Monson Railroad
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Monson Railroad | |
---|---|
Locale | Maine |
Dates of operation | 1883–1943 |
Track gauge | 2 ft (610 mm) |
Length | 6¼ miles |
Headquarters | Monson |
The Monson Railroad was a 2 ft (610 mm) gauge narrow gauge railroad which operated between Monson Junction on the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad and Monson, Maine.
The primary purpose of this railroad was to serve several slate mines and finishing houses in Monson. The railroad was built in 1883. Monson Slate Company gained control of the railroad in 1908. Track was extended 2 miles to Eighteen Quarry in 1909; but the extension was abandoned in 1922.
Equipment was never modernized, and the railroad used antique stub switches and link-and-pin couplers to the end of operations. Locomotive #3 was the only operable engine after 1936. Passenger service was discontinued in 1938.
Monson became the last of Maine'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 Monson Slate Company bought a truck in 1943. The railroad was dismantled during the winter of 1943-44 and the enginehouse became a garage for the truck.
Linwood Moody found Monson locomotives #3-4 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.
Contents |
[edit] Locomotives
Number | Builder | Type | Date | Works number | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Hinkley Locomotive Works | 0-4-4T | 1883 | 1621 | Named H.A.Whiting. Scrapped 1919, remains converted to a snowplow |
2 | Hinkley Locomotive Works | 0-4-4T | 1884 | 1661 | Named G.S.Cushing. Scrapped 1918, remains converted to a snowplow |
3 | Vulcan Iron Works | 0-4-4T | 1913 | 2093 | Now running at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum |
4 | Vulcan Iron Works | 0-4-4T | 1918 | 2780 | Now based at the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, currently on loan to the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad |
[edit] Rolling Stock
Number | Builder | Type | Date | Length | Capacity |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Laconia Car Company | combination | 1883 | 29 feet | 10 passengers |
1-2 | Laconia Car Company | box cars | 1883 | 26 feet | 8 tons |
3-16 | Laconia Car Company | flat cars | 1883 | 25 feet | 8 tons |
17-22 | Laconia Car Company | flat cars | 1905 | 26 feet | 11 tons |
23-24 | flat cars | 1914 | 28 feet | 11 tons | |
wedge snowplow | 1888 | 24 feet |
Combination car later renumbered #3
Flat cars #3-4 rebuilt into box cars about 1884.
Flat cars #5-8 rebuilt into box cars in 1891. Box car #7 had small windows on one end of the car and one side of the car for use as a work/tool car.
Flat car #9 rebuilt as a snow spreader in 1888.
Flat cars #23-24 purchased from Boyd Harvey Lumber Company in 1916.
[edit] References
- Jones, Robert C. (1998). Two Feet to the Quarries: The Monson Railroad. Evergreen Press. ISBN 0-9667264-0-5.
- Barney, Peter S. (1986). The Kennebec Central and Monson Railroads. A&M Publishing.
- Moody, Linwood W. (1959). The Maine Two-Footers. Howell-North.
- Whitney, Roger A. (1989). The Monson Railroad. Robertson Books.