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Industries and Freight Train Operations of the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes RR 6
Industries and Freight Train Operations of the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad Volume 6 by Peter Barney
Soft Cover
Copyright 1993
100 pages
The prime reason for any railroad construction was to serve the needs of the people along the right-of-way. In the nineteenth century, this need caused the railroad to become a status symbol, particularly after the Civil War, when the country was in the full flow of the industrial age. Every small town in America dreamed of having its own railroad which would connect with other towns and, eventually, large cities, which would bring the benefits of civilization and modern technology into the countryside.
The railroad mania caused the birth of many paper charters, such as the original Wiscasset and Quebec Charter of 1854, which was not acted upon until 1894, as well as the appearance of actual working railroads. The citizens of Maine were not immune to the desire for railroads. In Franklin County, it was relatively easy to sell the inhabitants upon the merits of cheaper two-foot gauge railroads to serve both their expanding towns and their lumber and timber holdings. The Sandy River transported their timber and wood products out to the wider world even as it brought the townspeople closer to the modem advancements of Portland and Boston.
Although the railroads achieved success in bringing America closer together by opening the back-countryside, the stage was set for their own demise. The basic bulk items of freight which were the railroad's lifeblood soon were transported by the next marvel of the industrial age: the gasoline-powered motor truck.
Each of the Maine two-footers carried some staple item upon which it relied for funds to pay the operational bills. In the case of the Kennebec Central, the staple was first people, then coal. For the Monson, it was slate and the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington, relied upon transporting lumber, coal and potatoes. For the B&SR, it was mill coal, grain products and fuel, while the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes system. transported wood products, pulp and timber. As it became more common for these items to be transported by truck, the little railroads were gradually forced to shut down, leaving trucks in command of the transportation system.
With these books, we take a look at the various mills, stores, towns and businesses which occupied the small part of America served by the two-foot gauge railroads of Maine. They represent a time and place only a half-century removed from us, still deep in our memories, yet gone completely from our grasp.
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