W.W.&F. Discussion Forum
Worldwide Narrow Gauges => Massachusetts' Two Footers => Topic started by: Matthew Gustafson on January 20, 2009, 07:27:46 PM
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Does anyone know the past to present history about this railroad? ??? ::) ;) :)
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Matt,
Type "edaville railroad history" into Google and you'll get several hits that will answer the basics.
Enjoy
Mike Nix
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Matt, I'd also recommend watching Mark I's two-part series on Edaville. You can get it here: http://unix8.sunserver.com/mark1video/-strse-186/EDAVILLE-RALROAD--/Detail.bok
(...or save $20 and get way more for your money with this set: ::)
http://www.amazon.com/Steam-Trains/dp/B00018WMSE/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1232561929&sr=1-7)
There's an excerpt on YouTube, but the sound is synched incorrectly. Here's the link anyway: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4HVHHcZtbA
I regret being born too late to visit Edaville before the Maine steamers left and the county fair rides moved in... They do have an English-built locomotive, but their website says she hasn't run in 2+ years for unspecified reasons.
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All, but especially Bruce Wilson;
I was reading a history of Edaville last night published in 1971 by a Trains magazine writer. (It was a small booklet). In it was a picture of #7 pulling a baggage combine and passenger coaches. As usual, the combine was directly behind the engine. What was unusual was the Santa Fe livery on the combine and first coach. Was this for a special event? Were they used at Pleasure Island and returned after its closing? Thanks.
KD
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Dave I believe the Santa Fe livery was from the coaches short stint at Freedom land USA in the bronx of new york. I believe there is a thread about this in here somewhere with a video link...
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Vincent;
Thanks fo rthe information. I vaguely remember a thread on the old Discussion Group but it's no longer available. I had forgotten about Freedom Land.
KD
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There was an article in the Mass DOT magazine in the 1960's that featured a photo showing the cars in Santa Fe lettering going through a turnpike toll booth. The writer had no idea where the rolling stock came from as he stated that "No doubt the cars had survived many an Indian attack while rolling through the wild west many years ago"
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Stewart,
The western "Lakes Region" of Maine is STILL pretty wild! You never know when the masked bandits will come riding out of the woods....
Keith
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Heh! I get "masked banditos" all the way down here in suburban CT!
Maybe I should start hiring The Pinkerton's to guard my backyard RR!
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Question for the Edaville historians...or anyone who would like to venture a guess!.
At the height of the most successful period, how many trains per day left the station and ran the loop?? I remember when I was a kid being there on weekdays and riding behind steam...and other times there would be 2 steam-powered trains out on the loop simultaneously...maybe on weekends?
So how many passenger trains would they run per day...at their busiest?
Stephen
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Hi Steven,
I remember visiting Edaville at Christmas time on several occassions when 4 trains were running the loop simultaneously. The record occurred when the trains carried 10,000 passengers on a single day.
The math is staggering! Assuming something like 300-350 passengers per train, that works out to roughly 30 fully loaded trains running over about a 7 hour period. Literally, a train would pull in, unload/reload (arriving passengers out the front door, departing passengers in the rear door), and leave the station. By that time the next train was waiting to enter the platform area to perform the same operation. Trains left on 5-minute headways - ALL DAY LONG!
Anyone who doesn't believe those little two foot trains have earned their keep many times over never had the opportunity to travel to Edaville during a busy Christmas weekend.
Great memories ...
Best Regards,
Glenn
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Thanks, Glenn.
That IS amazing. My question was prompted by a thread over on RyPN which asked which locomotive has run the most miles in preservation...in excursion service? And I began to think that the former Edaville engines have got to have some serious mileage on them.
In the 50 years that Edaville operated with 4 steamers...how many miles as a fleet? Hazard a guess?
Stephen
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I also witnessed what Glenn did - my best memory is just before Christmas 1967. Four trains were out running and our #10 was fired up on standby IIRC. Especially at night you would hear the whistles echoing across the bogs - not just four whistles but at least 6, as the 7 and 8 had two whistles each and many of the engineers were musicians with them.
As many of you know, there was a block signal system on the line and this must have been quite useful during these peak operations. At certain locations along the reservoir you could see one or two of the other trains off in the distance and occasionally one of the signals.
I was lucky enough to get a couple of cab rides in during my visits and once when riding one of the B&SR locos in the woods away from the lights I remember thinking about how it must have been on the same engine years before in Maine. Decades would pass before I would get to actually ride on the B&SR roadbed - mostly in a Dodge Dakota thanks to Mike Fox on one of his tours.
You know, those white pines of Edaville did have their cousins along the Bridgton.....
This was an interesting part of 2 foot railway history even if it was for a different purpose than the historic lines.
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,,, the former Edaville engines have got to have some serious mileage on them.
In the 50 years that Edaville operated with 4 steamers...how many miles as a fleet? Hazard a guess?
Stephen
Well lets see ... Edaville was running well enough by 1947 for Moody to write his booklet on the line in that year. So lets take that as the start date. The original line operated basically until the end of 1991 (I believe), so lets take that as the end date. Lets also simplify things by saying the line ran 7 days/week from June to September - that's 4 full months or roughly 120 days. And we'll say they ran 6 trains a day during that entire period.
44 years
x 120 days
x 6 trains per day
= 31,689 trips/yr
x 5 miles / trip
= 158,400 miles
- ignoring Christmas, early operating starts, double-headers, but taking credit for extra trips between 1947 and 1956 (when F. Nelson Blount took over.)
Check my math, I didn't use a calculator.
