Messages

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General Discussion / Re: Whitneyville and Machiasport Railroad: Old rail still in the ground?!!

« on: April 03, 2012, 07:39:55 PM »

All the reading I have done says all they ever ran on was strap rail. The rail was only as good as the timbers it supported. I bet the straps you are finding are from broken straps that were replaced.

thats a possibility but its just weird because it is all over the railbed and not just off to the sides.  Who really knows how they operated back then but it is still neat in finding it.

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General Discussion / Re: Whitneyville and Machiasport Railroad: Old rail still in the ground?!!

« on: April 03, 2012, 05:51:19 PM »

the pieces i was finding were only like 6 inches to 2 feet long.  I am assuming when they did the removal, pieces that broke apart they just left behind.  They are scattered all over the place underground ranging from a few inches to over a foot below dirt.  I am sure there are longer ones still below but this is what I was finding for the hour I searched. I am going out this weekend.  I will take pics.  I only found a few of the spikes.  The most so far is the strap.  I will keep you posted.

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General Discussion / Re: Sources for 60 pound rail

« on: April 02, 2012, 10:56:14 PM »

It looks like the claim of rail in the ground can be substantiated!!!

According to a poster at:
http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=126&t=36615

He reports:

If you go southwest of Machias on Route 1 and turn left on Roque Bluffs Road, there's a track into the woods on the left just past the junction. I thought that this was the route of the [Whitneyville and Machiasport] railroad, but I could be wrong.

Well, some more Google-ing and I came up with a map of the railroad:
http://oldrailhistory.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=258&Itemid=293

Which lines up perfectly with the topo map I offered earlier. Here is the full route:



if i use this map from earlier, it would be just above the H and I in the machias word along the yellow line.  thats where I was.

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General Discussion / Re: Whitneyville and Machiasport Railroad: Old rail still in the ground?!!

« on: April 02, 2012, 10:53:02 PM »

If you look at the map of Machias and the University, I left from the southeast end of the parking lot, where I work, and headed out about 1/2 mile or so.  The rail there would be closer to the east machias side of halfway between whitneyville and east machias. I wish I knew how to highlight a section on a map and attach it.  I plan on in a week or so to go back out with my camera and take a few photos.  I used flashearth.com  There is an old skidder trail to the east side of the campus all the way down to a beaver brook.  The railroad ran exactly east and west just above the beaver pond.  I started working my way west towards whitneyville until it got too dark.  My metal detector had tons of sign underground.  I found a bunch of strap and a few large nail like stakes.  I hope to come up with something interesting my next few trips back out there.

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General Discussion / Re: Whitneyville and Machiasport Railroad: Old rail still in the ground?!!

« on: April 02, 2012, 07:19:09 PM »

I found the railroad today.  I walked about 300 yards along the railbed where it ran.  I took my metal detector out there and found all kind of strap metal.  There is so much metal still in the ground it was making my detector go crazy.  I am going to continue searching the area this spring as the frost is not all the way out of the ground.  If anybody ever wanted to swing through Machias I would show them where it was and find some railroad strap for them.  You will need to wear boots as the path is very muddy and must be able to hike about 3/4 of a mile to it.  But I am excited to finally find it and find strap.  It was neat to stand there and think that thing ran so long ago right where I was standing.

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General Discussion / Re: Whitneyville and Machiasport Railroad: Old rail still in the ground?!!

« on: April 19, 2011, 12:41:54 PM »

Hello.  I am bringing this thread back to life becuase I work here at the University of Maine at Machias.  I just happened to be talking to a faculty member that knows a little bit about this.  As I started googling machias old topography maps I came across this forum. The Lion use to sit up here on campus I believe till around 1986 sometime.  The buddy I know his son use to play on it when it was up in the barn here. I heard all the rails and spikes were taken up by a guy in the Portland area. the faculty member is going to take me out back of the school to show me where the track ran.  I am taking my metal detector with me to see if I can find anything.  In the next few months during some free time I am going out there to explore.  He said he had walked from behind the college towards where it crossed the road on the Kennebec road.  We are going to walk the route from behind campus towards east machias.  He also told me he use to have it flagged off but that was 20 years ago and it is quite grown up.  I will take pictures along the way if I find anything and of places where the track ran.  Hope this sparks some interest because it has me.