The Franklin, Somerset & Kennebec Railway (FS&K)

[Hunt Dowse]

Ed, that's a much more comprehensive site for the old maps and the formatting is better, too.
Thanks for the tip.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Glenn,  Thanks for the post. I have only been to the trestle piers in New Sharon and walked the grade behind the cemetary.   Your trip provides a nice description of other parts that are left, it makes me want to see more of the line.

Ed,  Those are great maps.  I've spent some quality time reviewing the ones showing the SR&RL and WW&F.  Some of the maps were done in the 1920's and 30's so the railroads were still in place.   I like how the WW&F is marked on the Albion map as (narrow gage) good stuff.

[Mike Fox]

Here are the first 4 pictures Glenn sent. I'll copy all info for each picture he has included.
Here we go.


The new stream channel which was cut in the 1987 ice jam leaving the backside of the old granite culvert exposed.  The overhead is a '48 foot flatbed trailer placed for a snowmobile bridge.


The upstream side of the original granite culvert and the new channel to the right. We get a good look at the granite work involved. That lower left block measures 2X2X5 and weighs 3360 #.


Not a great shot but this shows those wood timbers 1X1X? holding up the whole granite culvert.  These were sawed in Farmington Falls in 1897 by Mr. Atwood's water powered mill, and appear unchanged 112 years later.  What type of wood is unknown, but to remain solid underwater that long is amazing.



Looking downstream through the original 4X20X50 opening.  Just barely shows the granite ceiling blocks.  I measured one at 1.5X4X8 which would weigh 8064#.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Great pictures.  The stone masons did beautiful work.  Amazing that the culverts are in such good shape, when you consider that they were abandoned shortly after completion. The view of the back of the bridge abutment is really something.  It's got to be sturdy if it survived freshets and floods.  It's too bad that trains never ran through there ... it makes you think of what it may have been like.     

[Mike Fox]

Here are some more.


Taken in the field just off Mason Rd. in the Falls looking westbound  on the railbed.  The edge of the field is the raised portion of the old railbed and the top of the picture would be where that hard right turn shown on the Mills Blueprints would then take you across the field, across Mason Rd. (Then called Weeks Mills Rd) past the Depot and on to Farmington. The old maps are confusing as this road and one parallel to it 4+ miles ahead in New Sharon were both called Weeks Mills Road. One of these trees has barbed wire embedded in more than a foot.


Looking eastbound after the railbed leaves the field area.  It is hard to see here, but maybe clearer if you readers go back to the Farmington Chronicle article and remember how this four rod strip  (64 feet) was cleared ripping trees and roots up leaving workable soil to be moved into the middle with ditches on each side. That is the only way to follow to old roadbed looking for the raised portion between two ditches.


My guide, Birchard Cook, standing on the raised railbed to give you readers an idea of how the walking is if you should attempt this.  We are headed eastbound toward New Sharon but are still on the Farmington town side.


Still slogging eastbound, lots of swailgrass, better have good boots on, and we are now approaching the first little stream and some granite to observe.  Not quite to the unmarked New Sharon yet.




The first granite culvert we encountered at about the Farmington/New Sharon Town Line, though unmarked.  This is a small stream that was dammed by beaver about 25 years ago, but we can still see some of the granite work of Mr Currier, the stone worker, as mentioned in the Farmington Chronicle story of 10/7/1897.


A close up of one block about 1.5X2.5X4. Not a lot of effort was made to smooth up the edges when this was cut either on Cape Cod Hill in New Sharon, or maybe Chesterville Hill which was closer to this location.  I can't remember the name of the high wheeled hauler used to move heavy granite pieces.  Somehow the big slabs were suspended between the wheels for the mile or two journey from quarry to destination.  This project must have been a real boon to the area as lots of man and horse power was needed.


The upstream side of the culvert and the beaver dam.  My guide says he used to catch large trout here before the dam was built.


The downstream side.  These granite pieces are not light and were all handled manually.  Remember granite weighs 168 pounds per cubic foot and even these small culverts were a real challenge.  The workmanship still looks pretty good after 112 years of weathering.

[Mike Fox]

Glenn, the reason they put the wood in the stream bed was to prevent erosion. I have seen it in several bridges elsewhere in the state. And if the wood remains underwater, it will not rot. They have pulled old growth logs out of mill ponds that were cut over 100 years ago with no damage to the wood.

[Mike Fox]

 Let's move on eastbound in the Town of New Sharon, but still about 3 miles from the familiar Muddy Brook Crossing.

We break out of the previous undergrowth onto this nice straight skidder/snowmobile trail eastbound with at least a mile view and probably two. This whole area was lumbered a few years ago and the old railbed was completely rebuilt for yarding logs.  All wash outs were filled and no regrowth has occurred on the bed as snowmobile drags have kept it in nice shape.


Taken in the exact same spot but looking westbound at all the growth on the railbed where we just came from, probably at a property line so the lumbering ceased.


The snowmobile trail sign pointing toward New Sharon and a fork toward Industry (Allen's Mills/Clearwater lake).  This would be a great way to travel this winter as this trail runs about 2 miles of the FS&K Railbed right here.


Here we are at Bragdon Brook again and the eastbound view of the snowmobile bridge which was made from a 48 foot flatbed trailer.  Look over the bridge and see the clear sailing ahead for a long distance. Go back and review those great shots of this granite bridge Mike put on this site before.

