Return of the Rails...Again!

[Skyler Kimball]

Latest news form Bridgton suggests a possibility of getting the Bridgton narrow gauge railroad stock back to Bridgton, where they belong.

See Bridgton News, May 11 for details.

[Skyler Kimball]

Bridgton News Article.

[Skyler Kimball]

Zoom in of the same article.

[Skyler Kimball]

End bit of article on separate page.

[Mark Spremulli]

Interesting, how is the location different then in Gray? Better/worse, scenic ride etc?

[James Patten]

Historic two footer location, for starters.  The original idea was to re-establish the Bridgton yard, which is now occupied by a former school.  A ride might be a little difficult to get going because of encroachments, but once you got beyond that I think there were definite possibilities.

[Mark Spremulli]

Historic two footer location, for starters.  The original idea was to re-establish the Bridgton yard, which is now occupied by a former school.  A ride might be a little difficult to get going because of encroachments, but once you got beyond that I think there were definite possibilities.

I agree James. I looked at the pics on NERail of the row and since most of it appears to be a trail then once the encroachments are taken care off then the ride would be quite scenic.

[John McNamara]

Gray has the advantage of more nearby attractions, ease of Turnpike access, and closer proximity to their volunteers. Also, rumor has it that the last meeting between the MNG folks and the Bridgton folks consisted of each group saying, "What are you going to do for us?" I gather the Gray folks are more receptive, although not $500K receptive.
-John

[Stephen Piwowarski]

...to re-establish the Bridgton yard, which is now occupied by a former school.

Why is there always a school involved?! In all seriousness though, this is an interesting development. Thanks for sharing!

Steve

[Skyler Kimball]

Thanks Steve.

The school that is there has not been used in many years. The reason why the school is not being used anymore was either due to amounts of either mold, lead, asbestos, was found, and another school was built far away from it to replace it. The school now is abandoned, and more than likely should be taken down, and turned back into what it used to be.

The fortunate part about this school is that due to the fact that the school district still owns the plot of land, it has not been broken up, and turned into shops or much form of modernization.

[Joe Fox]

Much of the old ROW however is currently active dirt roads so most is "unbuildable" without some serious financial support. Not much room to grow in Bridgton unfortunately. Where a museum can be built, you could build about a 1/2 of track. In the place where you can build a longer run of about 2+ miles near Sandy Creek as memory serves there is no room for a museum.

[Skyler Kimball]

There is about a half a mile's worth of railroad bed between the location of the B&SRR yard and Hannaford. Maybe possibility to extend the bed after getting a crossing across Willett road?

[Skyler Kimball]

Here is a photo of Hannaford supermarket, Willett road, and CMP, and a railroad line embedded where it once was.

[Skyler Kimball]

After CMP, there is a lot less activity for a few miles.

[Mike Fox]

Actually, once going across CMPs lawn, the grade has a building on it. The boat dealer. ROW would have to be built to go around it.

The original gentleman that was pushing this idea hard was Bill Shelley. He had met with locals and had several conversations, raised funds by selling merchandise and paintings, and had quite a bit of leg work done. If there was anyone that was going to make it happen it was him.

Now we will see what if anything happens. The way I read it was that this was just to see what interest there was in bringing the Railroad back