This is the main page for my Sandy River modules. Originally this was a mini layout or "module" as a a side project spurred by my interest in the Maine 2ft gauge railroads. However, with pending home remodelling, the White Mountain Branch's days are number and this has turned into the main event!

A little history
In the 1870s an Engineer from Massachusetts called George E Mansfield visited the Ffestiniog Railway in Wales. The Ffestiniog was the worlds pioneering narrow gauge railway which had been employing steam power on the slimmest of gauges - just 2ft between the rails - for nearly 10 years when Mr Mansfield visited it.

The rationale for narrow gauge is that it can be built much more cheaply, take up less land, and have more severe curvature than standard gauge. Running costs were projected at around 1/3 of the costs of a standard gauge line. When applied in the right context that proved true - but the thing which undid most narrow gauge lines was the change of gauge and any transshipment time and costs.

The first American 2ft railroad was the Billerica & Bedford - technically it was a success, the equipment all worked; but the site chosen would not have supported any railroad no matter of gauge, the traffic simply didn't exist. It was bankrupt within 7 months of opening.

However, the folks in Franklin County, Maine heard of the idea (no doubt at Mr Mansfield's telling) and bought up the bankrupt Billerica & Bedford equipment and started the Sandy River Railroad. Most American narrow-gauge railroads chose the wider 3ft gauge, but 2ft became popular as a common carrier in Maine, largely due the success of the Sandy River, elsewhere it was mainly used in industrial railroads.

The Sandy River and several spin-off lines tapped the natural resources - timber and timber products - in the Maine hills, and carried tourists to the fashionable Victorian / Edwardian resorts on Rangeley Lake. For 50 years they hauled good tonnage out of the hills to an interchange at Farmington, Maine where it connected with the MEC. The Franklin county railroads combined in 1907 to form the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad, which during the Edwardian and WW1 era belonged to the MEC family.

It all turned sour with the coming of the car in the 1920s, and by 1936 the scrapman was on site. However the appeal of the SR&RL has long outlived the road itself. Whilst efforts have started to revive a portion of the line much of the equipment is gone, and 2ft preservation in the US is centred around the Wisscassett, Waterville & Farmington and the Maine Narrow Gauge Museum in Portland.

A mini-layout is born
Out of my interest in 2ft railroads - it was after all they that brought me to Maine in the first place - there came an idea for a place to operate a growing collection of HOn30 stock. If that place happened to be in the house for winter purposes so much the better.

Almost without thinking the idea of a combined HO/HOn30 module sprang to mind, and there not that many prototypes to choose from: SR&RL RR - Farmington, WW&F Ry - Wisscassett, Monson RR - Monson Junction, or Bridgeton & Harrison RR - Bridgeton Junction. Farmington was selected as it was a terminal of both the standard and narrow gauges.

When it became apparent that the White Mountain Branch's days were numbered, some redesign was needed - see the Progress report.