Monday 27th August
An early start from Kingfield [7], and a leisurely drive the 20 odd miles to Farmington [1] led me to the parking lot of the 'Narrow Gauge Theater' on the very spot where the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes RR interchanged with the standard gauge Maine Central. Not much evidence of what disappeared in the '30s remains, but was there was a bus, a bunch of other narrow minded railfans, and Gary Kohler - author, publisher, and researcher of 2 foot history - the man behind today's edutainment.
Today's map will attempt to show the route of the Sandy River, as best as I can with a road oriented mapping program - it should give you an idea of the ground we covered, as well as the bits we didn't have time to see (Strong & Phillips ended up with two ID numbers, to make the route came out more or less right).
Simplfied Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes RR System MapWe left Farmington [1] bound for Strong [2,6], with a brief stop at South Strong on the way, all the while accompanied by a commentary from Gary as to what used to be where. It's all rather confusing, and road realignments and changes of ground levels over the years make it a bit of a challenge to relate to.
There are 3 original RR related buildings still at Strong, the largest of which is a toothpick factory. Imagine how many toothpicks you could fit into a boxcar - even a wee narrow gauge one! With a squint, and a bit of imagination, I could figure out where the tracks must have been, but in all honesty it didn't bear much resemblance to the many period photos I have of the place.
Next stop was the main yard at Phillips [3,5], where the old depot and car shop remain, and for the really keen, the remains of the old turntable pit, buried in the weeds down from the depot.
Phillips Depot, HQ of the SRRL.
There are 3 original RR related buildings still at Strong, the largest of which is a toothpick factory. Imagine how many toothpicks you could fit into a boxcar - even a wee narrow gauge one! With a squint, and a bit of imagination, I could figure out where the tracks must have been, but in all honesty it didn't bear much resemblance to the many period photos I have of the place.
Next stop was the main yard at Phillips [3,5], where the old depot and car shop remain, and for the really keen, the remains of the old turntable pit, buried in the weeds down from the depot.
Phillips Depot, HQ of the SRRL.Next stop was the old Phillips upper yard, just across the river, and originally the base of the Phillips and Rangeley, another of the original pre-merger lines. It is currently the site of the 'modern' SRRL, and the historical society had a treat waiting for us!
Our train awaits - the engineer is a real Sandy River man - great(?) grandson of Master Mechanic Stinchfield from back in the line's heyday.
Waiting at the station in full steam was Monson #3, on lease to the SR&RL, with a 19th century passenger car and caboose waiting to take us up the line to the 'old stone fort', now the site of a wonderful restoration effort. The crew put on a grand show for us, switching a freight train and doing a few run-bys.
Making up our freight train
The new 'old stone fort' - built on the foundations of the original structure
Freight train run-by in the meadow
Our train awaits - the engineer is a real Sandy River man - great(?) grandson of Master Mechanic Stinchfield from back in the line's heyday.Waiting at the station in full steam was Monson #3, on lease to the SR&RL, with a 19th century passenger car and caboose waiting to take us up the line to the 'old stone fort', now the site of a wonderful restoration effort. The crew put on a grand show for us, switching a freight train and doing a few run-bys.
Making up our freight train
The new 'old stone fort' - built on the foundations of the original structure
Freight train run-by in the meadowAfter an all too quick hour or so had passed, Gary was starting to get a bit agitated. We were having fun, but were running well late for our lunch at Saddleback ski resort, just east of Rangeley. So, back on the bus, and off we went. By this time my camera batteries had unceremoniously given up the ghost, so you will be spared any more photos of the day's activities.
Late or not, the buffet lunch was very nice, and I got chatting to a bunch of guys from Washington DC, who model Colorado 3' narrow gauge in Nn3 - that's N scale (1:160), on 6.5mm track gauge. They had a modular layout on display at the convention, which was spectacular, not least because of the tiny size of the models! It ran pretty well too - having modeled in N scale standard gauge, I'm well aware of the challenges inherent in getting reliable operation with these small models. Physics, and the inverse cube law work agin us here.
