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Robert Mitchell Photography

504 Hendricks Hill Road
Southport, Maine 04576
(207) 633-3136

Robert Mitchell Photography

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New Railway

September 15, 2014 Robert Mitchell

Lots of boats have been launched from the Washburn & Doughty East Boothbay facility.

But my first boatyard experience with the company was on the banks of the Kennebec River in Woolwich.

A commercial fishing vessel, Jacqueline Robin, was being built outdoors. It was a pretty bare bones operation, and in the winter, really cold.

Ray Cronk, then a sort of marketing person for W & D, needed some photos for trade shows. He lined me up with the big boss for a visit, so I headed over to Woolwich to see what I could see.

For me, at that time, the closest thing to a railway I recalled was in Altoona, Pennsylvania, action central for the Pennsylvania Railroad, a line that eventually ran right behind my grandmother's house in Clearfield.

Mr. Peabody's coal train lumbered right up the main street of town two or three times a day and nobody paid it much mind, except me, of course. I loved the steam turbine sound and the whistle.

But it wasn't a Maine marine railway.

And back there, in Pennsylvania, nobody could have imagined an 800-ton tugboat sliding backwards down a wooden ramp. It takes a lot of wood, solid engineering and moxie to make that work, and you don't get a second chance.

Marine railway components include “Greenheart” from South America, for pilings. 12” by 12” by 24 ft. oak beams, long bolts, a diver, cranes, drills and heavy steel, well coordinated and precisely combined. And a crew of skilled knowledgeable workers. Skip Rideout, Larry Colcord, Robbie and Al, of Boothbay Harbor Shipyard, along with crew and equipment from PROCK marine, have tackled the project, which I photographed three weeks ago.

A new boat will test the ways later this month, with more to come.

In blog Tags Boothbay Register
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ROBERT MITCHELL PHOTOGRAPHY

504 HENDRICKS HILL ROAD
SOUTHPORT, MAINE 04576
 (207) 633-3136