Clyde Walker Pierce, Jr. (1915-2011) - This is an edited segment of an interview that has been set to background images from postcards, illustrations, and a Portland Lewiston Interurban advertisement on white porcelain. Interview is used with permission. The picture-postcard of an interurban in a very rural setting is PLI No. 20, The Maine. The Marty Braun (Peaks Island, ME) illustration of the 1912 Portland Lewiston Interurban No. 14, Narcissus was commissioned by the Seashore Trolley Museum. Colo. Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, was a passenger on the Narcissus on August 18, 1914 on a trip from Lewiston to Portland. The last image is an illustration that will be used to promote the fundraising event for the Narcissus being hosted at Seashore Trolley Museum on August 1st and 2nd 2015. go to www.trolleymuseum.org and click on special events for 2015 for more details. The 1912 Narcissus is currently being restored at the Seashore Trolley Museum is in Kennebunkport, ME. For more information about the Narcissus and opportunities to make a donation, go to: www.trolleymuseum.org/collection/narcissus.php Leaded stained glass work for the 40 ornamental windows for the 1912 Portland Lewiston Interurban No. 14, Narcissus, will be completed in February 2015. A story, by Patricia Erikson, featuriing the PLI and the Narcissus is in the June 2014 Portland Magazine's Summer Guide : http://www.portlandmonthly.com/portmag/2014/06/a-streetcar-named-narcissus/ No. 14 (Narcissus) -- Portland Lewiston Interurban -- 1912 -- Wooden Interurban Coach by Laconia Car Company, Laconia, NH • National -- National Register # 1980111480000262 (one of ten Maine railway vehicles listed) • National -- Former President Theodore Roosevelt rode No. 14 on August 18, 1914 • State -- Only surviving railway equipment from the PLI By: O. R. Cummings - Maine's finest and fastest electric railway, the Portland Lewiston Interurban, commenced regular operation on Thursday, July 2, 1914, its 29.8 miles of main track extending almost due north from a connection with the Cumberland County Power & Light Company-leased Portland Railroad Company in Portland through West Falmouth, West Cumberland, Gray and the town of New Gloucester to Auburn and a connection with the Mechanic Falls line of the Lewiston, Augusta & Waterville Street Railway. Because of interurban promoter W. Scott Libbey's desire that each car have a distinct personality and not be identified just by number, all six were named after flowers. No. 10 was the Arbutus; No. 14, the Narcissus. Each of the original cars was 46 feet long overall and 8 ft. ¾ in. wide and had steam coach roofs and straight vertically sheathed sides. There were seven arch windows -- six double sashes and one single sash -- on each side, the sashes being arranged to lift. The arches above the sashes and the windows in the roof clerestory were glazed with ornamental leaded glass. The exterior livery was Pullman green with gray roofs and dark red doors and trim and gold leaf numbers and lettering. The main passenger compartment in each car was 30 feet long and contained twenty 19 in. by 31-in. reversible transverse seats and two 18 in. by 32-in. longitudinal seats upholstered with green plush and accommodating 44 passengers. The six-foot smoking section had two 18 in.-wide leather-covered longitudinal seats for eight riders. According to the Electric Railway Journal of Sept. 25, 1915, the center isle in the main compartment was 24 in.-wide while that in the smoking section was 4 ft. 10 in. wide, the two areas being separated by a bulkhead having a central sliding door with ribbed glass panels. The interior finish was mahogany with ebony and holly decorations, and interlocking rubber tiling was used on the floors. Quoting from the Journal: "Heiwado reversible seats are used and the cars are fitted with baggage racks. The end of each seat is provided with a leather ticket holder, eight holders also being attached to the inside sheathing, with four more in the smoking compartment. (Although the cars were equipped for double end operation, they normally were run with the smoking compartment forward. Some of the clerestory stained glass and frames for the Narcissus were provided by its sister interurban, No. 10 Arbutus, via the Shoreline Trolley Museum in Branford, CT. After the closing of the PLI in 1933, The Arbutus was preserved as a completes operable vehicle and moved to the property of W. Scott Libbey's daughter, Mrs. Gertrude Libbey Anthony, in Camp Ellis, Saco, Maine until it was scrapped during WWll. For additional information and donation opportunities, go to: www.trolleymuseum.org/collection/narcissus.php PayPal Donations Accepted - Email donations to finance@NEERHS.org In the message Box write: For Narcissus Fund 816A. New England Electric Railway Historical Society (NEERHS) is the 501c3 organization that owns and operates Seashore Trolley Museum.

• published: 20 Feb 2015
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