Just about everyone loves trains...young, old and in between. And one of the great places in the Midcoast to learn about trains and other interesting related things is at the Boothbay Railway Village. But Boothbay Railway Village is more than just trains. It now has an amazing outboard engine display.

On Monday, May 9, 2016, The Chris Wolf Show hosted special guests Margaret Hoffman, executive director of Railway Village, and Larry Stevenson, who has recently contributed nearly 300 antique outboard engines to the museum.

The Museum renovated its antique engine display this winter and will debut the new exhibit on Memorial Day Weekend, when it opens for the 2016 season.

The display will include Stevenson’s carefully curated outboards, including two very rare 1930 Caille Red Head Model 36 motors with electric start, two Clarke Trollers, a World War II Evinrude Storm Boat motor, a West Bend 80 hp Tiger Shark, Evinrude Row Boat motors, a 1904 Wonder two stroke inboard engine, two Fageol 4 stroke outboards, a Fageol VIP pod drive, a World War II generator set and a two-man chainsaw made by Mercury Kiekhaefer, the first outboard model made by Johnson, at 1938 Johnson "Sausage Tank" motor, and dozens of others.

Stevenson's gift also included a large collection of outboard ephemera including advertising, manuals and other documents. Some of these items will also be on view. The Museum plans to digitize many of them to make them available for researchers in the future.

His gift will join with the Museum's collection of early inboard marine, hit-and-miss, steam and internal combustion engines, which tell the story of how technological advances influenced both work and home life for Mainers from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries.

This was a great show, well worth watching!