Somewhere I misplaced my notes on the trip
- Anyway.....
After anxiously watching the weather forecasts for several days, Sue and I headed north to the Promised Land.
We again stayed at the Highland Lake Resort - one reason was that Sue likes the Maine Coon Cat in the office!
It rained heavily that night - we hoped that it would be all "rained out" for the next day.
Dark and early (for Sue) the next morning we coffee-ed up and rolled on down to the Bridgton Chamber of Commerce building, an ideal point for starting a B&SR Field Trip. For those who aren't familiar with it, the building has the look of a passenger station with its familiar roof ine and overhangs - I noticed this a number of years ago during my first visit to the area. It is also a spike-throwing distance to the actual Bridgton & Saco River Railroad right of way. And new this year is a genuine artifact from the BS&R - as many of you know, a display track has been built on the front lawn of the C of C property, and on it is the former B&SR flanger, on generously on loan from the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad and Museum in Portland. Also in evidence was a display track expansion program - stay tuned for further information in this thread concerning future displays.
Our fearless leader for the Field Trip, Mike Fox, soon arrived, followed quickly by his son Joe. Dana Deering, Duncan Mackiewicz and Bob Meckley also soon arrived. As we begin to plan the day's events, none other than Bridgton Bill Shelley rolled in, with his Suburban advertising "Return of the Rails" on its rear side windows. Bill gave the group an update on the project and then loaned Mike some track diagrams which were a nice addition to material we had to guide our tour. Bill also opened up the portable B&SR Store, and a number of the "Return of the Rails" fund-raising t-shirts were quickly sold to the group. Although Bill could not join the day's tour, he tentatively reserved space on our next adventure, and his vehicle looked like it could conquer a good percentage of the right of way.
Our next activity was a repeat of the walk from the C of C site to the Bridgton station and shop site, repeated for the benefit of Bob, Dana, and Duncan. A former school building has inhabited that property for over 50 years, and soon - in the "Return of the Rails" spirit a number of us cranked up our imaginations on how to convert the school building and grounds back to narrow gauge railroad use. Mike guided us around the area, pointing out the site of various buildings and one of us rediscovered some old metal that Sue had found last year - most likely part of the old feed mill that stood close to the station area. No new major discoveries were made in the area - it had been bulldozed very thoroughly before the school was built, and the town apparently has used the area south of the school for a storage area for surplus construction material and rubble. Just a trace of the branch to Harrison remains - this was explored in detail on the previous field trip.
Following our return to the C of C site, we "mounted up" and drove to Sandy Creek, crossing the right of way near the former landfill. After parking at the station site we again retraced a bit of the previous trip, walking back toward Bridgton, viewing the point where the main line bridged an old town road and the adjacent mill area. Joe rediscovered the drainage system for the roadway that he had discovered on the earlier visit, and I continued an unsuccessful hunt for a souvenir track spike. Although it had stopped raining for the most part, the substantial rain over the previous days did limit our walking in normally only marginally wet areas so we didn't crawl over much of the mill site. And Sue never found the hat that she thought she had lost there on the earlier visit.
Next, it was time to begin the big adventure - a trip south on the old main line right of way. Mike's Dodge Dakota pickup and Bob's Jeep Liberty were volunteered, and off we went, heading toward Hancock Lake. I rode on Mike's "shotgun seat" and Dana, Joe, and Sue communed with nature a bit better in the observation area - the open truck bed (thankfully any leftover drizzle had ended). Duncan rode with Bob. Thanks to the local snowmobile association, almost all of the right of way was drivable by vehicles with good ground clearance. I would not have wanted to try it in our Subaru Impreza.
The area that we traversed was definitely "out in the woods" with little sign of habitation. Evidence of various logging operations were seen at a number of points, including around station sites such as South Bridgton. We would stop and explore any areas that looked interesting, and thanks to Mike's knowledge and the borrowed track maps we always knew where we were. There were a couple of areas where the local beavers undertook some extensive water diversion projects, causing some concern about safe passage in a couple of areas, one where the "beaves" used the roadbed as part of their earthworks. Several of us filled a particularly deep pot hole with rocks, and also we dug away at part of the dam to drop some of the water level on the roadbed. Then it was time to continue - I went up ahead but not quick enough to get my camera out as Mike parted the seven seas with his front bumper. Thankfully the beavers had not posted any "no wake" signs in the area!
We then headed into more hilly country. Some of the backdrop of old photos "from the day" came to life, and by turning my imagination up all the way I could almost hear the exhaust beat of number 7 climbing the hill. We continued to occasionally stop and explore certain areas on foot, and finally I "got a bite on my line" as my magnet-equipped poor-man's metal detector found my first of two spikes - think it was near Kennett's. We made other stops as Dana thought he had "picked up the scent" of the mysterious cold spring - we did find an area that looked like it could have been the spot. Somewhere near Ingalls Road, we stopped by what I guess was "the big notch" and here Sue hit the jackpot - finding a glass telegraph insulator in very good condition, along with part of a crossarm. Told her that was good practice for digging our potatoes. Although several of us throughly uprooted several square feet of the adjacent area, all that was found was an old pole guy wire. From there we descended out of the hills, past an active gravel pit accessed by the right of way, to the site of Perley's Mills station, near a scenic pond. Now back into civilization, we left the right of way for a somewhat parallel paved road, deep into Dana Country as we were now near Hancock Pond, where the Deering family has owned property for generations. In fact one of his ancestors worked for the B&SR, a bond which few if any of the current generation of 2-foot aficiandos can match. It was here along the shore of Hancock Pond where the Field Trip ended, after checking out the cottage that once belonged to B&HR superintendent Joe Bennett - building that is well documented in numerous still and moving pictures of the railroad's later days. Also noted were the small structures that had once been part of the famous water tank at the site. Dana's reflections of his time in the area added greatly to this part of the tour.
And so the latest B&SR Field Trip ended. We're looking forward to the next edition!
I'd like to dedicate the writing of this account to the memory of my father, William C. Sample, 10Dec21-26Oct08, who first introduced me to the Maine 2-footers via Edaville in July 1957.
