Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad

Depot at Phillips c. 1912
Overview
Headquarters	Phillips
Locale	Maine
Dates of operation	1908–1935 1970–present
Successor	abandoned
Technical
Track gauge	2 ft (610 mm)
Length	112 mi (180 km)
Other
Website	https://www.srrl-rr.org

The Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad (SR&RL) was a special kind of narrow gauge train system. It ran on tracks that were only 2 feet wide! This railroad operated about 112 miles (180 km) of track in Franklin County, Maine.

Today, you can still see and ride on some of the old SR&RL trains. A small part of the railway has been brought back to life in Phillips, Maine.

History of the Railroad

A banker named Josiah L. Maxey helped bring several smaller railroads together. He had already helped build the Kennebec Central Railroad. In 1891, he got permission to combine the Sandy River Railroad and the Phillips and Rangeley Railroad (P&R).

Maxey bought most of the shares of the Sandy River Railroad in 1892. Then, in 1897, he bought most of the shares of the Franklin and Megantic Railway (F&M). Under his leadership, the F&M bought the Kingfield and Dead River Railway (K&DR) in 1898.

These three railroads – F&M, K&DR, and Sandy River – were run by the same people. In January 1908, they officially joined together to form the SR&RL. Later that year, the SR&RL also bought the Phillips & Rangeley Railroad and the Madrid Railroad. In 1911, they added the Eustis Railroad.

When Maine Central Took Over

An old SR&RL train

From 1912 to 1923, the SR&RL was part of the Maine Central Railroad. This meant it was controlled by a bigger company. Maine Central helped the SR&RL by building new box cars, flat cars, and cabooses. They also fixed up some of the SR&RL's locomotives. A new 4-mile (6.4 km) track was built for carrying goods.

At first, the amount of lumber (wood) being shipped went down a lot. But then, more pulpwood (wood for making paper) was shipped. The railroad shops in Phillips changed two-thirds of the flat cars. They added tall, slatted sides to carry the 4-foot-long (1.2 meter) pulpwood logs.

Mail service by train between Farmington and Phillips stopped in 1917. The amount of goods shipped reached its highest point in 1919. However, most of this was pulpwood. When World War I ended, the need for pulpwood dropped. Service on the Eustis Railroad line also ended in 1919.

To save money, the railroad tried stopping service in the winter on some lines. This happened on the K&DR line in 1921-1922. It also happened on the P&R line in 1922-1923. On February 12, 1923, a fire at the Phillips roundhouse damaged eight of the railroad's thirteen working locomotives. Because the railroad couldn't pay its debts, two people, Josiah Maxey and Herbert Wing, were put in charge. They were called "receivers."

Under New Management

The receivers took over on July 8, 1923. They stopped freight service (carrying goods) on some lines during the winter. But passenger trains kept running all winter. For the next five years, both freight and passenger service stopped in winter on the P&R line north of Phillips. The F&M line stayed open for Wing's mill and a new wood factory. This factory even used old tanks from World War I to pull logs!

The Phillips shop built new motorized passenger cars, called railcars, in 1925. These cars were used instead of steam trains during the summer. But in winter, steam locomotives with snowplows were still needed to clear snow and ice.

Some of the tracks were removed. In 1924, tracks were taken from the Mount Abram Branch. In 1926, tracks were removed from the northern part of the K&DR line. More tracks were removed in 1927.

In 1928, a company called Oxford Paper Company started shipping pulpwood. This led to more trains running in winter. The last steam train left Rangeley in May 1931. Railcar service also ended in the autumn of 1931. The railroad stopped all train service when companies started using trucks instead. The SR&RL even started using its own trucks to carry goods in 1932. No trains ran at all that winter.

Taking Apart the Railroad

After seeing that trucks worked well in winter, the Lawrence Plywood Company asked the railroad to start service again. So, trains began running again on April 17, 1933. To pay for this, the railroad sold old equipment for scrap metal.

Taking apart the P&R line began in the summer of 1934. But service to Phillips was still needed for the railroad's repair shops. When the tracks were removed up to Phillips in April 1935, the receivers asked to close the railroad for good. A company that buys scrap metal bought the railroad in May. Service officially ended on July 2, 1935. The remaining tracks were taken up for scrap metal in 1936.

Bringing it Back to Life

Monson Railroad #3 at Phillips station, June 2007

In 1970, a group of local train fans at the Phillips Historical Society started a project. They wanted to learn about and save things from the SR&RL. This group became a non-profit organization called the "Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad."

This group still operates today! They run a short heritage railroad on the original SR&RL tracks in Phillips, Maine. It's a way to keep the history of this unique narrow gauge railroad alive.

Locomotives