Maine Narrow Gauge Railroads

by Robert L MacDonald

  An early view of a Kennebec Central passenger train with engine No. 2 shows two of the line’s passenger cars, with their peculiar curved roofs that were equipped with parallel bench seats instead of the more commonly used single-cushion chairs. This obviously posed photograph was taken in Randolph in the early 20th century.

  Another early view shows the Kennebec Central No. 2 at Randolph in the covered bridge days across the Kennebec (background). The engineman to the right is Frank Sanborn.

  Taken c. 1926 next to the two-stall enginehouse at Randolph, this photograph shows Kennebec Central No. 4 (formerly Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes No. 6). Pictured, from left to right, are engineer Frank Sanborn, trackman Eddie Cain, track foreman Jim Cain, fireman Stanley Sherman, trackman Charles Mauk, conductor Al Brookings, and trackman Frank Cotchman. (Ed Bond collection.)

  Eight

  DOOMSDAY COMES

  The first of the Maine two-footers to close down was the smallest of them all—the Kennebec Central, five miles between Randolph and Togus. Its very existence depended on the National Soldiers’ Home in Togus. With passengers already lost to the automobile, the end came in 1929, when its coal-hauling contract was awarded to a trucker. Cars sat idle in Randolph for years beside the Kennebec River. The 1936 spring floods washed away most of remaining equipment.

  The two abandoned secondhand Portland engines of the Kennebec Central closed up in the Randolph enginehouse in 1929 were purchased by Frank Winter of the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway in 1932. They were shipped over the highway on flatbeds for use on the 44-mile line from Wiscasset and were the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington’s last two in service before the railroad itself also quit.

  On June 15, 1933, the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway came to an abrupt end with the derailment of a southbound mixed train from Albion. Striking a broken rail at South Whitefield, its engine No. 8 (less than a year since it was purchased from the defunct Kennebec Central) headed down the embankment toward the Sheepscot River. This was the final run, but (like the Kennebec Central) the line did not vanish at once. This picture was taken one year after the event. (Linwood Moody photograph.)

  Although most of the right-of-way tracks were torn up on the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway in 1934 by a creditor seeking payment for unpaid bills, all sidings, buildings, and rolling stock remained for another three years. This South Whitefield photograph was taken in the summer of 1937. (Elliott Steward photograph.)

  In the summer of 1937, the remaining rails were removed, the engines were scrapped, and the metal was removed from car bodies. This view shows dismantling in progress in the Wiscasset service yard. Even then, many structures were left behind and car bodies stripped but not burned for another 14 years.

  A year before the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes was finally abandoned in 1935, all tracks were removed above Perham Junction, including Redington and Rangeley, plus the Eustis branch. In this 1934 view, track is being removed near Redington by a section crew track car with trailer. (Linwood Moody photograph.)

  Redington mills had been shut down and dismantled many years earlier, but in late 1934, not even the rails were left. Some of the buildings remained, however, including those of both mill and railroad. The center structure with the hip roof and dormer was the railroad depot. The land is now U.S. Navy property, used for wilderness survival training. (Linwood Moody photograph.)

  In June 1935, the largest of the Maine narrow-gauge railroads was sold to a scrap-metal dealer. Although parts of the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes had already been closed, there was not enough business left to justify continuation of the remaining lines. This picture, taken in the summer of 1936, shows rails being removed near Strong. (Linwood Moody photograph.)

  In this sad scene at Phillips, cars are being burned for their scrap metal in the spring of 1936. Engines are cut up on sidings, and the scrap is loaded onto flatcars for shipment to Farmington for furtherance via the Maine Central Railroad to steel mills. This is one of a series of pictures taken by Elliott Steward, just a teenager at the time.

  In September 1941, the 16-mile Bridgton & Harrison Railway was sold for junk. This photograph shows the removal of rails from the Bridgton yard. It is a different scenario here because all of the cars and engines were saved for later shipment to South Carver, Massachusetts. (Phil Bonnet photograph.)

  No Maine narrow-gauge engines and cars rusted for so long on sidings as those of the abandoned Bridgton & Harrison Railway. They are shown at Bridgton Junction, where they remained in place between 1941 and 1946, suffering from weathering and vandalism.

  The last of the Maine two-foot-gauge railroads to survive was the six-mile Monson Railroad, which was abandoned and dismantled in 1943. These boxcar bodies removed from their trucks were torched for their metal parts. Ironically, the roadbed not only remained but was used for a couple of years for trucking slate in order to keep joint tariffs in effect with the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad. The station at Monson survived as well as the joint station at Monson Junction. The paradox is that even though both the Monson Railroad and the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad are long gone from Monson Junction, the two stations between points still remain (as does the roadbed), and the two Monson engines are intact and operatable at Maine Narrow Gauge in Portland. (Hobby Barn photograph.)

