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Will the Narrow Gauge Railroad Make a Return to the Bridgton Area?

May 07, 2008 - BRIDGTON -- In 1941, the Little Railroad That Could went into Could Not mode. The Bridgton and Harrison was dissolved, its equipment scattered to the south and west of its Hiram Jct. to Bridgton-Harrison route.

Now, might at least some of the old Bridgton equipment make a return to its home town?

There's a possibility.

Many pieces of the Bridgton and Saco River line have been collected by the nonprofit Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company, headquartered on Fore Street, in Portland. The group runs a working rail line and a large museum. Its mission is to foster historical knowledge of America's historic industrial past, and it does so by focusing on railroads. Most specifically, it focuses on Maine narrow gauge lines; the B&SR RR was one of five historic main lines, and it also is the one with the most equipment still around: locomotives, including the largest narrow gauge engine ever made in America, passenger cars, and loads of ancillary items are all in storage, on display -- or actually carting around excursion passengers, in season. Many of the engines still work, refurbished largely with expert volunteer help. Currently, the two-feet-between-the-rails tracks run beside Back Bay, Portland, for about 4 miles, on state land.

At a meeting held at Bridgton town office on Monday, MNGRR Executive Director Sue Davis said the Portland nonprofit may be able to provide display equipment for Bridgton, establishing a presence here as a kind of satellite operation. For example, siting a display at the Chamber of Commerce building on Portland Street, an attention grabber for passing motorists, could be a start; or build a platform and display a car, which would be provided on a free lease. Chamber Executive Director Mike McClellan planned to run this first stage idea past his executive boards on Tuesday and Wednesday, earlier this week.

The Bridgton Historical Society could become involved, on several levels, too. The economic development committee, through its chairman Peter Lowell, expressed a hope for an even greater railroad presence in the future. Lowell said a logical second project might be to extend a mini railroad line from Depot Street, where the town and private businesses have combined to foster economic growth in recent years, to behind the Chamber building on Portland Street. This three-quarter mile route is actually part of the old hardpacked rail bed, miles of which, especially from Sandy Creek south, are still in prime shape for excepting railroad ties. The town owns the land behind the old school and up past the Chamber, which has been used in several ways in recent years by the public works department. But the old railbed there is still clear.

The town would be asked for no funds by the Portland company, MNGRR Treasurer Hans Brandes assured. "This is how much Portland gives us now," he said Monday, and he smiled and held a circled finger and thumb up before his face.

He said a community's involvement must be fueled by volunteerism, and those volunteers fueled by interest expertise, and the opportunity to do fulfilling work projects. Needed to pitch in would be sawmills, welders, machinists, contractors and the like. Even inexperienced, but willing, hands are important. Narrow gauge people helped Harrison Historical Society lay several hundred feet of track in Scribner's Mills a couple of years back. The car that ran back and forth on that line, incidentally was the "Pondicherry".

Fundraising is most often done through grants and private donations.

Davis said she was meeting with the Portland mayor on Tuesday, to talk about keeping the big museum and working railroad in Portland. She was hopeful this could be done. The company is looking at perhaps having to leave its headquarters on Fore Street. However, the ultimate situation hasn't been fully clarified. They'd like to stay.

Provided local energy could be rallied, there may be more projects that can be done in Bridgton, beyond the first idea of a simple, if attention-getting, static display. "A lot of what happens depends on local enthusiasm, whatever develops here," Brandes said.

Economic and community development director Micah Niemy said he looks at the railroad's presence, because of its history and its natural fit here, as "an economic development opportunity."

Sue Davis said, however, that a tour of the town had surprisingly yielded very little tangible evidence that small gauge railroad had ever been a part of Bridgton's daily cultural life. Depot Street, for example, had a school at the end of it, not a depot. But for almost 60 years, the B&SR was an important part of the town, and Bridgton's connection to the outside world of industry and national expansion; the rail line superseded the old canal, before being superseded itself by freight truck traffic and the automobile.

Peter Lowell said there are "all kinds of people" in town, who were "sorry we ever let the railroad go, the first time." Culturally, historically and economically, getting at least part of the railroad back in town as a permanent presence would be a big positive step, he said.

The equipment was sold off in the 1940s to be used as equipment to work the cranberry bogs of Massachusetts. It became excursion line, the Edaville railroad. Almost 20 years ago, the equipment from that line, along with lots of other stock, came to Portland. It's now a tourist attraction, with a fine museum and thousands each year riding the pint-size trains -- Bridgton used to call its line "The Dinky." This time of year, rides go 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the hour, weekends; and starting May 26, daily, from 11 p.m. to 4 p.m.. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., weekdays, now, this time of year, and it's on the same schedule daily all summer.

Bridgton resident and railroadiana collector Bill Shelley, who has provided high-quality pieces to museums all over Maine, says he would love to see a bigger presence for the old narrow gauge in town, with volunteers from and benefits available to other towns also served by the line. He sounds eager to lay track right now; and he claims the old hardpacked railbed is "ready to roll."

Lowell noted that the Lakes Environmental Association has been studying the old narrow gauge right-of-way, including lot ownership, for possible easements for its projected use as a hiking trail. Hiking and excursion trains can coexist, Hans Brandes said -- and do, in Portland. Shelley noted that several parties could cooperate and benefit from development of the right-of-way, including snowmobile clubs.

Several historical societies, including Bridgton's, have fine railroad displays. The Chamber may soon exhibit of the finest of all, because it would be life-size. Monday's meeting may have kick started a process that will return part of The Dinky to Bridgton. Even more focused and extensive projects could follow, if enough people are interested in sweating the details -- and sweating the special projects that could develop, "down the line."

By Mike Corrigan, this article first appeared in the Bridgton News, May 1, 2008.


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