Best Regards,
Glenn
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44 years
x 120 days
x 6 trains per day
= 31,689 trips/yr
x 5 miles / trip
= 158,400 miles
Glenn
That's a lot of miles no matter how you slice it!
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Wow. No wonder why some of the wheel sets are really worn.
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Those miles weren't slow, easy miles either. Check out the order board in this pic.
http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?2009041922472711910.jpg (http://photos.nerail.org/showpic/?2009041922472711910.jpg)
30 minutes on a 5 & 1/2 loop a few stops tossed in along the route. Those engines were movin' at a pretty good clip...
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That was in the summer, at christmas with 4 trains running they left the station very 7 1/2 min.
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Cindy bought a box of Edaville items at the Gaithersburg Train Show. There are posters, brochures and souvenirs in the lot. Among the souvenirs are two things I have not seen before. One is a child's wooden Jumping Jack toy with Edaville and locomotive number 8 on the front. The toy works by pulling strings to raise the arms and legs. The other piece is a 7 inch commemorative plate that is white with blue decorations. It looks like the Staffordshire plates that are sold at historic sites. A narrow gauge train is in the center and the surrounding scenes depict other attractions at the park. Shown are The Flying Yankee, Harvesting Cranberries, Fire Engine Collection, 1856 Dutch Carousel, Horse Drawn Trolley and "Watering Up" engine 8. (The plate was wrapped in a copy of the Cape Cod Times but there's no date).
I'm guessing that these items date from the 1950's and 60's, is that correct? Does anyone have more information on them? I knew that Edaville sold coffee mugs and plates but had not heard of toys like the Jumping Jack.
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Just reading this thread now in November of 2024. Of the many subjects addressed and questions asked, let me touch on just a few memories.
On the question of "mileage" and maybe which engine was used most, that honor befell Monson no. 3 and followed by Monson no. 4.
Regarding Christmas season train operations, each passenger train set had a different color of light bulbs decorating the cars. You determined who you were following and could see their position across the waters of the reservoir.
The signal system was of course, used to maximum at Christmas. It was fully functional and unique in its variety. It was common for engine crew to call signal aspects out to each other for confirmation. There was a color position light signal just after Peacedale and at Plantation Center (MP -4) that displayed a diagonal display of three yellow bulbs when you were closely following the train in front of you. Other semaphore and color position light signals were appropriately installed to keep traffic flowing smoothly.
One of the fastest runs I ever knew about was when Fred Richardson took the throttle of Bridgton no. 7 on the Columbus Day holiday in 1997. He ran a 25 minute trip.
The fastest run I ever did was 24 minutes and due to my improper gear selection while operating the Edaville Whitcomb (diesel/mechanical) engine no. 3. Elsewhere within this forum, I have elaborated as to the tricky nature of piloting that machine on the main line with a heavy train. You pretty much had one chance at picking a gear and once you were in gear and rolling, there wasn't much chance of starting over.
Edaville Supt. of Motive Power, Peter Correia, kept an eye on wheel wear and spun coaches on the turntable as needed. This is the same merry go 'round now seeing duty at Rt. 218 (near Trout Brook Station) on the W.W. & F.
During the early 1970's my father had Edaville no. 4 as the "fourth engine" and though he was ready for duty throughout the evenings of those winter operations, he might only be called for a trip or two. He usually kept the engine hot under the car hoist by the engine shed. Later in the early 2000's, I had the "spare engine" which when the Hudswell-Clark was in service, usually involved sitting with the G.E. diesel (23 tonner) no. 2 on the "second track". To me, this was the best duty and a lot of fun. Railfans would come up to gab and when it was dark, I lit my father's two old kerosene lanterns for safety.
Edaville had good people and that kept the experience enjoyable for visitors and safe. It was a lot of fun to work with the platform crew to aid passengers both on and off the coaches. Whenever I was assigned to a diesel, I would assist in helping passengers in and out of the car right behind my engine. Frequently, this was the Bridgton combine (Edaville no. 11) which is now being stored at Sheepscot. Back in the early 2000's, that was the only car that still had individual seating. I would purposefully go out into the line of boarding passengers and discreetly steer senior guests to the comfortable seating in that car. One evening, I escorted three women into no. 11 and as they were getting to their seats, they told me that they had been employed by Mr. Atwood in the late 1940's. It was such a thrill to encounter those ladies and give them a ride, how deeply I regret not asking to speak with them at a later date of their experiences. The stories they could have told...
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What was the B&H number of the Edaville combine #11 referred to in the post above? I see it frequently in videos from 1991. According to the 1947 book by Moody, there is a baggage #31 that came from the B&H, is it the same one?
There is also later reference to SRRL combine #14 that appears to have been Franklin & Megantic #3.
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Hi Warren, the car in question is B&SR/B&H baggage car 11 built by Jackson & Sharp in 1900, later renumbered 30. It became Edaville 11 and was converted to a combine.
B&SR/B&H 31 was an earlier baggage car built by Laconia in 1882 and originally numbered 10. It was apparently dismantled at Edaville.
You are correct that SR&RL combine 14 was originally F&M 3. It's a sister car to SR&RL coach 21, originally F&M 2, which was part of the same order from Jackson & Sharp in 1903.
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Thanks. There seems to be a lot of conflicting information. Even Moody's 1947 book isn't correct with the Edaville roster. He has the #18 coach listed as Mount Pleasant when it was B&H #16. I have a compilation steam roster from 1971 on the way, it was referred to either earlier in this thread or elsewhere. Hopefully that will fill in some of the gaps. Hoping to see some of the WWF bunch at the Big E next weekend!