The WW&F Railway (Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington) in Alna, Maine has announced that they will be buying two ballast hoppers from Sandstone Estates in South Africa. These are surplus NGY-1 designated cars that were built by Hudson between 1968 and 1976. They were built to work on the longest 2ft gauge railroad in the world, the Avontuur Railway.
The new cars join a growing fleet of maintenance-of-way equipment for the museum. The WW&F built a tracklaying gantry crane and was donated a track tamper from Wilmar Sugar in Queensland, Australia. They are currently in the process of building a combined excavator and track car. This new equipment will help the museum more easily maintain their existing trackage and set them up for further expansion in the future.
There is no precendent for such modern-day hoppers on the line so the hoppers will be lettered as they were while in service in South Africa. The museum wants the cars to represent the world-wide presence of narrow gauge railroads. Knuckle couplers that were previously bought from the East Broad Top will be installed on the cars before they enter service. The cars have vacuum brakes that should be compatible with the system that the WW&F is developing.
To help cover the $66,000 cost of buying and shipping the hoppers the WW&F has set up a donation page at www.wwfry.org/africa/. The shipping cost is being shared with the Edaville Railroad who is also buying a hopper and other equipment. The cars are in operable condition so they should enter service in a fairly short amount of time once arriving in Maine, but no timeframe has been given.
Photo from WW&F website.
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