Wheelset from B&M No. 3666.
Kittery Historical and Naval Museum, Kim Sanborn
KITTERY, Maine — A wheel from a long-lost Boston & Maine steam locomotive that fell off a bridge and into a river in 1939 is now on display in Maine.
The wheel off of B&M No. 3666 was put on display at the Kittery Historical and Naval Museum earlier this month, a year after it was pulled up from the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth, N.H., and Kittery.
According to newspaper reports of the era, the locomotive was leading a southbound passenger train to Boston on the evening of Sept. 10, 1939, when the bridge collapsed. The locomotive and the first car went into the river, killing the engineer, John Beatie, and the fireman, Charles Towle. The locomotive sunk 70 feet to the bottom of the river and has sat there ever since.
