Maine Narrow Gauge 

Background history:In the 1910s the MEC purchased several of the unique Maine 2 foot gauge lines, including the Bridgton & Harrison and the biggest of the "Lilliputs" the Sandy River & Rangely Lakes Railroad. They were never fully integrated into the MEC family otherwise some might well have survived the depression years which ultimately did for all but the Monson RR (which served slate products from its parent quarry to the BAR into the early 1950s). The "Lilliputs" had their own unique taste in motive power mainly being Forney type 0-4-4T and 2-4-4T types of varying sizes, all rather ironic as Forney (chief mechanical engineer of the Illinois Central, amongst other things) was an arch opponent of the narrow gauge ethos.

The two larger Lilliput roads also had conventional 2-6-0 and 2-6-2 tender locos, most were Baldwin products, none of these survived the scrap man's torch in the 1930s. When the MEC took charge of several of the "Lilliputs" in the 1910s it embarked on a modernising and rebuilding programme - locos got outside valve gear, larger boilers, electric lighting, new steel cabs and in a couple of instances Moguls became Prairies.

The Sandy River & Rangely Lakes Railroad
The Sandy River was by far the largest of the narrow gauge family, it was a 1907 amalgamation of several precursor railroads in Franklin County (Sandy River RR, Philips & Rangely RR, Franklin & Megantic RR, Kingfield & Deadriver RR, Eustis RR, Madrid RR). At its greatest extent in 1918 it amounted to some 120 miles of main line, with numerous logging spurs and branches. It connected with the MEC at Union Station, Farmington. Its operation was more like a standard gauge line with named or numbered trains and different types of loco for different jobs - none of the others ever got big or busy enough to really need any of that.

The Sandy River ran passenger and mixed trains right up to the end in 1935 and as a result had locos capable of passenger train speeds. Most notably was the #10 a big 2-4-4T Baldwin - alleged to have reached speeds of up to 70mph - the mere idea of which on 2 foot gauge is eye watering! They also had the biggest, heaviest, most powerful 2 foot loco in the USA - #23. She was the road's freight hog hauling the major tonnage from Philips via Strong to Farmington.

#20-22 0-4-4Ts (the former Eustis Railroad engines) were also designed for freight work, but on the steeply graded logging spurs. These had small drivers, with big cylinders and a big low pitched boiler to provide plenty of power at low speeds.

Most other engines were truly mixed service - the early locos being small 0-4-4T Forneys and the later ones being larger 2-4-4T Forneys or 2-6-0 and 2-6-2 tender locos. Their last loco #24 (2-6-2 Baldwin 1919) is probably the nicest looking American narrow gauge engine of all time. Sadly no Sandy River engines (with the exception of ex-#6 see WW&F below) survived the scrap torch in 1936.

After 1920 the ledgers all went red, and they experimented with railbuses (not called Galloping Geese in Maine) and built some of the best of this type too!

The Sandy River had some unique rolling stock. The bulk of the freight stock was either wooden 24ft or 28ft boxcars or pulpwood racks (flat cars with stake and slat bodies). This type of rack also existed on the MEC and BAR, but I've not seen photos of them elsewhere in the USA so maybe it was unique to the Maine pulpwood industry. They had two RPOs, several baggage cars, combines, coaches and the one and only narrow gauge Pullman parlor car, Rangeley (not even the huge Denver & Rio Grande 3ft system had one of those). Thankfully this unique car survives today at the Maine Narrow Gauge Museum in Portland, ME.

Modelling options:The Sandy River is probably the reason I got interested in US railroading, so when the opportunity to purchase some Sandy River HOn30 rolling stock kits presented itself in 2006 there was really no question about it, and out came the wallet. HOn30 has a fairly close British cousin (00n2 or 009 - 4mm/ft 1:72 scale using 9mm gauge track) with which I have some past experience.

The options for Maine prototypes in HOn30 are craftsman kits in white metal and resin or limited run r-t-r brass imports. There is only one manufacturer doing injection moulded plastic kits.

See link for more details of my growing HOn30 roster.

Sandy River pulpwood rack #319 from a Chivers kit

The Wiscasset & Quebec (Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway)
The second largest Lilliput,in extent - if not profits, was the Wiscasset & Quebec, which had become the WW&F by the 1900s. It had the usual selection of 0-4-4T Forneys - including cast offs from other roads, a solitary 2-4-4T and a 2-6-2 tender engine. It was never part of the MEC family and was always run on a bit of shoe-string. I only include it here because it is the only one of the Lilliputs to really rise from the ashes and enter the preservation era. Good luck to the boys (and girls) at Alna - some of the friendliest folks I've ever had the chance to meet. Go support them, or visit their web site at http://www.wwfry.org/ - you can donate on-line now.

The modern day W&Q (the W&Q was never wound up properly so the preservationists have revived the original company) operate the only surviving WW&F engine; #9 (ex-Kennebec Central #4, ex-Sandy River #6), #10 another small 0-4-4T from a southern 30" gauge sugar cane railway and #52 a 30t Plymouth diesel-mechanical.