  These views show the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington trestles as they appeared in 1946, 13 years after abandonment. The view above looks toward the docks and the interchange yard from the Route 1 highway crossing. The Turner Center Creamery is on the right. On the left in distance are derelict schooners, the Luther Little and the Hesper. The photograph below was taken from the same location, looking toward the Maine Central Railroad crossing to the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway service yard. Note the narrow-gauge shop building still standing in the distance. Today, only a few pilings of trestles remain. The Maine Central station and freight house are gone, and the wooden school in the distance by the car shop has been replaced with a modern brick building.

  Nine

  SAVED AND SALVAGED

  One of the most treasured relics of the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad was its parlor car No. 9, coveted by many at the time of abandonment in 1935. It was sold to Dr. Bell of Strong, where it remained complete with wheels and on its own rails for a decade. At the end of World War II, Ellis Atwood, of Edaville fame, added this jewel to his collection. His pride and joy then is now the same for the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad in Portland.

  Combination car No. 15 is shown with a CCC special on the Kingfield spur in 1935—likely the last time it ever saw service. After abandonment of the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes in June of that year, No. 15 was set off on a siding at South Strong, with its new owner giving up both the rails and its wheel trucks. It was saved—but for how long? (Linwood Moody photograph.)

  Ellis Atwood of the Edaville Railroad in South Carver, Massachusetts, rescued No. 15 from its South Strong site in late 1947. Here is how it looked soon after arrival, following 12 years of weathering and neglect.

  Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad caboose No. 556 is pictured on the West Freeman Road out of Strong in November 1948.

  Caboose No. 556, rescued by the Phillips Historical Society, is shown beside the museum grounds. Used in parades for years, it was returned to the rails on the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad museum.

  Combination car No. 14 is shown at Strong in 1935. Many coaches, cabooses, and boxcars were saved after abandonment of the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes, but few survived the years. No. 14 was purchased by the Starbirds of Strong, along with several boxcars used for storage sheds in their mill yard. (Linwood Moody photograph.)

  No. 14, in fair shape after 12 years in Strong, was trucked to South Carver for restoration and service on the Edaville. Here is how it appeared after arrival in October 1947. It is now located at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company and Museum.

  Coach No. 20 of the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes looks good in t
his 1930s picture taken in Phillips. It rested truckless, along with combination No. 11 by the box factory siding near Farmington for a number of years. It was later moved to the Texaco station in Norridgewock. (Linwood Moody photograph.)

  In 1974, coach No. 20 was trucked to the Edaville Railroad in South Carver, Massachusetts, where it was restored. This is how the car looked upon arrival. It had lost its vestibule platforms. It is now on the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad in Portland. (Courtesy of David Fletcher.)

  The Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes home-built Model T section gang track car is shown at Carrabasset in 1935. It was rescued five years after abandonment when it was discovered in a junkyard by Eric Sexton of Belfast. (Linwood Moody photograph.)

  The Sandy River section track car eventually went to Edaville Railroad, where it was rebuilt to carry passengers. After the closing of the Edaville Railroad in 1991, Jim Grier of Cincinnati and Boothbay Harbor purchased the Model T, which he operated at various two-foot-gauge museum lines in Maine. It is shown at its storage and display location at Owls Head Museum.

  Another Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes track car rescued by Eric Sexton in 1940 was what is popularly known as the Vose inspection car, built in 1926 at the Phillips shops. In this 1933 view, superintendent Oris Vose is shown beside his Model T next to the Phillips depot. (Linwood Moody photograph.)

  The Model T Vose inspection car was remotored with new top after acquisition by the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad. It is pictured in service on a special summer day in 1998 along the waterfront tracks of the Maine Narrow Gauge.

  The Bigelow station on the Franklin & Megantic Railroad is shown in the days of the horse and buggy. The Bigelow hack next to the station also carries U.S. mail, according to its lettering. Discontinued as a station years before final abandonment, the station remained in use as a camp.

  Seen here with its station sign showing, the old Bigelow station of the Franklin & Megantic looks much the same today. Long gone is a mill complex for the Prouty and Miller Company. Bigelow is now a popular resort center for Sugar Loaf Mountain.

  When the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway was junked in the summer of 1937, four railfans decided to save some equipment before it was too late. Included in the group was Frank Ramsdell, whose large farm in West Thompson, Connecticut, could provide a place to set up an operating railroad. The purchase included an 1891 Portland Company Forney built for the Sandy River Railroad, which eventually went to the Kennebec Central and finally to the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington. The purchase also included a boxcar and flatcar, plus track and miscellaneous equipment. This scene shows the engine being loaded on a flatcar at Wiscasset for movement to Connecticut.

  This is how engine No. 9 appeared soon after arriving to West Thompson, stripped and being prepared for restoration. The intention to restore and operate these Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington relics never happened while they were in Connecticut.

  No. 9 is shown at West Thompson in 1987. It had been kept under cover in its own shed for years to protect against deterioration. The cab inside appears roomy. The picture was taken from the coal bin, facing the open doorway to the shed.

