By Justin Franz
Ninety-five years to the day that Maine’s smallest 2-foot gauge railroad ran for the last time, the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum is reviving a long-overlooked narrow gauge pike.
On June 29, the Maine museum will host a Civil War reenactment dubbed “The Road to Togus Remembered” that will celebrate the history of the Kennebec Central Railroad. As part of the event, WW&F 0-4-4T 9 will be re-lettered and re-numbered for the KCRR, where it worked from 1925 until the railroad shut down on June 29, 1929.
The KCRR was one of five 2-foot gauge railroads in the state and at just 5 miles long it was also the smallest. While the railroad never operated during the Civil War, it owed its existence to the conflict since it was built to serve the National Soldiers’ Home at Togus in Chelsea. The railroad brought in soldiers from Randolph (across the river from a connection with the Maine Central) and coal that was barged up the Kennebec River. It ran from 1890 until 1929.
The railroad owned four steam locomotives, including one bought from the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes, 0-4-4T 6. After the railroad quickly “suspended” operations in 1929, the locomotive (renumbered 4 on the KCRR) sat in a shed until 1933, when the owner of the nearby WW&F came to town looking for motive power. According to legend, the WW&F’s own locomotives needed work and it was cheaper to buy the KCRR’s entire fleet (including freight and passenger cars) than to repair its own. The rolling stock was scrapped on site and the two surviving KCRR locomotives were trucked to Wiscasset to become WW&F Nos. 8 and 9. The two locomotives’ time on the WW&F would be short-lived however; on June 15, 1933, the WW&F shut down after a train derailed and there weren’t enough resources to pick up the mess.
Locomotive 9 would eventually be sold to a Connecticut man hoping to start his own tourist railroad but those plans never panned out. The engine would return to Maine in the 1990s and return to service in 2015. Since then the locomotive has become the primary motive power for the WW&F.
While five steam locomotives were saved from the famed Maine 2-footers, locomotive 9 is the only one to have run on the WW&F, SR&RL and KCRR. While the WW&F Railway Museum has briefly restored 9 to its SR&RL appearance in the past, it wasn’t until this year that it was returned to its KCRR appearance. That came at the urging of WW&F volunteers Dan Malkowski and Bryce Weeks. Using vinyl magnets, the railroad was able to restore the locomotive to its KCRR appearance. Earlier this year, the locomotive ran with the KCRR lettering to test fit the magnets, but it will make its public debut on June 29, during “The Road to Togus Remembered” event. During the event, KCRR 4 will lead excursions to Alna Center (part way up the line) where a Civil War reenactment and demonstration will take place. Tickets and additional information can be found online.