 

The Bridgton & Harrison
Linking Bridgton, ME with the MEC's Mountain Division at Hiram, ME originally called the Bridgton & Saco River it extended to Harrison in the 1890s. It was part of the MEC family, before business nose dived in the 1920s. It struggled on to 1941, but rather than being scrapped immediately it was left abandoned because of WW2 (rather like the Ffestinog Railway in Wales). This allowed most of its equipment to make it into preservation; as it had purchased several interesting pieces of stock from the Sandy River when that road was scrapped in 1936 these are also saved for posterity. It also had the distinction of ordering the last new 2 foot steam engine in the USA, #8 a 2-4-4T from Baldwin in 1924.

Other Maine 2-footers

The Kenebec Central - an ultra shortline existing solely to connect an old soldier's home with the nearby town. It was partially washed away by floods in the mid 1930s and never re-built.

The Monson Railroad - although technically a common carrier it had more in common with many industrial railways, linking slate quarries (who owned it) with the BAR. Rather like the Tal-y-Llyn Railway in Wales it was a bucolic backwater when it finally expired in the late 1940s - e.g. no automatic couplers or continuous brakes! Sadly unlike the Tal-y-Llyn it was not saved as an entity being too far from any centre of population to operate as a tourist line - so passed the last Maine two-footer. Happily both its remaining locos survive in operating condition at the Maine Narrow Gauge Museum.

Other 2ft equipment

In addition to the items noted above for prototype roads - 2ft equipment in the US was about as rare as hens-teeth so I'll consider some non-road specific options for a bit of variety:

ex-Military supply locos
During WW1 with its static trench war-fare and need of vast supplies quickly to counter enemy actions road transport proved uncapable of meeting the military demand on soft shell pocked ground. All the armies involved on the western front (British, French, American and German/Austrian) used 2ft guage railways to supply their needs. On the Allied side the largest number were about 500 Baldwin built 4-6-0T side tank engines, along with modifications of this design into a 2-6-2T built by Alco, Baldwin, Vulcan & Davenport. Many of these engines made it onto British and European narrow gauge and industrial lines after the war (various War Ministry's sold them cheap becasue they had so many of them). As far as I can find out, none of the Baldwin 4-6-0Ts ran in the USA. However Baldwin, Davenport and Vulcan were all still churning out the later 2-6-2T version when WW1 ended in 1918 - these were essentially the same as the 4-6-0T just a little longer with a trailing truck to help running in reverse. The Davenports were all scraped immediately without use, but I have it on good authority that some of the Baldwins and Vulcans were used in US Army installations as late as the 1940s.

As noted elsewhere these were small locos compared to the Prairies run by the Sandy River in later days, about the same bulk as one of the early Forneys but with small 24" driving wheels with inside frames (except the Alcos which were outside framed, and rode better because of it). At under 18 tons in operating condition they spread this well and could be used on the lightest of iron. They were somewhat more powerful than the early Portland Forneys, but not as powerful as the Eustis Road engines nor any of the later 2-4-4Ts, 2-6-0s or 2-6-2s.

I believe some of the Baldwin gas-mechanical "tractors" built for the same purpose did run on military and industrial lines in the US. Meridian Models produce a very nice etched brass kit of this in 1:76 scale - and I may therefore over look the difference in scale and acquire one.

Industrial locos
Industrial lines embraced the internal combustion engine early and no end of small gas and diesel critters have been made to serve industry - some home made - others by more regular builders such as Whitcomb or Plymouth. W&Q (WW&F) #52 is a Plymouth built for industrial purposes and several other similar engines are still in existance - I saw 3 at least of varying sizes in fairly complete condition at the Maine NG Museum in 2001.

The Maine NG Museum has a GE 25t diesel mounted on B-B trucks, one of 2 originally built for an industrial operation in Massachusetts.

Modelling options: F&C produce a resin kit for a large 30t "catalogue" Plymouth. It is based on the masters produced in the 1970s for the Minitrains range.

Grandt Line produce a nice injection moulded plastic 25 ton GE diesel with a 4 wheel (B) HOn3 mechanism (which by all accounts isn't anywhere near as nice as the body kit). It wouldn't be too hard to mount it on B-B trucks instead.

Baby 'Boats
I couldn't finish this section without referring to the US built GE "Baby U-Boats" built for South African Railways 2ft guage lines in the 1973. GE classed them as U-6b - i.e. 600hp on B-B trucks. These were built in the then standard GE U-boat car body, albeit cut down a bit,and look every bit the baby brother of the MECs U-18bs delivered two years later.

SAR classified these as their Class 91 and were used to replace NG16 2-6-2+2-6-2 Garrett locos hauling heavy produce and mineral traffic on the Avontuur line. If you think Sandy River #23 was big - think again! These are HUGE for 2ft guage. Had the Sandy River survived into the latter half of the C20th I have no doubt it would have also had something like these. A British manufacturer, Worsley Works, offers a set of brass etchings as a basic body kit for these engines in HO scale.

Good 2-foot links: