The Sail, Power, and Steam Museum (SPSM) in Rockland, is the new home of a rare Triple-Stage Expansion Engine, donated to us by the Maine Maritime Museum (MMM) in Bath, Maine. When our museum reopens for the season on May 1, 2026, visitors can view first-hand this enormous engine exhibit and watch it run almost as it did in the 19th and 20th centuries.

This winter, a team comprised of staff and volunteers from both organizations first disassembled the four-ton steam engine – a long, complicated process - and then loaded each piece, some weighing as little as five-pounds, all way up to 1000-pounds, on multiple pallets readying the huge engine for transport from MMM in Bath to SPSM in Rockland

Once arriving in Rockland, our staff and our loyal volunteers spent numerous hours up to their elbows in parts, bolts and grease, carefully putting the engine back together.

The word was. ‘It was a total team effort.’ We reversed the disassembly plan used at MMM: Taking apart, categorizing, inspecting, and cleaning each part. Our staff communicated with Maine Maritime Museum staff Phil Blauvelt and Larry Gates, for helpful advice among a mixture of technical tasks.

Once assembled at the Sail Power Steam Museum, it will be running electrically for visitors to see and learn about the operation of this kind of engine. Maine Maritime Museum sent along historical informational materials to enhance public enjoyment of the exhibit.

The steam engine will greet SPSM visitors in the entryway to the museum. It originally was a training engine for the Maine Maritime Academy beginning in 1940, when in 1986, it was donated to MMM. Since it also was located as visitors entered MMM, becoming a popular exhibit, it seems fitting its newest home at SPSM will continue the tradition of welcoming visitors.

The Sail, Power, and Steam Museum and its Midcoast Sailing Center are located at the Old Snow Shipyard, 75 Mechanic Street, Rockland, Maine and is open to the public from May to October. Its mission is to: Celebrate, honor, experience, and share the story of Maine’s maritime heritage.

For more information, visit www.sailpowersteammuseum.org and www.midcoastsailingcenter.org, or email sailpowersteammuseum@gmail.com, or call 207-701-7627.