Maine Narrow Gauge Railroads
Page 5
On a grand Fourth of July celebration, the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad’s old Bridgton & Harrison rail motor bus returned to Bridgton (if only for display), where it operated between 1937 and 1941. This special trailer has been provided not only for static exhibition but also for transport to parades and operating two-foot-gauge museums with their own rails.
On September 29, 2001, in commemoration of Strong’s bicentennial, the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad trucked engine No. 3 and caboose No. 557 to the original site of the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad, where the Strong station and yard tracks were once located. Rails were laid over the location where Sandy River trains once ran. Rides were provided for all who attended. Engineman-fireman duties were provided by Dave Campbell and Paul Hallett. Old-timers found pleasure recalling their favorite “Sandy River line.” Below, Dave Campbell laments that he cannot take the train to Phillips or Kingfield.
One of earliest endeavors to revive the two-foot gauge in Maine was the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad at Phillips. As with other similar programs, the railroad has many volunteers and supporters, but of particular note is Wesley Spear of Lisbon Falls. Initially, he rescued two Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes coach bodies, both original Laconias of the Sandy River. He also constructed a gasoline-powered replica of Sandy River No. 4, shown above at the Sanders Station with coach No. 18. Pictured below is coach No. 18 beside the museum station at Sandy River Park on the half-mile length track on which the train operates for public enjoyment.
A second Sandy River coach No. 17, covered with a tarpaulin to protect a leaking roof, is now being restored. Also in the picture is a Franklin & Megantic flanger No. 5 and a replicated caboose. A second caboose in the collection is the original Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes No. 556.
At the Sanders Station is a string of boxcars salvaged from various locations on the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes. The old Sanders depot is the original, as is the Phillips freight shed. These are used to display historical artifacts and to house a store. Recently completed is an eight-stall enginehouse, replicating with concrete blocks the original granite facility of the Phillips & Rangeley Railroad, which was referred to as “the Old Fort.”
The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad’s former Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes rail motor No. 4 comes home on the relaid rails over the original roadbed—seen here crossing the river by the Sanders Station. The last time No. 4 was used on the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes was with work gangs, tearing up the rails in 1936. (David Fletcher photograph.)
On Old Home Days in 1996 at Phillips, the Sandy River Vose inspection Model T and Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad speeder are shown in front of the original Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes station. Still intact and maintained in its railroad configuration, the Phillips depot has been the home of an American Legion post for years. (David Fletcher photograph.)
The Phillips Historical Society, on Pleasant Street in Phillips, has a large room with an exceptional collection of Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes artifacts, models, and pictures. These two inside views are just a sampling. The museum is open Sundays between June and October.
Boothbay Railway Village in Boothbay has a large assortment of historic buildings, housing many varieties of antique artifacts. It has a circle of two-foot-gauge tracks on which it runs trains with steam coal-fired tank engines. Of especial Maine two-foot-gauge historical interest is a static train display with an 0-4-0 saddle tank engine that once switched pulpwood from sidings off the Portland Terminal Company of the S.D. Warren Company, Cumberland Mills. Coupled to the engine are three boxcars; Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Nos. 147 and 132; Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington No. 312; and Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes combination car No. 11, an original Franklin & Megantic. Pictured below is the interior of the replicated Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington coach Vassalboro.
This postcard scene of Boothby Railway Village shows a two-foot-gauge train with a German-built Henschel tank locomotive and Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington replica coach. The museum also has an old Monson Railroad motor section car and a Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington handcar.
George McEvoy, who established the Boothbay Railway Village, brought two railway stations to this site, including Maine Central Railroad Freeport, which was transported over the highway in sections and erected as a railroad museum at Boothbay. This is an interior view of the Freeport station. The second depot museum is the former Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad Thorndyke station.
The Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum is a tribute to its many volunteers and supporters but especially to its founder, Harry Percival of Alna. Percival is pictured here at the Boothbay Central Railroad, where he was engineer for a day on one of Boothbay Railway Village’s Henschel tank locomotives.
Harry Percival’s home in Alna has profiled on its roof engine No. 9 of the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington and a boxcar. These were eventually returned to Maine under lease to the museum, where the boxcar and flatcar (once sadly in decay in West Thompson, Connecticut) are now fully rebuilt in their original appearance.
Maine Narrow Gauge Vulcan Forney No. 3 made a few visits to the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway at Alna. It is shown with refurbished flatcar No. 118 from the Ramsdell Farm, decked out for fresh-air riders. The following coach is Wiscasset & Quebec No. 3, on lease to the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington, which had been away from home since 1912. The view below shows the same train approaching Alna station. Also seen is the railway’s shop building styled after the old original at Wiscasset. The track work is perfectly formed and maintained. Each year, the railway extends farther along the scenic Sheepscot Valley, always along the original roadbed.
The four men who in 1937 rescued engine No. 9, boxcar No. 309, and flatcar No. 118 from the scrap pile intended to restore and operate their train on its own track at the Ramsdell Farm in West Thompson, Connecticut. However, it never happened—until they returned to Maine on the original Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington location. After 60 years, here they are. (James C. Patten photograph.)
In addition to the boxcar and flatcar, the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington master car builders replicated caboose No. 320. Other re-creations of the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington at Alna are the Weeks Mills freight house and the Sheepscot station. (James C. Patten photograph.)
