Charging through the woods of Maine. Here's #9, just about 5 minutes north of Sheepscot as she charges southbound on a return trip from Alna Center. On this particular day, the 9 hauled all three of the available coaches, WW&F #s 3 & 8 as well as the Bridgton Coach #11 which is on loan from the Boothbay Railway Village. A second train, powered by Diesel Locomotive #52, hauled two open excursion cars as well as two cabooses. The two trains alternated all day, for a total of 9 round trips.
WW&F Locomotive #9 has to be one of the shiniest steam engines I've ever seen. Her boiler jacket is made of planished iron, which reflects light in some really amazing ways. Sometimes, as in this photo, it appears jet black....which it basically is. At other times however, it appears a distinct metallic blue, reflecting the sky above it. In addition, the cab, the tank and the domes have all been coated with several layers of varnish, which again catches available light and does some interesting things with it. And of course, the museum folks not only keep the engine very clean, but they also oil that boiler jacket with some top-secret formula on each service day, to keep it looking brand new. I suspect that toward the end of operations, the crews on the original railroad probably weren't detailing it quite like they do now.
