Radio Script #17
Little Talks On Common Things
March 6, 1949
Most of us are guilty occasionally of that rhetorical fault known as the mixed metaphor. We say things like this: “If the government holds the reins, it will play the tune”. But probably few of us ever confused two sports in the same metaphor the way that persistent voice from Michigan, Clare Hoffman, did a few days ago in Congress. He said: “As a candidate for the Presidency, Mr. Dewey has twice gone to bat. Perhaps the pitcher in the first contest was a Bob Feller or a Dizzy Dean, and hence the young man’s strike-out was excusable. But on this last occasion a soft, easy ball was tossed up to h~ and he just did not take his bat off his shoulder or start to swing until the catcher had it in his mitt.”
Up to that point Representative Hoffman was going strong with his baseball figure of speech. But then he continued: “In all fairness Mr. Dewey should get out of the batter’s box, cease trying to carry the ball, and if his “me-too” international supporters cannot run interference or do some minor job on the team, they and he should go back and sit down on the bench.”
It would be a big job for even Mr. Hodfman’s most pestiferous opponent, Mr. Marcantonio of New York, to take in the full meaning of that picture. Mr. Dewey in the batter’s box carrying the ball! Where? In his pocket or in his mouth?
More than once on this program we have had kind words for private industry, for individual enterprise, as true characteristics of the American way of life. Pertinent to that topic is a single paragraph that appeared in a long editorial in the Omaha World Herald a few weeks ago. Listen to these words:
“Here in America, not merely in other lands, the state is more and more taking control and ownership of the people. The power to tax is the power to destroy; that is why the taxing power must always be held in restraint by the people themselves. The people’s independence and self-reliance must not be destroyed. Free men must not become vassals either of industry or of the state. Free men must not be rendered incapable of self-support; they must not be forced to constant reliance upon the biased paternalism of a great white father. Some of us will fight this concentration of powers in Washington to the last ditch, for great power does corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Now for the surprise which I promised you for tonight. There are lots of people in this vicinity who know something about the old narrow gauge railroads, and some who know a great deal about them. I have talked with several men who once worked on one or more of those old, two-foot lines, and they have given me valuable information. But I had no idea that, right here in Waterville., I Should find an expert, a real encyclopedia of knowledge about the narrow ·guage roads. And that expert is not a railroad man; he is not an old man; he is not .even a voter. He is believe it or not — a sixteen year old boy .
His name is Brian Alley and he lives at 20 Sherwin Street, Waterville. He is now a senior at the Waterville Junior High School. You can’t stump him with any questions about the old narrow gauge lines. He never rode on one in his life, but he knows about every mile of track, every locomotive, every car. He is right here in the studio with me tonight and he has consented to answer some questions on this program.
M: Brian, how did you get interested in something that went out of .existence before you were born — those old narrow gauge railroads?
B: My mother is a native of Franklin County .and I have relatives who still live in Phillips, strong and Farmington. I wanted some kind of a hobby, ·so a few-years ago I began to collect everything I could find about little railroads like the Sandy River.
M: How have you gathered your information?
B: By talking and corresponding with persons who worked on the narrow guage roads, by collecting items from the roads themselves when they were abandoned, and by reading everything I could find in print on the subject.
M: Has anyone person helped you especially?
B: Yes, Eliot Steward of Norway, Maine. He was born in Phillips, and over the years he took a lot of pictures of the Sandy River Road. The tracks ran close by his house, and he had many rides on the engines. Mr. Steward has been a lot of help to me, especially in my collection of pictures.
M: When Linwood Moody in his book on the Edaville Railroad writes that there were ten of these old two-footers in Maine, is he right or wrong? Were there exactly ten, not nine or eleven?
B: Mr. Moody is right. There were just ten of those two-foot railroads in Maine.
M: Do you know what they were?
B: Yes, I do. In the first place,you were wrong when you said the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes was made up of three original roads.
M: That is what an old-time railroad man told me. I thought he knew.
B: Well, the record at the State House proves him wrong. The roads that later made up the SR & RL were six roads, not three.
M: What? You mean there were actually twice as many as I thought there were?
