| |
Atlantic Shore Line locomotive 100 in Sanford, Maine
By O. R. Cummings, Historian, New England Electric Railway Historical Society - November 30, 1999 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.An early picture suggests they were painted green with white trim and carried the company name on their side sills. No. 101 was rebuilt to 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.
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 Seashore Trolley Museum later the same year but received little attention there during the ensuing half century.
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.
|
|
