This week Boothbay Railway Village took delivery of a 2 foot gauge track inspection car. It was built from a Model T Ford in 1925 by the Sandy River and Rangely Lakes RR. SRRL was the largest 2 footer in Maine with over 100 miles of track. When SRRL went out of business, much of equipment was purchased by a man in Carver MA who eventually started the Edaville RR. When Edaville went bankrupt in the early 1990s, it was bought by a man in Maine, and when he passed about 10 years later it was donated to the Owls Head Transportation Museum near Rockland, ME. The inspection car is on loan to BRV this summer so it can be run on our tracks instead of being on static display.
This is a video from the BRV Facebook page of the unloading and first run:
https://apps.facebook.com/magisto/video/a1kaKVcZFWgyR0FgCzE?l=vsm&o=a&c=o
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Was that unit on display at the Amherst Model show this past January? Looks very familiar.
chutton01Was that unit on display at the Amherst Model show this past January? Looks very familiar.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
I was talking with one of our volunteers last Thursday, and he told me his father or uncle worked for SRRL, and he built a number of inspection cars and rail busses for use on their system. People did a lot of things with the 'T"s. Owls Head has one that is a half track for winter use. Catipillar treads on the rear axle and skiis on the front. I have also seen pictures of T tractor conversions with those spikey iron wheels on the back.
I do not know if the rail car came to Amhurst; probably not as Owls Head is more into cars and airplanes. As mentioned before, a lot of model Ts were converted for rail use.
Owls Head is worth a visit for anyone traveling up Maine way. http://owlshead.org/
Hi, George
My dad was from Barre Plains, Mass. and he loved to visit the Sandy River when he could get the time. He left me with a small collection of photos that, regrettably, I never had the chance to ask him about. I don't know who the photographer is but I do know that my dad was taking pictures around 1935. He has several from the big 1938 Great Hurricane.
So I thought I'd post these photos for the enjoyment of the fans of the Maine Two Footers...
I have included the captions written on the back by my father.
You can see a turning lift under the middle of #3!
This Reo looks like one of the largest cars on the roster. Check out those horns and bell!
This July, 1935 view was badly faded but I cleaned it up a bit in Elements 11.
Another great shot at Strong.
I sure wish Google would get that "wayback" machine working! I'm ready for a trip down memory lane...
Happy Railroadin'
Ed
Great photos, Ed Thanks for sharing