Monson Railroad - Decline of Service

Decline of Service

The Monson engine house burned on November 3, 1919. Vulcan locomotives 3 and 4 were damaged, and old Hinkley #1 was considered a total loss. A highway truck handled mail and express shipments for ten days until engine number 4 was repaired. Engine number 3 returned to service on November 20, and the engine house was rebuilt in June 1920.

Under pressure from the Interstate Commerce Commission, Franklin firebox doors were installed on the locomotives, and an automobile headlight was connected to a six volt storage battery to serve as a headlight. Train service was reduced from four to two round trips per day effective October 10, 1921. The Monson Pond quarry extension was abandoned in 1922.

The track crew was laid off in 1933, and the train crew became responsible for right-of-way maintenance and freight transfer at Monson Junction. Locomotive #3 was the only operable engine after 1936. Passengers, mail, and express were carried in a Slate Company highway truck when the locomotive required repairs. Passenger service was discontinued on November 1, 1938.

Monson became the last of Maine's - and the nation's - two-foot gauge railroads in commercial operation when the Bridgton and Saco River Railroad was dismantled in 1941. Infrequent flat car loads of crated slate products moved to Monson Junction until July 12, 1943. On that date Monson Slate Company received permission to use a highway truck for common carrier service. The railroad was dismantled during the winter of 1943-44 and the engine house became a garage for the truck.

Linwood Moody found Monson locomotives #3 and #4 in a Rochester, New York, used equipment yard in 1946. The two steam engines were shipped to the Edaville Railroad for restoration, and are still in operation at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum in Portland, Maine.