B&SR 2-foot gauge tank car. Spotted on the ramp track in the WW&F Museum's Sheepscot Yard is the only remaining, 2-foot gauge tank car that's still intact. Built in 1903 by Maine's Portland Company, this 3,000 gallon car and another similar to it were the only two-foot gauge tank cars ever built for Maine Railroads. Unlike a purpose-built tank car, these were basically tanks retrofitted to flat cars. They were operated on the Bridgton & Saco River Railroad (later, the Bridgton & Harrison Railroad), and were used by the Standard Oil Company of New York (SOCONY) to deliver oil to Bridgton, Maine. Oil was shipped to Bridgton Junction via the standard gauge Portland & Ogdensburg (later, the Maine Central), and then transferred from standard gauge tanks to this car and it's stablemate. It basically took two of these narrow gauge cars to hold the oil off-loaded from a single standard gauge tank.
After the Bridgton & Harrison Railroad went out of business, the two tank cars came into the collection of Ellis Atwood at his Edvaville Railroad operation in Massachusetts. There they remained until the collection was acquired by the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad (MNGRR) Company & Museum in Portland, Maine. Of the two original cars, only #14 is still intact and is currently located at the WW&F's Sheepscot campus, along with much of the MNGRR collection, while the group awaits construction of new facilities to house it in Portland. During this time, the WW&F and MNGRR are collaborating on a number of projects, including the restoration of this car over the past winter and spring. In the days just prior to when this photo was made, the completed car was lettered by Catherine Geren, who is the current President of the MNGRR Board of Trustees. Word has it that she spent a full day on each side, and according to some of the museum folks, by the time she was done, she was probably wishing the car had been used to ship Esso Products. :o)