After lunch it was down to the site of Rangeley station [4]. Once again, not a lot left, but we did enjoy a hilarious few minutes when our bus snagged some low hanging phone lines,trying to negotiate a goat track we really had no right to be on. Never mind - we extricated ourselves without harm to bus or wires, and our driver deserved a big round of applause for boldly going where no bus had gone before.
Next, it was off to Marbles station, right at the end of the line. In days gone by, it served the Rangeley Lake House - a huge hotel, where rich Bostonians would ship themselves and their families off to for the summer. The station itself, now a private residence, is a cute little stone building with a turret. I didn't get any photos, but you can see some here
The lakes area really is spectacularly beautiful, and I can see why the 'rusticators' would have thought it worthwhile to make what must have been a fairly arduous trip a century ago.
Next we headed back south towards Phillips, and a stop off at Toothaker Pond, and Madrid Junction. The Madrid RR was another of the predecessor lines incorporated in the big '08 consolidation, and existed like a lot of the branches, only as long as there was timber to be hauled out of the woods. The junction was the site of a huge sawmill for a number of years, with the pond itself used as a log pond to facilitate getting the fresh cut timber from the RR log dumps up into the mill.
By now, the afternoon was getting on, so sadly we bypassed the old F&M, from Strong to Kingfield and beyond to Bigelow, and headed back to Farmington. This was a bit of a disappointment to me, as the F&M is the bit I'm modeling, but I remedied that oversight next day, under my own steam (metaphorically speaking :-).
At Farmington, it was time to bid adieu to my traveling companions. Many of them I would see again later in the week, back at Portland, but for this tired little pixie, it was back to the Herbert, dinner and beddie-byes.
Late or not, the buffet lunch was very nice, and I got chatting to a bunch of guys from Washington DC, who model Colorado 3' narrow gauge in Nn3 - that's N scale (1:160), on 6.5mm track gauge. They had a modular layout on display at the convention, which was spectacular, not least because of the tiny size of the models! It ran pretty well too - having modeled in N scale standard gauge, I'm well aware of the challenges inherent in getting reliable operation with these small models. Physics, and the inverse cube law work agin us here.
After lunch it was down to the site of Rangeley station [4]. Once again, not a lot left, but we did enjoy a hilarious few minutes when our bus snagged some low hanging phone lines,trying to negotiate a goat track we really had no right to be on. Never mind - we extricated ourselves without harm to bus or wires, and our driver deserved a big round of applause for boldly going where no bus had gone before.
Next, it was off to Marbles station, right at the end of the line. In days gone by, it served the Rangeley Lake House - a huge hotel, where rich Bostonians would ship themselves and their families off to for the summer. The station itself, now a private residence, is a cute little stone building with a turret. I didn't get any photos, but you can see some here
The lakes area really is spectacularly beautiful, and I can see why the 'rusticators' would have thought it worthwhile to make what must have been a fairly arduous trip a century ago.
Next we headed back south towards Phillips, and a stop off at Toothaker Pond, and Madrid Junction. The Madrid RR was another of the predecessor lines incorporated in the big '08 consolidation, and existed like a lot of the branches, only as long as there was timber to be hauled out of the woods. The junction was the site of a huge sawmill for a number of years, with the pond itself used as a log pond to facilitate getting the fresh cut timber from the RR log dumps up into the mill.
By now, the afternoon was getting on, so sadly we bypassed the old F&M, from Strong to Kingfield and beyond to Bigelow, and headed back to Farmington. This was a bit of a disappointment to me, as the F&M is the bit I'm modeling, but I remedied that oversight next day, under my own steam (metaphorically speaking :-).
At Farmington, it was time to bid adieu to my traveling companions. Many of them I would see again later in the week, back at Portland, but for this tired little pixie, it was back to the Herbert, dinner and beddie-byes.
1 comment:
Well, you did have some adventures and were able to see a lot of the old railway with Gary Kohler. The bus driver must have entered into the spirit of the day!
Pity that you didn't see the particular part you are modelling, but good that you were able to go back next day. We shall wait to read the next instalment.
Love T & J
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