A transfer of power. WW&F Locomotive #10 holds the shop lead as one of the museum's "Easter Eggspress" Trains arrives from Alna Center on the main line, behind Diesel Locomotive #52. In recent years, the popularity of the WW&F Museum's holiday events, such as Victorian Christmas and Easter Eggspress has grown significantly. So many people are turning out to ride the trains at these events that the museum frequently has to abandon its normal hourly schedule and move to a continuous "load and go" mode of operation in order to handle the volume of passenger traffic. In order to speed the turns at each end of the line, the museum crew has begun alternating the power, which eliminates some of the switching interval as well as any servicing delays related to steam locomotives. In this particular image, the train is approaching Sheepscot station with the line's Plymouth diesel on point. As soon as the train stops, the diesel will cut off and the passengers will be loaded. As that is happening, Steam Locomotive #10 will switch onto the main and couple up to the consist. As soon as the passengers are on board, the train will depart northbound for Alna Center. While the train is gone, Diesel Locomotive #52 will move to the position where you see the steam engine now, and the cycle will be repeated when the train returns. The steam engine can be serviced when the diesel is handling the train, so any delays associated with those functions do not impact train schedule. The process has worked very well. During the 2012 Victorian Christmas, over 1000 patrons were carried during just 6 hours of operations. At the 2013 Easter Eggspress, over 500 were carried in just 4 hours.
And yes, that is a 3-way stub switch that the steam engine is sitting on. To my knowledge, it is the only such switch in 2-foot gauge in the US.
