South Bridgton Station

[Ed Deere]

Has anybody ever seen a photo of South Bridgton Station? It appears to be rather allusive.
mrdeere

[Mike Fox]

South Bridgton and Ingalls. They both have very few photos of them.

[Glenn Christensen]

Hi,

"Bridgton" Bill Shelley, took me to see the former South Bridgton station in August.  The building has been moved to a location near the Rt. 117/Ingalls Road intersection on Fitch Hill in South Bridgton.  It has been remodeled into a very attractive cottage.  Bill had the opportunity to tour the building prior to its remodeling and said it was very similar to the depots constructed at Sandy Creek and at Perleys Mills (before the freight house extension got added.)  These building sizes are reported in Peter Barney's book "Bridgton & Saco River - A Pictorial Journey".  Accompanying photos of the station buildings at SC and PM can be found in the same book and the basic dimensions are consistent with the outline of the cottage Bill showed me.  Ingalls Road depot is reported as being the same width as the SC, PM, and SB depots but with a slightly shorter length, which leads me to theorize that it may have been of similar appearance to the other three depots.

So from what I can tell, the SC, RM, SB, and IR depots were built to a different design than that at West Sebago.  The WS photos in Peter's book show only a passenger door and freight door on the track side.  Other photos show a single multi-paned window on the passenger end and no windows on the freight side.  Overall the WS depot looks like a somewhat beefier version of the Kingfield Powder Storage Shed as drawn in the Kingfield, Maine book of the "Two Foot Cyclopedia".

As always, I invite corrections ...


Best Regards,
Glenn

[Ed Deere]

Thanks for all the information Glenn.  I am familiar with the Two foot cyclopedia and will reference it the next chance I get.

mrdeere

[Ed Deere]

   I become conscious that inconsistent stories are bound to surface while researching topics of times past. Memories fade and get past from one person to the next. Someone speculates in a moment of conversation and gets confused as actuality.   So who is right? We may never truly know.  Yet that is what makes it all so interesting.
    While browsing through the Two Feet to the Lakes book by Robert C. Jones I found on page113 a reference to the South Bridgton Station. It states that the South Bridgton Station was torn down in 1932 along with Sandy Creek.  Yet there is not an indication made as of how the information was obtained. So I return to my paragraph above and just say “Mmmmm”.
   Personally I want to believe that the South Bridgton Station still stands as a small cottage somewhere in the vicinity of Route 107 & the Ingalls Road. And my objective is not to point my finger at anyone, but just to say I found this dissimilar information.
mrdeere

[John McNamara]

When I first owned property near the Naples/Bridgton line, I remember seeing a South Bridgton station sign on a dilapidated shed near the intersection of Ingalls Road and Route 107 (S. Bridgton Road). Paul Field, "The Handyman" lives at that intersection, and I expect that he might know something of the history of the station and that sign (which is no longer there).

I recommend writing to Paul S. Field at 1 Ingalls Rd, Bridgton, ME, 04009 and asking him if he knows anything about the station.

[Glenn Christensen]

Hi John,

Its good to hear from you!  You're right, its Rt. 107 that goes through South Bridgton.  Rt. 117 meets Rt. 107 at Sandy Creek and goes over to Denmark.  

Yeah, I remember seeing the South Bridgton station sign too over near the old Knapp & Sanborn store.  In those days, Ingalls Road actually continued all the way down to the B&SR right of way.

If I recall correctly, "Bridgton Bill" told me the South Bridgton station sign has been saved.  


Best Regards,
Glenn