History
B&SR design was based on experience of the Sandy River Railroad. Hinkley Locomotive Works modified their 2-foot (610 mm) gauge Forney design to run boiler first with an extended frame similar to that installed on Sandy River Railroad #1 following a wreck in early 1882. The successful design of the Bridgton Hinkleys was subsequently repeated for the Monson Railroad and the Franklin and Megantic Railway. Construction began in 1882, and trains were running to Bridgton by early 1883.
B&SR used early profits to replace wooden trestles with earthen fills. A 14-foot (4.3 m) granite masonry arch was constructed over Hancock Brook in 1895. Track was extended to Harrison with 35# steel rails in 1898. Trestles on the Harrison extension had been replaced by earthen fills and plate girder bridges by 1906. Original Hinkley locomotives #1-2 were replaced by #5-6 of an improved design with pilot wheels. B&SR then replaced the original 30# steel rails from Bridgton Junction to Bridgton with 48# and 50# steel rails from 1907 to 1910 before Maine Central Railroad secured control of the B&SR in 1912.
Under Maine Central operation, there were 4 mixed train round trips daily from Harrison to Bridgton Junction and return. The first left Harrison at 5:15 AM and the last returned to Harrison at 8:45 PM. Train speed seldom exceeded 20 miles per hour (32 km/h). Two passenger train sets were required for this service. The first consisted of baggage #10, RPO #25, and one or two coaches. A couple of bench seats at one end of baggage-RPO #11 provided smoking accommodation for the second train set. Freight traffic in 1913 was 18% outbound lumber, 15% outbound pulpwood, 15% inbound coal, 11% outbound apples and canned corn, 11% manufactured goods, 10% feed & grain, 10% express, and 2% inbound petroleum products. Locomotive #8 was the last locomotive built for the Maine 2-foot (610 mm) gauge railways.
Bond interest went unpaid in 1926, and the town of Bridgton began a 15-year effort to preserve their railroad. The B&SR was reorganized as the Bridgton and Harrison; but the extension to Harrison was dismantled after locomotive #8 tipped over when the 35# rails sagged in 1930. Locomotive #8 was the heaviest locomotive on any 2-foot (610 mm) gauge railway in Maine. B&SR became a tourist attraction as the last 2-foot (610 mm) gauge railroad offering passenger service in the late 1930s. Operation ceased in September 1941. The rolling stock was preserved when the rails were converted to scrap metal as the United States prepared for World War II. The rolling stock was moved to Massachusetts for another half-century of operation on the Edaville Railroad after the war. Subsequent to the restructuring of the Edaville Railroad, the historic Bridgton and Saco narrow gauge equipment returned to the state of Maine and are mostly located at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum in Portland.
There are still signs of the B&SR evident in a few places if one searches carefully for them. Members of the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum have organized informal tours in the past several years to explore these remains. A new group, entitled Return of the Rails, has organized in Bridgton. Its mission is to bring back equipment and tracks of the narrow gauge line, and to date (2010) a tank car and a flanger have been moved from Portland to a display track at the Chamber of Commerce in the town.
Read more about this topic: Bridgton And Saco River Railroad
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