Sandy River hat badge and whistle, back in Maine where they belong!
| October 29, 2019 02:11PM |
Well I finally did it! After 39 years I have returned two historic items back to their rightful home, Maine. They now reside in the Phillips Historical Society. Jane, the curator, provided the first two pictures below.
Below is a "believed to be" Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes whistle and the only known to exist Sandy River Rail Road hat badge. Below that is me holding both just before I packed them for shipment to Maine. Please notice my Como Depot shirt!
Here is the story of how I obtained them.
In June of 1980 my wife and I traveled to Maine to trace the route of the SR&RL. We started in Farmington after first stopping in Wiscasset. Since we had only been married three years we had little money so we stopped at a roadside table, near Farmington, to cook hot dogs with our camp gas grill. In order to get the cooler out I had to remove an antique sled we had just bought in Wiscasset. Near the roadside table was a large building with two guys outside unloading a truck. One of them noticed the sled and said "Nice sled!" I thanked him and we ate our yummy hot dogs. When we were done he came over and said he was an antique dealer and said the building was full of antiques and offered to let us look around which we did. While in the building he asked where we were going on our trip and I said we were following the old train route. In response he said "Would you be interested in a whistle off one of the locomotives?" Of course I said "Yes!" He said it was in his home in Farmington so we followed him there. He handed me the completely black tarnished whistle with a piece of pipe cutoff in it which is what you would expect from a scrapped locomotive. We agreed to a price of $150 which was a lot of money for us. He then said "I think I have something else you might like." He then hands me a modern hat with the SRRR hat badge on it. I couldn't figure out what it was because I was expecting SR&RL like I had seen in all of my books. I then guessed that it might be Sandy River Rail Road but I had never seen one before. I agreed to pay $75 for it for a total of $225! Needless to say my wife was very understanding!
In the Fall of 2017 I created threads on this forum and also on the WW&F forum to try and learn more about the items. It turned out that Philip Marshall had the answers.
In the fourth picture below is a scan he did of a page in "Two Feet Between the Rails: Volume 2" showing #7 in the shop with a whistle that looks like mine.
In the fifth picture is a scan, and blowup, of a picture in "Two Feet Between the Rails: Volume 1" showing a SRRR hat badge with an outline matching mine.
Thank you Philip for the detective work!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2019 02:25PM by John Meixel.
Below is a "believed to be" Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes whistle and the only known to exist Sandy River Rail Road hat badge. Below that is me holding both just before I packed them for shipment to Maine. Please notice my Como Depot shirt!
Here is the story of how I obtained them.
In June of 1980 my wife and I traveled to Maine to trace the route of the SR&RL. We started in Farmington after first stopping in Wiscasset. Since we had only been married three years we had little money so we stopped at a roadside table, near Farmington, to cook hot dogs with our camp gas grill. In order to get the cooler out I had to remove an antique sled we had just bought in Wiscasset. Near the roadside table was a large building with two guys outside unloading a truck. One of them noticed the sled and said "Nice sled!" I thanked him and we ate our yummy hot dogs. When we were done he came over and said he was an antique dealer and said the building was full of antiques and offered to let us look around which we did. While in the building he asked where we were going on our trip and I said we were following the old train route. In response he said "Would you be interested in a whistle off one of the locomotives?" Of course I said "Yes!" He said it was in his home in Farmington so we followed him there. He handed me the completely black tarnished whistle with a piece of pipe cutoff in it which is what you would expect from a scrapped locomotive. We agreed to a price of $150 which was a lot of money for us. He then said "I think I have something else you might like." He then hands me a modern hat with the SRRR hat badge on it. I couldn't figure out what it was because I was expecting SR&RL like I had seen in all of my books. I then guessed that it might be Sandy River Rail Road but I had never seen one before. I agreed to pay $75 for it for a total of $225! Needless to say my wife was very understanding!
In the Fall of 2017 I created threads on this forum and also on the WW&F forum to try and learn more about the items. It turned out that Philip Marshall had the answers.
In the fourth picture below is a scan he did of a page in "Two Feet Between the Rails: Volume 2" showing #7 in the shop with a whistle that looks like mine.
In the fifth picture is a scan, and blowup, of a picture in "Two Feet Between the Rails: Volume 1" showing a SRRR hat badge with an outline matching mine.
Thank you Philip for the detective work!
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/29/2019 02:25PM by John Meixel.
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488 stops for water at Los Pinos tank on closing day Oct. 1979. Photo courtesy Don Richter
The NGDF was started by Don Richter and is currently operated in his memory by Nathan Holmes and others. Others who have contributed to the upkeep of this board are (in no particular order): Charles McCandless, Everett Lueck, Ted Wilton, Cole Adams, James Bane, John Moellmer, Jon Bentz, Linn Moedinger, lloyd lehrer, Rod Jensen, John Craft, Steven Forney, Herb Kelsey, Bill Ramaley, Russ Sperry (El Russo Loco), Josh McNeal, John West, Jim Armstrong, Bob Bergstrom, Greg Scholl, Blake Forbes Doug van Veelen and Mark Fuller.