Messages

1

Other Maine Narrow Gauge / Re: Industrial tramway at Mechanic Falls, Maine

« on: October 23, 2025, 03:07:30 AM »

Thanks Andrew. I had thought about all of the businesses that had worked from the mill site and your explanation is very helpful. I had wondered if the cardboard recycling business might have involved trucking the bales of cardboard over to a transload site in Auburn? This question still remains,  unless it was cheaper just to haul directly to a mill nearby.

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Bridgton & Saco River Railway / Re: RETURN of the Bridgton and Saco River Railroad!

« on: October 23, 2025, 02:57:26 AM »

Hello Pete,

From your post on rail bikes on the Silver Lake, can you provide any information about future plans at that location?

As you, I've been over to Home Run Road trying to find out about the Bridgton operation. In the fall of 2022, I knocked on doors of businesses trying to locate the volunteer headquarters. I had some fun discussions, but even the neighbors knew nothing. I went to the historical society, thinking that might be where the group was headquartered, but that was not the case. It may be so in the future as the historical society is moving from the old fire house to the former Methodist Church across the street. I worked as a volunteer at Bridgton Historical  Society for about 18 months and inventoried their railroad collection in such detail as to allow the inventory to be used for a preservation grant. I have been told that the railroad group will install a transportation museum in the former fire house, when the historical society is out.

As to the route back into town, they have a plan for that corridor. I am not sure about the former school building however.  That structure is being used by the Recreation Department currently. As has been said elsewhere in this forum, there are good observations of the old grade still visible and the location of the wye to Harrison still evident. When the leaves are off the trees, is the best time for exploring.

I've said this before also, but if you stand where the old Bridgton station used to be and look to town, you can see the fire department (hose drying tower) and the steeple of the Methodist Church. This will help orient one to the surroundings.

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Bridgton & Saco River Railway / Re: RETURN of the Bridgton and Saco River Railroad!

« on: October 22, 2025, 06:58:52 AM »

Hello Pete,

Only because I was at the Waterford Historical Society presentation this past April, am I aware of their plan to build back towards Bridgton. It was explained that a new routing will be used to do so, not quite on the old grade, but as close as possible.

Their gas-mechanical critter, which they have numbered as B.& S.R. Railroad no. 9, was once offered for sale to the W.W. & F. Ry. Museum. Along with a two foot gage Whitcomb. No. 9, the Plymouth is not two foot gage and the Bridgton guys are having to re-gage it. The Portland Press Herald reporter said that the Plymouth had been used on the cranberry bogs, that is not the case. After the owners of the two machines sold them to Jack Flagg, a contractor in Marshfield, Massachusetts, he painted them at his shop and had both displayed in his yard at the shop he ran. When Jack and his partners signed a contract with the Atwood Corporation (in 1999) the locomotives were moved to Edaville, and the Whitcomb repowered with a Cummins 250 diesel and a truck transmission.

The Plymouth was lettered up for the Cranrail Corp. which was the operating entity at that time. Following a surplus equipment auction, the Plymouth departed Edaville and may have gone to the Silver Lake Railroad in Madison, New Hampshire at that time. I believe that when the Silver Lake operation closed their doors, the Bridgton Railroad became the new owners.

Hopefully the Bridgton guys will jump in and add to what I have said and correct any inaccuracies I have made.

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Other Maine Narrow Gauge / Re: Bangor Industrial Narrow Gauge - American Thread Plant at Milo, Maine.

« on: October 21, 2025, 07:21:03 PM »

Also from the Kenton Harrison collection.

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General Discussion / Re: MEC Outside Frame Boxcar 35039

« on: October 21, 2025, 07:19:46 PM »

Thanks, Mike. The photo of the MEC boxcar is from a magazine (Trains) from 1965. That magazine from a large collection donated by Kenton Harrison of Massachusetts.

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Other Maine Narrow Gauge / Re: Industrial tramway at Mechanic Falls, Maine

« on: October 21, 2025, 06:39:36 PM »

Thank you gentlemen, appreciate your help and information.

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Bridgton & Saco River Railway / Re: Camp Wabunaki

« on: October 21, 2025, 10:52:28 AM »

Sounds like a fun exploration Dana. Hope you find some good stories.

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Other Maine Narrow Gauge / Re: Industrial tramway at Mechanic Falls, Maine

« on: October 21, 2025, 10:44:58 AM »

A very quick browse on eBay, searching "Sanborn Map Mechanic Falls Maine" brought up a list of several maps of 1873. These maps show the Grand Trunk main line and the Buckfield Branch Railroad. No rail infrastructure of the mills at the Androscoggin River or spur tracks is shown. If you look at one of the maps and find the building labeled as 'A.C. Denison & Co. Machine Shop ' (on the Lewiston Road) this is where the Grand Trunk spur entered the large mill complex. Today, this is where remnants of the spur can still be found by the experienced eye.

The Eagle Mill building shown on the 1873 map, is where I believe the narrow gage tramway later operated.

Also on eBay, under the same search, is a copy of a U.S.G.S. 1981 topo map. This map shows the Grand Trunk trackage crossing Lewiston Road and on the mill site.

Continue scrolling down the list of eBay shopping selections and way down the list is a Sanborn map of Waterville at $500. They are relatively rare and consistently pricey from what I have seen.

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Other Maine Narrow Gauge / Re: Industrial tramway at Mechanic Falls, Maine

« on: October 21, 2025, 10:19:52 AM »

Hello Dave and Ed!  Great suggestion on checking Sanborn Insurance maps. I intend to ask if those might be available at the Mechanic Falls Historical Society.