B: That’s right. They were the original Sandy River, chartered in 1879; the Franklin and Megantic, 1884; the Phillips and Rangeley, 1889; the Kingfield and Dead River, 1893; the Madrid and the Eustis, both chartered in 1903.
M: In speaking of ten roads, did Mr. Moody count those as six of the ten?
B: He had to, if his total was ten, because there were only four others: the Bridgton and Saco River, the Monson, the Kennebec Central, and the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington (originally the Wiscasset and Quebec).
M: What about the road from Old Orchard to Camp Ellis, that I have mentioned twice on these programs?
B: That was a broad gauge road. When the little engine they used on it would break down, they would put a big engine on the train. They couldn’t have done that if it hadn’t been standard gauge.
M: .And what about the narrow guage down at Searsport and the one at Lincoln?
B: They don’t count because they were not common carriers. There was a lot of narrow gauge track laid down by lumber companies and other industries just for their own work. The short lines at Searsport and Lincoln were only two of a dozen or more. We’re talking about roads that carried public passengers and freight, aren’t we?
M: Yes, we are. Anyway, I accept your explanation. You certainly know more about the old roads than I do. Brian, I was very much interested in that wonderful album you showed me. It is a real pictorial history of narrow guage railroads. I think our radio audience would like to know about some of the things in it.
B: I have pictures of nearly all the old two-foot roads of Maine. I have tickets, report forms, freight bills, train orders and time tables.
M: Are there any items that you prize especially?
B: perhaps the item I prize most is a picture of the old Sandy River Engine No. 1, taken in 1880. Then I have a very interesting picture of a freight train, showing a Franklin and Megantic engine and a Sandy River caboose.
M: How do you account for that combination?
B: The picture was taken after the merger of the six roads had been made, but before they had time to change the lettering on cars and engines.
M: I understand, Brian, that you have some items too big to put into an album. Tell us about some of them.
B: I have a car seal from the original Sandy River Road.
M: What do you mean by a car seal?
B: A seal used for closing box cars, to make sure they hadn’t been opened when they reached their destination. I also have hand-brake wheels from freight cars, and odds and ends of little things from the cars and shops.
M: Brian, I used to hear a lot about stiff engines. What are they?
B: The familiar standard gauge engine has a separate tender. The biggest narrow gauge engines, like the Perry type built for the SR & RL in its boom days, had separate tenders. But most of the narrow gauge engines had the tender built as a part of the engine. The whole thing — engine and tender — was one stiff unit.
M: Now, Brian, have you ever had any desire to build a piece of narrow gauge track and actually run a train on it?
B: Indeed I have. But first I want to build a miniature Sandy River unit on the scale of one and 3/4ths inches to a foot. I plan to make a miniature engine, about four feet long, with separate tender. It will be a coal burner and will run on a 3; inch gauge.
M: You must get together some time with a Maine Central bus driver, who I understand plans to build a little narrow gauge road on his property at Belgrade Lakes. If he hears this program, he may get in touch with you. I am sure, Brian, that ourlisteners,as well as I, appreciate very much your part in tonight’s program, and we all wish you good luck in continuing your collection of information about the old narrow gauge railroads.
Mrs. Roland Stinneford of the Cushman Road, Winslow, contributes some very picturesque sayings that she heard many years ago from the lips of her boarding mistress when Mrs. Stinneford was a teacher at Somerset Academy in Athens.
One of the sayings is an unusual comparison. It is this: “I didn’t know who she was from a cord of bark.” Such an expression could only originate in a community where bark was sold by the cord, and few places used bark except the old tanneries. It is the type of saying we call an industrial proverb a proverbial expression associated with a particular kind of industry or livelihood.
Another of Mrs. Stinneford’s contributions is this: “I would wann the wax in his ears for him.” Evidently this means that the speaker would chastise with words, just as someone else might threaten to chastise physically by saying, “I’ll tan his hide for him”. Another expression of the same general meaning, which Mrs. Stinneford recalls, is: “I’ll put a split stick on her”. I want to gather the most complete list possible of these old expressions of rural Maine. Who will be the next listener to contribute?
Year: 1949