By Justin Franz

Maine’s Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum put the finishing touches on its new three-stall roundhouse over the winter. The building is based on one used by the original railroad into the 1930s. The structure has been dubbed the “Morse Engine House” in honor of longtime volunteer Frederick Morse who passed away in November 2023. Friends remember Morse as “the soul of the WW&F” and over the decades he put in more than 20,000 volunteer hours at the museum.

The roundhouse was finished just in time for a weekend photography event in February and was prominently featured during a night photo session with WW&F 0-4-4T 9. The roundhouse gives the railroad a place to store its two steam locomotives (plus a third being built).

Located in Alna, Me., the WW&F is perhaps the most accurate recreation of the famed Maine two-footers.