Now the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway has its own Vulcan Forney—No. 10. The “ten-spot” is a former regauged 30-inch sugar plantation engine that once ran on the Edaville Railroad in South Carver, Massachusetts. A major overhaul, including retubing the boiler, was performed in the Alna shop. After testing and steam-up, the railway has its own operating steam locomotive until old Portland No. 9 can also be fired up. It makes a pretty picture with old Wiscasset & Quebec coach No. 3 and caboose No. 320. It is not too late to enjoy the old Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington—reborn at Alna. (Above, courtesy of Dana Greenwood; right, James C. Patten photograph.)
Albion Station, on the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway, is pictured above before restoration. The restored station, seen below, has its own section of track, reminding of its significance to the narrow gauge from Wiscasset. Parts of an old boxcar and a flanger have been recovered. The flanger is being reconstructed beside the station. Albion’s fascination with its past—widely shared through Ruby Crosby Wiggins’s books Albion on the Narrow Gauge and Big Dreams and Little Wheels—brings this station-restoration project to the forefront. (Courtesy of Carl Buitta.)
Friends of the Bedford Depot Park is a nonprofit group organized to aid and promote a railroad-preservation project sponsored by the town of Bedford, Massachusetts. It is centered around a former railroad terminal, with now-abandoned branches fanning out in three directions—Lexington, Concord, and North Billerica. All were Boston & Maine branches in later years, but the roadbed to the north was originally the narrow-gauge Billerica & Bedford Railroad—America’s first two-foot-gauge common carrier. It was the prototype for the Maine narrow-gauge railroads to follow.
The complex includes a former Boston & Maine station and freight house. The latter was built as the Billerica & Bedford Railroad enginehouse in 1877. The abandoned rights-of-way have been developed into trails. These are the 11-mile Boston & Maine branch between Bedford and West Cambridge (referred to as the Minute Man Bikeway) and the former Billerica & Bedford roadbed (also used as a bike trail, called the Narrow-Gauge Rail-Trail). An old Boston & Maine commuter RDC coach is on display on a section of standard-gauge track. On the Billerica & Bedford’s 125th anniversary in 2002, the Bedford display track was temporarily reduced to two feet. Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad engine No. 3 made another visit to a historic two-foot-gauge site, with an open car running back and forth, providing rides for visitors coming from miles around. Friends of the Bedford Depot Park has a newsletter and encourages memberships.
This Christmas season photograph by volunteer Arthur Hussey shows an old Sandy River combine being used as a Santa Claus visitation space for children. The museum in full decoration contains Maine narrow-gauge exhibits of many kinds from historic parlor car Rangeley to display-case artifacts. There are also model railroads, a snack bar, and a store.
Outside the Portland Company building that houses exhibits, engines and cars used in trains are maintained and stored. Other equipment can be seen that has been refurbished or is waiting to be worked on. Most of the engines are under cover in their own facility.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Busted and Still Running, Edgar Mead Jr., Stephen Green Press, Brattleboro, Vermont.
Big Dreams and Little Wheels, Ruby Crosby Wiggins, Little Guy Press, Auburn, Maine.
In Quest of Maine Narrow Gauge, Robert MacDonald, M2FQ Publications, Washingtonville, Ohio.
Ride the Sandy River, Peter Cornwall and Jack W. Farrell, Pacific Fast Mail, Edmonds, Washington.
Sunset on the Sandy River, Elliott Steward, M2FQ Publications, Washingtonville, Ohio.
The Maine Scenic Route, H.T. Crittenden, McClain Printing Company, Parsons, West Virginia.
The Maine Two Footers, Linwood W. Moody, edited by R.C. Jones, Heimburger House Publishing Company, Forest Park, Illinois.
Two Feet Between the Rails, Vols. I and II, R.C. Jones, Sundance Publishing Company, Silverton, Colorado.
Two Feet to the Lakes, R.C. Jones, Pacific Fast Mail, Edmonds, Washington.
Two Feet to Tidewater, R.C. Jones, Pruett Publishing Company, Boulder, Colorado.
Two Feet to Togus, R.C. Jones, Evergreen Press, Burlington, Vermont.
Two Feet to the Quarries, R.C. Jones, Evergreen Press, Burlington, Vermont.
RELATED MUSEUMS
Albion Station, Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway, P.O. Box 293, Albion, Maine 04910 (Carl Buitta, curator).
Boothbay Railway Village, 586 Wiscasset Road, Route 27, Box 123, Boothbay, Maine.
Bridgton Historical Society, P.O. Box 44, Bridgton, Maine, 04009.
Edaville USA, EDA Avenue, Carver, Massachusetts, 02330.
Friends of Bedford Depot Park, 120 South Street, Bedford, Massachusetts, 01730-2344.
Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company and Museum, 58 Fore Street, Portland, Maine, 04101.
Monson Preservation Society, Box 86, Monson, Maine, 04464.
Owls Head Transportation Museum, P.O. Box 277, Owls Head, Maine, 04854.
Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad, P.O. Box B, Phillips, Maine, 04966.
Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum, Sheepscot Station, Alna, Maine, 04535.
Find more books like this at
www.imagesofamerica.com
Search for your hometown history, your old
stomping grounds, and even your favorite sports team.