Narrow Gauge Railroad Connecting Maine's Small Towns

The cheaper and more narrow railroad helped smaller communities connect.

[@WWFRailway]

Thanks for featuring us on 207! You are all welcome back any time to enjoy the Narrow Gauge!

[@hunterneitzel3012]

These railways have existed since the 1880s, and it's good to know that legacy is kept alive, 90 years after the roads replaced them

[@gregwarner3753]

This is a fascinating place for everyone. We try to get there at least once a year. A definite must for machine freaks. Just the idea of going through the woods powered by burning rocks is amazing. During this time of Covid call them for schedules.

[@beboboymann3823]

This is a great story. I did not know a two foot gauge RR existed. I would plan a side trip to see it for sure.

[@jacquesblaque7728]

Started with the Billerica & Bedford in Ma. Went broke not much later. Then others started up, like the W,W & F, Sandy River etc. There are books on the Maine 2-Footers. Expense of transloading by hand made them impractical, it's not like swapping cars with standard-gauge roads. Then came cars & trucks.

[@CymruJedi]

This is so great, would love to visit one day

[@zoonpolitikon14]

This is awesome, I hope to visit and ride the trains this summer!

[@WWFRailway]

You would be most welcome! Find us at 97 Cross Road, Alna, Maine. We're also always looking for new volunteers to help us rebuild Maine history.

[@smedleyfarnsworth263]

@@WWFRailway I was there nine years ago from Australia, thanks for the ride and the history.

[@ziggy3237]

“Aren’t the easiest or fastest…” Then why are there millions of miles of tracks, thousand of freight trains running day in and day out, 4 major US railways each with thousands of employees, privately owned and rented rail cars, and refrigerator making companies capitalizing big time on the production of locomotives? The military are the only ones transporting freight domestically by air in the United States, aside from small fleets of FedEx(Federal Express) and UPS(United Parcel Service) MD-11’s and A320’s. Even with Semi Trucks, it’s likely the most direct and efficient way to transport goods domestically. The rest of this video is awesome, but the intro could use some revisions.

[@fortcrafterbossbehold9027]

I think they from the perspective of passenger transport...

[@romanrat5613]

@@fortcrafterbossbehold9027 modern passenger transport really is easiest and fastest with high speed rail (easiest as in efficiency, not construction)

[@ericlotze7724]

@@romanrat5613 *Narrow Gauge Maglev When*

[@towcat]

May not ne easiest or fastest, but it is the most efficient

[@Spikeman50]

I have one of the original narrow gauge railroad spikes from the old monson railroad

[@Narrowgaugefilms]

I get what they are saying: I've been going there maybe every other year since 2002. With time it felt less and less like a ride and more like we were on a train headed someplace. This isn't even telling the whole story here. If you went there as recently as the mid 1980s, there was nothing there. The original line was scrapped in the 1930s and there was nothing left there but a weedy path. You go there today you find a fully functional early 20th Century railroad in far above average condition. It's tempting to call it a small miracle, but truth be told it's not that small!

[@jimburdin]

The SR&RL railroad museum in Phillips Maine is worthy as part of this story too...

[@tomriddle3995]

There was a narrow gage train that ran threw my farm here in wv . Not alot of info on them ....thanks for the video

[@StubProductions]

Great story!! Well done

[@waterenglish9501]

im drooling

[@abrr2000]

This is what we in the UK, call a preservation railway. Museums are where engines go to become static exibets. This is a historic railroad preserved in opporation by vollunteers. Better than a standard preservation railway, it's still an oporational freight carrying railway. Stop calling it a museum. Call it what it is, and start marketing the hell out of it to tourists, using phrazes like... "Come visit our unique preserved and opporational historic railroad. Experience what it was like back in the fronteer days with genuine period rail cars running through the rustic forrests... etc." Hell, I'm sure there are international train people who would love to have a ride on a genuine USA narrow gauge railway. I would. I thought they'd all gone extinct.

[@bryceweeks7685]

It is indeed a "preservation railway" but it is also a museum aswell, we have some static displays on campus. We do not carry freight, we are a "tourist line" as we survive off of tourism, but we are a functional railroad museum above all else. By all means if you have the time and money come over and ride and talk to some of our members! We welcome everyone! We have members world wide and people come from world wide to ride. We do restoration and rebuild projects as well as "whole new projects" such as rebuilding a 2-4-4T locomotive from drawings as the actual locomotive was scrapped in the 30s. Check out all of our projects on Facebook.

[@SmallTown_Studio]

Over here stateside, we call them that too, but some of us like calling them "Heritage Railways"

[@crackerbarrel6965]

This is more like narrow, narrow gauge. Now let’s see the same scale but with a Mountain or Berkshire at the head end!

[@jorgesabater8640]

Fascinating!

[@davidbudka1298]

I wonder if the Maine two-footers share a bond, via the U.K., with the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway?

[@oldmanjimh3165]

Please keep at least some narrow gauge in operation for history's sake.

[@tonyromano6220]

😂 5:54 equality my eye.

[@unkolawdio]

I scratch build Maine 2 foot gauge railroad in 7/8 scale

[@nielspemberton59]

Les petits tacots de Maine.