DIXFIELD — A 7-inch tall wood-turned scale replica of the historic Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Narrow Gauge Railroad Engine No. 24 and tender will soon be on display at Richard’s Florist and Narrow Gauge Cinemas in Farmington.

The impressive work of art comprises at least 14 different exotic woods that were turned by 12 members of the Western Maine Woodturners Association and assembled by the club’s project chairman, Michael Chase, of Farmington. It was the club’s entry into this summer’s American Association of Woodturners International Symposium in Hartford, Conn.

The art of wood turning involves putting a piece of wood in a wood lathe and using different chisels on the wood as it spins to create different shapes. That’s why it took more than 400 hours to complete, Chase said Wednesday night at the club’s meeting in the Dirigo High School wood shop in Dixfield.

“It is getting a lot of attention,” he said. “I’ve had a number of people come to my house to look at it and take pictures, which is kind of fun.”

The train engine and tender model is 7 inches wide and 32 inches long, and rides on wood-turned railroad rails and cross ties. Members who built it are from Bethel, Peru, Wilton, Jay, Livermore Falls, Farmington, Kingfield and New Sharon.

“The cab is made from bird’s-eye maple and it came from the bottom of Rangeley Lake, which is kind of unique, because this is the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad engine and tender,” Chase said.

The engine tank is black walnut and other parts were made from black walnut, maple, cherry, and exotic woods from South America like cocobolo, an orange or reddish brown tropical hardwood from Central America.

The smallest piece is the air whistle on top of the air tank, which is 3/32nds of an inch in diameter and 5/8ths of an inch long. Brass measuring 1/8th of an inch in diameter was used for piping on the engine, because Chase said it would be very difficult to turn the wood into the various piping bends.

After turning the cross ties, they were then trimmed flat with a band saw and placed in a diorama-type setting filled with sifted gravel from Chase’s driveway to provide the appearance of ballast rock along the rails.

“I said if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it up in style,” he said. “Everybody just went all out to make it a success.”

They initially built the replica to prove that it could be done and entered it into the symposium competition to represent the area and to focus attention on its heritage and history. But as a group they talked about not putting pressure on themselves to win. At the symposium, they learned that their project represented the State of Maine, because they were the only club of three in the state to enter a project.

 

“It got a lot of attention,” Chase said. “One guy in Hartford tried to buy it, but we didn’t try to sell it. People were also quite impressed that we had 100 percent participation from our club.”

“We got a lot of compliments on it,” member Gary Rowland said.

After returning from Hartford, Chase said the model was displayed at last month’s Farmington Fair, where it also garnered plenty of attention. So much so, that area banks are interested in displaying the model.

Additionally, it will be displayed on Chester Greenwood Days weekend on the first Saturday in December in Farmington.

“A lot of work went into it and it’s worth it,” Chase said. “I think it’s pretty awesome.”

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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