As I found out a few years ago at the Norway Historical Society (when I was researching the Norway Branch Railroad), the Sanborn maps have all the rail detail one could hope for.

If Mechanic Falls H.S. has a map available, I'm going to ask to be able to make a copy for the W.W. & F. Ry. Museum archives, as doing so fits the collecting mission of our archives department.

What I found in Norway was for me, just incredible. The map showed all trackage and all customers. The copy that Norway H.S. has is fragile and needs to be copied.

Occasionally these maps show up on eBay, but I have yet to find one of a two-footer town.

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Other Maine Narrow Gauge / Re: Industrial tramway at Mechanic Falls, Maine

« on: October 20, 2025, 05:26:32 PM »

Mike, I found that the Marcal Corp. used that site. They are makers of paper towels and toilet paper. Maybe that is where the recycled cardboard was being shipped out to.

James, right at the end of what is left of the spur (before crossing Lewiston Road) is the crossing signal activation control. There is also a stop sign, directing the switch crew to stop before crossing the road. Hard to tell if there is still rail in place leading back to active track, the brush is very heavy through there.

I had hoped that my 1978 Maine DeLorme Atlas might have a detailed map of Mechanic Falls, but it does not. Only the Grand Trunk mainline is shown. My copy of Jeff Holt's book, 'The Grand Trunk in New England ' is also without any detail of the mills in Mechanic Falls. Time for a road trip to the historical society...

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Other Maine Narrow Gauge / Re: Industrial tramway at Mechanic Falls, Maine

« on: October 20, 2025, 12:05:34 AM »

There is very little in the way of clues remaining. Apparently not electric, unless all electrical infrastructure was removed at some early point. What Mike had said about remembering two standard gage tracks, is borne out by a photo on the Mechanic Falls Historical Society Facebook page. If you scroll back quite aways on their site, a photo of a Grand Trunk freight can be found with the two tracks shown. A tank car can be seen at the right, maybe full of bunker oil? This car evidently on another spur, perhaps for the boiler house or maybe delivering chlorine or acid for the pulping operation.

The Whitin Machine Works (Whitinsville, Mass) once rostered the G.E. diesel - electric 23 tonners for that mills' operation. You can still find narrow gage rail in places and see the "engine house" with the distinctive doors and rail still bedded into the floor. A few articles were written about that two footer  and the book "In This Quiet Valley" published about the mill, it's workers and production. Though there is little about the railroad within that book, it is still a very enjoyable read for its WWII content.

Those G.E diesels were very sophisticated for mill use. They were equipped very comfortably for the ooerator. The units came with in-cab heaters, windshield wipers, sanders and uncoupling controls using compressed air. In theory, an engineer could do a lot without having to dismount from the cab. In actuality, the mill cars were coupled with link and pin, and a crew did the switching, not just one man.

Initially, I had thought the Mechanic Falls industrial railroad to have been electric. The power generated from the Androscoggin River falls led me in that direction. If I find anything, I'll post it here.

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Other Maine Narrow Gauge / Re: Industrial tramway at Mechanic Falls, Maine

« on: October 18, 2025, 07:31:19 PM »

Mike also located an image (in postcard form) of the Waterfalls Paper Mill and what looks like narrow gage track in the foreground. A great find! Thanks for putting up this photo.

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General Discussion / Re: Around the Percival House dining room table...

« on: October 18, 2025, 07:28:00 PM »

One of the diners today (thanks Earl) told us of this machine. As we all had lunch, we tried to envision what thus rig looked like. Mike did some fine detective work and came up with this image.

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Other Maine Narrow Gauge / Re: Industrial tramway at Mechanic Falls, Maine

« on: October 18, 2025, 05:17:50 PM »

Thanks Ed and I know what you mean about older folks being walking encyclopedias. When we lose them, there is a tremendous amount of knowledge gone. I appreciate your passing along the thought that toilet paper was possibly made at the mill.

Today in Mechanic Falls there is an active freight customer, "NEPW" which stands for New England Public Warehouse. I only mention this, as I believe they receive, warehouse and distribute paper goods for supermarkets and other retailers. That business also receives cars in Portland/Westbrook and in South Paris. Just makes me wonder if there is any connection to the old maker of such products and the modern day distribution from roughly the same area?

It may be awhile before any information surfaces about the mill and the railroad. I am certain there is an article out there, maybe a photo or two. If there were steel rails and flanged wheels, there was a rail enthusiast studying it. I will be looking for old rail history newsletters and anything by O.R. Cummings. And I'll be hitting the 2026 Annual Picnic archives sale to see if any old publications will be up for grabs (with benefits to the Archives Department) Stated tuned!

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Other Maine Narrow Gauge / Re: Industrial tramway at Mechanic Falls, Maine

« on: October 18, 2025, 12:03:16 AM »

Earl and Mike, thanks for your responses. I'm not sure what industry the railroad served on that site. An old postcard shows a three story wooden shoe manufacturing plant. That industry likely took in carloads of coal and leather hides, etc. I have been under the impression that a paper or pulp making operation is what the narrow gage tram was used for. One final curiosity that I have is I remember Harry Percival sending a load of raw oak (ties) over to Mechanic Falls for pressure treating. This was around 1993. The ties had been donated by museum member Don Perham of Bolton, Massachusetts. He had sawn them on his own mill, hauled them up to Sheepscot and gave them to Harry. I don't know if the treating operation was on the same site or not.