Lucius Beebe Memorial Library, Wakefield, Mass.

Title

Wakefield Square, February 25, 1959

Description

"An antique 20-ton locomotive traveled on the back of a truck through downtown Wakefield just two weeks after the Greenwood railroad station made the same trek to Pleasure Island. The Davenport 2--6-0 narrow gauge engine was hauled by flatcar from the bayous of Louisiana and arrived at the B&M siding on the Junction railroad tracks near Broadway in mid-February. The engine was reported to be from the last of the narrow-gauge roads and had been used to haul sugar cane from the fields at Reserve, the largest sugarcane refinery in the United States in the early 20th century. It was believed that the engines was built around 1900. The locomotive was among several Canadian and American locomotives that were part of Pleasure Island's Engine City exhibit, which included the 216-ton 'old No. 3713'. That engine had been brought out of retirement from Fitchburg. According to local news reports, approximately 4,500' of spur track was laid from the B&M's old Newburyport branch to the Pleasure Island site especially for the locomotives to travel over the rails. Pleasure Island, which opened to the public on June 22, 1959 lasted for 11 seasons, closing on Labor Day weekend 1969. Nelson Blount, who owned Edaville Railroad, moved his Engine City exhibit from Pleasure Island to North Walpole, NH in December 1961. From there, the collection went to Bellows Falls, VT which became Steamtown USA. Some of this collection, which started at Pleasure Island, can still be seen at Steamtown national historic site in Scranton, PA."

Image from the Wakefield Municipal Gas and Light Department annual calendar, 2017

Photo courtesy of Bob McLaughlin - Friends of Pleasure Island, Inc.

Contributor

Institution: Lucius Beebe Memorial Library

Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (Wakefield, Mass.)

D'Onofrio, Jayne M.

Coverage

Massachusetts--Middlesex (county)--Wakefield

Date

02-25-1959

Format

image/jpeg

Publisher

Wakefield, Mass. : Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department

Subject

Amusement parks

Type

still image

Photographs

Original Format

1 picture: b & w

Extent

25 x 20 cm.