You want the job done? Call in the Marines. Great Museum-worthy cause. HooHa!
US Marine Corps establish beachhead at WW&F
Trestle Glossary
- Bent: the vertical supports to the bridge
- Cap: the top of the bent, what the stringers rest on.
- Stringer: the beams which support the track, extending between the bents.
- Abutment: the “on-shore” support structure of the bridge.
A few years ago, a newly joined member of the Museum asked us to supply a “wish list” of projects that we had facing us. A list was compiled and sent on to the new member. One item on that list was the replacement of Humason Brook Trestle. What we didn’t realize at the time was that this new member was a Brigadier General in the US Marine Corps, and that he would arrange for some major material help.
About two years ago, this member asked if we would accept having the trestle rebuilt as part of a Marine training exercise. The Museum accepted gladly. It took nearly a year for all the paperwork to be filled out, for the acceptance process to take its course, and for the wheels to begin to move.
In the middle of February 2001, some officers from a Marine unit in Michigan flew out to Maine to check things out and report back. Trudging with snowshoes through a foot of snow, the bridge was studied and measured. The project was greeted with some interest back at the base, as their usual training projects involved building airport runways. Dates were set for mid-August, and two more preparatory trips were made for planning purposes.
In the meantime, Museum volunteers began working to separate, sort, and stack at the north end the timbers which would be used for the trestle. The timbers had been acquired in 1999 from the Rockland Branch’s Wiscasset Trestle, when the trestle was rebuilt. Some timbers would be used as cribbing. The bents were purchased and assembled. The stringers were take