(Moody Photo)
Mr. and Mrs. Atwood smile beside of their de luxe coach “Elthea”, named in her honor.
No. 7’s hauling the excursion train today. Want to see her? A trim little pot, don’t you think? Baldwin built her thirty-four years ago and she was the biggest two-foot gauge engine ever built then. Thirty-five tons wrapped up there. Doesn’t look it, does she? Her outside frames enclose four thirty-five inch drivers that can really roll. Hundred and eighty pounds of steam, twelve-by-sixteen inch cylinders. You won’t see it today but she can bat ’em off at a sixty mile clip!
Like most of this equipment No. 7 came from the Bridgton & Saco River, up in Maine.
This tricky little car hooked to her tail was the B. & S. R.’s Railway Post Office, Express, and Baggage car. Yes, they used to have a regular mail contract, postal clerks and all. That was before the other war.
This coach, too, was a Bridgton car, the old Pondicherry. Laconia Car Works built her and a mate, the Mount Pleasant, when the road was new, sixty-four years ago. Of course, Mr. Atwood has refinished and renovated them all. When we go out on the train please notice those coaches down in the yard: the one with double windows and stained glass was a fine idea of two-foot de luxe coach accommodations. She’s the Elthea, named for Elthea Atwood, Mr. Atwood’s wife. A proper tribute, too, because she works right with him in everything—cranberry business, railroad, and all.
Now: this smooth little wagon on the rear here, that’s the parlor car.
Ever hear of the old Sandy River parlor car? You must have! It’s been in print ever since Jackson & Sharpe built it, 'way back when. In 1901, to be exact.
(Moody Photo)