W.W.&F. Discussion Forum
Worldwide Narrow Gauges => US Two Footers => Topic started by: James Patten on August 03, 2020, 08:23:02 PM
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Came across a slide that's only marked "2 foot gauge railroad". The year is 1970, taken by my father. I can't identify it. It's not Boothbay Railway Village - the rail is too heavy, the locomotive isn't right. Pretty certain it's not Edaville - same deal. Anyone with any ideas?
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Interesting. It looks new in the photo. The topography is right for Boothbay..
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There was a two-foot place in NH. Beaver Brook or some name like that?
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The rail looks far too heavy for 1970 Boothbay. Back then they had something like 25 pound rail. But the topography does look Boothbay-like.
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It could be Santa's Land in Vermont
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It could be Santa's Land in Vermont
It does not appear to be that. Photos of the 1970s train at Santa's Land in Vermont show a cartoon-style locomotive running on very lightweight rail, possibly 18" gauge.
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The Santa's Land equipment is the steam-outline C P Huntington model from Chance Rides. Ubiquitous in US amusement parks, including the park near my hometown (Idlewild, Ligonier, PA) where it was known as the Loyalhanna Limited.
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Cool, it looks like somebody put a loop of track in a gravel pit! If it's in New England, I'm thinking Allan Socea or Robert Jones might know, but I've lost all my old contact info. Maybe someone else can reach out to them, somebody must be in touch with Bob after reprinting Two Feet to Tidewater? I did pass the photo on to Bob Brown at The Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette, who is also a great fount of knowledge for all things weird, wonderful and Narrow Gauge, so maybe he'll be able to solve the mystery...
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The Santa's Land equipment is the steam-outline C P Huntington model from Chance Rides.
Santa's Land now operates a Chance CP Huntington. Back in 1970, the train was significantly different.
(https://www.cardcow.com/images/set633/card00997_fr.jpg)
I believe it is still in storage at the park.
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Over on NGDF (http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,401693,401693), James' mystery has been solved.
The photo was taken at "Steam Village" in Gilford, NH. (Not to be confused with the defunct "Beaver Brook Transportation Museum" in Mount Vernon, New Hampshire.) After Steam Village closed, this particular locomotive was sold to Loon Mountain Resort in Lincoln, NH, where it still operates on a short section of track - providing a shuttle between two ski lifts during winter operations.
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Here is a link to a REALLY OLD forum post regarding Steam Village. Supposedly we may even have some information about it in our own archives...
http://forum.wwfry.org/index.php?topic=852.0
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Thanks everyone, I'll mark the picture as Steam Village in NH. As I'm scanning all the old family photos, I put a caption on the bottom so that someone in the future will have an idea about what it is.