  A boxcar at West Thompson, Connecticut, is shown above in 1938. Below is the same car as it appeared in 1987. Note that it shows the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington No. 309. After Alice Ramsdell passed away in 1993, her nephew Dale King leased all the two-foot-gauge equipment to the Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway Museum at Alna, Maine. No. 9, the sole surviving Portland Company engine, flatcar No. 118, and boxcar No. 309 were restored after returning to Maine on the revived Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway. (Above, Earl Pratt photograph.)

  Somehow, the inclusive collection of Bridgton & Harrison rolling stock purchased by Ellis Atwood in 1941 survived the World War II hiatus that caused damage from neglect and vandalism. At war’s end, the rolling stock was shipped by C.E. Hall Mack trucks to South Carver, Massachusetts. These pictures were taken in the summer of 1943. Already, they were in bad shape, with sheathing torn from boxcar sides. Between the end of hostilities in 1945 and the fall of 1946, all remaining pieces of Bridgton & Harrison equipment, including turntable, rails, and switches, were moved to Massachusetts. (Elliott Steward photographs.)

  After abandonment of the Sandy River line, rail motor No. 4 was purchased by a young teenager, Edgar T. Mead Jr., for $35 in 1936. It was leased to the Bridgton & Harrison Railway, where it became the line’s mainstay. For five years, it served as No. 3 on the Bridgton & Harrison and handled passengers, baggage, express, and mail via the Maine Central Railroad connecting trains at Bridgton Junction. After abandonment in September 1941, No. 3 (like the rest of Bridgton & Harrison rolling stock left behind due to war restrictions) suffered severely from weather and vandalism. It survived in Massachusetts and later in Maine. (Bill Robertson photograph, courtesy of the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company and Museum.)

  Monson No. 3 is shown as it appeared in the 1940s. When the six-mile slate-hauling two-footer was junked in 1943–1944, the Monson’s two little Vulcan Forneys were shipped off to the salvage yard of Rochester Iron and Metals, where they remained until being discovered by Edaville’s Ellis Atwood in 1947. Below is how No. 3 appeared after arriving at South Carver in the fall of 1947. Nos. 3 and 4 are now in operating condition at the Maine Narrow Gauge in Portland.

  Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Rangeley Express arrives at the Marbles station on the grounds of the posh Rangeley Lakes House in Rangeley in the days before World War I.

  The railroad and hotel are long gone from Rangeley, but the Marbles depot survives as a lakeside residence.

  The joint Monson–Bangor & Aroostook station at Monson Junction survives as a barn for storing baled hay. Both railroad yards are long gone. A few bleached, empty crossties may mark the site, reclaimed by undergrowth and trees. (David Fletcher photograph.)

  The Monson Railroad right-of-way still exists from Monson Junction to Monson. Utility poles appear centered on part of the trail, but hikers, bikers, and snowmobilers now have use of its scrap-slate ballasted path.

  Ten

  REVIVED AND GROWING

  After the Edaville Railroad closed in 1991 because of financial problems with the threat of bank foreclosure, the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company and Museum was formed in 1992 to rescue as much of its Maine narrow-gauge equipment as possible. With financing in place, the purchase was finalized in 1993. In September 1993, a large convoy of trucks owned by members of truck historical groups from all over the Northeast moved the equipment on flatbeds over the interstate highways to their new location at the Portland Company on Casco Bay in Portland. A few of these trucks (one pictured here) were the same C.E. Hall chain-drive Macks that were used to haul the rescued two-foot-gauge rolling stock down from Maine to South Carver between late 1945 and 1947.

  The trucks with flatbed trailers were loaded with narrow-gauge car bodies, the wheels loaded and moved separately. Escorted by state police, they moved over interstate highways through three states, from South Carver, Massachusetts, through southeastern New Hampshire to Portland, Maine.

  After arriving at the Portland Company site along the waterfront, truck trailers unloaded car bodies and wheel sets to be assembled later. The Maine two-footers late of Massachusetts had returned, and to the very location where scores of their type had been built many years past.

  In the early years, before permanent track was laid along Casco Bay in Portland, the Maine Narrow Gauge used a length of temporary portable track for an introductory short haul.

  The waterfront between India Street and Back Cove Bridge was transformed in the mid-1990s by a mile and a half of rock-ballasted two-foot-gauge railroad, beside an adjacent Portland Trails walkway for hikers, bikers, and skaters. In this view, former Bridgton & Harrison Railway No. 8 (the last-built Maine two-foot-gauge engine) pauses with a train for boarding passengers at the Portland Company museum site.

  To celebrate its 175th anniversary on June 27, 1997, the town
of Monson invited the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad to bring engine No. 3 (former Monson Railroad No. 3) to town. A stretch of track was laid along the original terminal yard and beside the station, now owned by Clif Olson and preserved as a museum. An estimated 400 people had cab rides. (David Fletcher photograph.)