Maine museum begins fundraising to build new locomotive

ALNA, Maine — The Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum has kicked off a fundraising campaign to build a new steam locomotive. The new machine, No. 11, would be a faithful reproduction of the original railroad’s No. 7, a 1907 Baldwin 2-4-4RT Forney. No. 7 was damaged in a roundhouse fire in 1933 and was scrapped, along with almost everything else on the WW&F, in 1937.

During the closure of the museum due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a team of WW&F volunteers with engineering background, has been using data from the Baldwin Construction Standards manual to create two-dimensional drawings and 3-D images of components, which will be used to manufacture new parts to the original specifications. Over 500 images have been produced thus far, and the first parts, the main frame members and a number of smaller items, are in production at this time.

To support the project, the museum has opened a FundRazr crowd-funding site. The goal for the first round of fundraising is $17,000, which will boost the funding for the first year of the project to $50,000. Donations to the project are welcome at http://build11.wwfry.org.