Since 1870, the "Armstrong" turntable in the B&ML's Belfast yard was operated exactly this same way ... by manpower. Here BML #50, the line's first 70-Ton GE deisel-electric locomotive which the road purchased new in November, 1946, is being turned from the yard track to be put away for the night in the enginehouse after pulling Eastbound TR #30 from Waldo, ME, back to Belfast on the rainy afternoon of July 8, 2004. General Electric built 238 of these B-B 140/140, 600HP Cooper-Bessemer powered 70-ton yard switchers between 1946 and 1958 at its shops in Erie, PA. BML#50 is a model GE 70T III-A1 (Builder's Number 28567). After more than 135 years in place, this venerable turntable was removed in June, 2005, and the pit filled in when the B&ML defaulted on its lease of the yard and was evicted by the City of Belfast. RIP

Photographed by Bruce C. Cooper (DigitalImageServices.com), July 8, 2004.
Added to the photo archive by Bruce Cooper, July 8, 2004.
Railroad: Belfast & Moosehead Lake.

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