered back down onto wooden sawhorses. Before the back end was lowered all the way down onto the used rear end of a junked Mack dump truck, a pair of rails had to be secured to the underneath of the body and to the top of the rear axle of the Mach dump truck. This setup would act as a trailer for the rear end of Car 31 during the transportation to Kennebunkport.

    The next morning, July 15, Ted was the only one of the group that was at the Beach Street carbarn when Bob Smart and Tom Scott arrived with the wrecker and Everett Greenleaf arrived with his truck to transport each truck separately to Kennebunkport. In addition, to transporting Car 31, the wrecker would be used to load/unload each of Car 31's trucks into and out of Everett's truck.

     With how Car 31 was positioned behind the carbarn, it was going to be challenging to hook up the front end of Car 31 to the wrecker and have the wrecker drive through the carbarn, exit through the front of the bay doorway, out to Beach Street, en route to Kennebunkport.

    The carbarn was going to be totally razed within a couple of weeks. The process had already begun with some sections. A new storage and repair shop for the buses was going to be built.

    The wrecker backed up to the end of Car 31 which would be held by the wrecker's crane. After the sawhorses were removed and the full weight of Car 31 was on the crane, the front wheels of the wrecker lifted up away from the ground. Of course, the driver was not going to be able to steer the wrecker with the front wheels in the air. The team reset 31 so that the front tires of the wrecker returned to the ground.

    Ted came up with the idea to chain the back end of Mr. Greenleaf's truck to the front end of the wrecker. Thinking the added weight of the truck on the front end of the wrecker would keep the wheels on the ground when Car 31 was lifted by the crane. It worked. 

    However, now they had the 90 to 100-foot-long parade of chained-together vehicles to try and maneuver through the carbarn bay. In Ted's transcript of his interview, he mentions crew members from the company dismantling portions of the carbarn stepped in and removed portions of the building that were blocking the parade from exiting. Then the long parade was able to maneuver through and exit the carbarn. Then it was off to Kennebunkport.
     
This is an early '70s aerial view of the area where the entrance is to the
Seashore Trolley Museum. The roads you see at the entrance to the museum were
not there in 1939. You can still see where the old right-of-way extended
from the top right of the photo, heading south, passing over the Clough 
Farm driveway, and continuing just in front the their son, Carl's, house, and
on running parallel with the east side of Biddeford Road (now Log Cabin Road).

    Using the photo above as a reference. You can get a sense of the challenge the drivers of the wrecker, and lead truck chained to the wrecker, were presented with as they contemplated the approach needed to back the 90 to 100-foot-long Car 31 parade up the right-of-way several hundred feet before they could reach the property where it was wide enough to place Car 31. Where they needed to place Car 31 is further up along the right-of-way than is visible in this photo. 

    They had to drive toward Kennebunkport until the very end of Car 31, resting on the rails that were on the rear end of the Mack dump truck, were in line with backing straight into the right-of-way. Coordinating the backing up of these chained-together vehicles must have been very tough.

    Ted mentions in his transcript, that the Clough Farm driveway was torn up and damaged by the vehicles backing over it. This was the first direct experience of Car 31 being next door to the Cloughs. They were not happy about the damage done to their driveway. Ted being Ted, he apologized to the Cloughs and told them he would return to repair the damaged gravel driveway. Ted was staying with friends on Peaks Island, off the coast of Portland. The next morning, Ted took the Ferrry from Peaks Island to Portland. Walked to the Customs House. Took a trolley to Monument Square. Boarded a Portland bus to Old Orchard Beach. Board a Biddeford-Saco bus to Five Points. Walked to Granite Street Extension. Then entered the old right-of-way of the YUCo/ASL Railway and walked the four miles to the Clough Farm. Borrowed the shovel, etc. needed to repair the gravel driveway. Fixed the driveway. Ted thanks the
Cloughs and he returned to Peaks Island later in the day. 

    The Cloughs were impressed and became longtime, dear, caring volunteers, overseeing the collection of cars over many years while the early members were serving during WWII and during the weekdays that the early members were not able to be with the collection on property. Mr. Clough, as a former ASL motorman, with help from his three sons, all were so very helpful in providing guidance as to track work, pole placement, overhead wire, working on the cars, etc.

   
Car 31 as it looked when it was first unloaded at its new home.
You can see the right-of-way parallel with the electric poles.
You can also see that this end of Car 31 is resting on a portion
of the right-of-way. That was a problem. The Electric
Company; Cumberland County Power and Electric, began to
complain about this predicament. They required that Car 31
be totally removed from the right-of-way before winter fell.
On November 11, Armistice Day, the task was accomplished!
    
    Below is a link to an interview with Ted Santarelli and his first-hand accounting of how things unfolded and how the first couple of streetcars were acquired (1900 open car No. 31 from the Biddeford 
Saco Railroad and 1906 interurban No. 38 from Manchester & Nashua Street Railway.) 

Thank you to Ed Dooks for recording the interview and digitizing the original VHS tape. 
"This is the way we started, with one car, with no great thought that we were going to have more cars or that we would develop into a museum of this size."

Ted Santarelli, October 10, 1987



Click Here for the post - "The Birth of Seashore Trolley Museum - An Interview with the Founder".
Click Here for the post - "80th Anniversary Year-Seashore Trolley Museum - A Look Back at the 50s
Click Here for the post - "80th Anniversary Year-Seashore Trolley Museum-A Look Back at the 60s
Click Here for the post - "80th Anniversary Year-Seashore Trolley Museum-A Look Back at the 70s
Click Here for the post - "1901 Tower C Boston Elevated Railway to STM 1975"
Click Here for the post - The Saga of Northampton Station Coming to Maine 1990
Click Here for the post - 50 Years Ago on Halloween - Narcissus Arrived at Seashore Trolley Museum

We continue the restoration work on the Narcissus, the only surviving interurban coach of the PLI. Please consider making a donation to the Narcissus Project to help the restoration work continue to completion.

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

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 2020 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
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 a one-time donation or you
may choose to have a specific amount charged to your card
automatically each month. Please contact the Museum bookkeeper, Jill, via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone, at 207-967-2712 ext. 5.

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: 816 Narcissus, then continue filling in the required information.

Click Here for PayPal - to make an online donation: you can email: finance@NEERHS.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, Jill, via email at finance@trolleymuseum.org or by phone, at 207-967-2712 ext. 5,
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 - 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
* LogMein - Matching Employee Donation
* IBM - Matching Employee/Retiree Donations
* Fidelity Charitable Grant - Matching Employee Donations
* Richard E. Erwin Grant - 2017/2016

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

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.