[Mike Fox]

Now we leave the woods portion of the FS&K railbed and jump past the Muddy Brook Crossing into New Sharon Village. Turn at the blinking light off Route 2 and follow old Main St which now dead ends at Muddy Brook because the old Route 2 bridge which is just downstream from the FS&K Crossing has been deemed unsafe.  As we pass the town cemetery on the left take the second entrance and follow to the back, right beside the Sandy River.


A little hard to see, but the railbed from Muddy Brook is coming into town here with the Sandy River just to the left.


This is eastbound right on the railbed with the Sandy River just showing to the right.


I'm standing where the rail bed just kinda peters out looking westbound.  Just behind me, the Sandy River bends more easterly and presumably the FS&K would have crossed straight behind me. New Sharon residents and businessmen were sure excited about their new railroad in 1897-98. But, alas, it was not to be.

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

Not on the FS&K but pertaining to Mikes post ...  If you walk south on the WW&F grade about 1/3 of a mile from Sheepscot Station you will come to where the railroad crossed the brook.  There are 4 wooden sub stringers in the water.  Originally there was a wooden box culvert but it was washed out in 1936.  The timbers, installed in 1894 survived and are in good shape.   They are under the foot bridge that Eric built a few years ago.   It's worth a walk down there to see them.

[Wayne Laepple]

When I was railroading here in Pennsylvania for a living, an extremely heavy and lengthy fall rainstorm washed away the cinder embankment behind one abutment of a 20-foot bridge across a creek. In making the repairs, we discovered wooden timbers providing the base for the abutments and for the waterway beneath the bridge. The line had been built in 1858, and the timbers were still in good shape 130 years later! The only modernization we could document was when the wooden bridge structure was replaced with steel in 1896. At some point, though, concrete headers were added to the original stone facings to increase the height above the water by about a foot.

[Mike Fox]

Now here's a piece of the FS&K Railbed that I had never seen before right near the Farmington Fairgrounds.  On High St. turn beside the old shoe shop and follow around back to a large set of buildings which houses a waste disposal facility now.  This is a public way to access some trailer residences in back.


Looking westbound over the Blount's Brook fill mentioned in the 10/7/1897 Farmington Chronicle article.  Those trees line the edge of the deep ravine on each side.


The steep embankment which is over the stone bridge below probably more than 25 feet down.


Shows farther down the ravine and Blount's Brook below.  This ravine shows nicely on the topo map of Farmington which was linked to our discussion by Ed Lecuyer.


Now this is the one that haunts me to no end.  I look at this eastbound shot taken sitting just over the Blount's Brook Crossing and then look at a good blowup of Ed's Farmington topo map. I now realize we were less than a 1/3 mile from the Cascade Brook Crossing which can't be far from what we see here.  Evidentially my guide hadn't been fishing here.  I'm headed back right soon for a peek.

[Glenn Byron]

Thanks Mike for posting these pix for all to see.  I hope we all gain from their use.  There are at least other two crossings that I did not get to.  One is Beal's Brook, which the original blue print survives and I have seen, located about half way from Farmington to the Falls.  The other shows on the topo maps in the mile stretch of New Sharon we did not get into between the end of the railbed/snowmobile trail and Weeks Mills Rd., New Sharon.  Don't know yet how difficult access to either is.  I do think some of us can get a peek at Cascade Brook Crossing if it still exists.  It should not be far from Davis Rd. or maybe just down a ways from Blount's Brook Crossing.  All for another day, but we sure had fun with this.  BCNU,  Glenn Byron,  Smithfield, ME.

[Duncan Mackiewicz]

Glenn,
Great pics.  Thanks for sharing.  I wish I was a bit closer and could view those areas first hand.  Sounds like you had an enjoyable time hiking the ROW.
Duncan

[Mike Fox]

Glenn, looking at Google earth, I can clearly see the roadbed from your last photo. It goes through the trees, across the brook then crosses a power line. Looks like after that it is hard to find, but then I just picked it up again in the falls and followed it all the way to the Muddy Brook Bridge in New Sharon. I had looked before but your research and directions pointed me in the right direction.

[Mike Fox]

A couple more intown Shots Glenn passed along.

 "Two final pictures perhaps of questionable value.


This photo shows what might be the approach to the 1000 foot Wooden Trestle over Main St. Farmington.  We are standing in the University of Maine Farmington parking lot and looking Eastbound.  Lots of change has been done in this neighborhood and what you see might be real or not.  If you look at the high bank that had to be navigated to get a ROW through here, this is in the right place and is headed in the right direction.  This is the exact location of the Little Blue School that griped heavily about the encroachment of the railway on their playground.  FS&K surveyors had to get access to the lower end of SR&RL tracks to link the two narrow gauge lines together and the trestle was promised to keep the trains away from the Main Street traffic below.


This photo is just to give another point of reference.  We are standing right under where the trestle was located looking North toward the UMF building and Downtown Farmington.  The Blueprint we have seen clearly shows that the trestle crossed just north of the intersection of Lower Main Street and Bridge Street, both of which still exist about in their same location as 1898.  The blueprint also shows two possible routes eastbound after the trestle which tells us all issues were not settled in March 1897 when it was made.

 I want to especially make public thank you's to my guide, Birchard Cook and his wife, Dottie for helping make this possible.  Birchard has spent most of his 70+ years working and playing in the FS&K neighborhood.  His stories about this area added much to the discussion and added immensely to our knowledge of this failed venture.  Glenn  Byron,  Smithfield, ME."