Bridgton & Saco River 2-4-4 Locomotives in the USA

Class 6 (Locobase 12904)

Data from [] (reviewed 13 Feb 2004) and 1934 Maine Central locomotive tables supplied by Allen Stanley in May 2005 from his extensive Rail Data Exchange and Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 30, p. 277. ((Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 13 August 2020 email correcting the coal capacity.) Works number was 31827 in September 1907.

The B&SR connected the town of Bridgton, Maine with Hiram 16 miles further south beginning in 1882. Like many of the other Maine 2-footer lines, the railroad opened up the increasingly popular Bridgton-Lakes Region to summer tourists. Success in this venture led to the 21.2-mile extension of the line to Harrison, Me at the northern end of Long Lake.

Even as the Maine Central bought the B & SR in 1912, the first signs of decline were evident. Even as late as 1916, however, the line still operated at a profit. In that year, freight revenues were almost double that of the passenger hauls.

The Harrison-Bridgton segment closed after the railroad began run at a loss in the mid-1920s. When the B & SR itself closed in the mid-1920s, a new group incorporated as the Bridgton & Harrison reopened to serve the summer tourist crowd that still wanted to take the train.

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Class 7 (Locobase 13042)

Data from Baldwin Locomotive Works Specification for Engines as digitized by the DeGolyer Library of Southern Methodist University, Volume 45, pp. 162+ and Volume 71, pp. 19+. See also [] and the Edaville Corporation site at . (Thanks to Chris Hohl for his 12 January 2017 email noting the difference in weights between the two members of this class.) Works numbers were 40864 in November 1913 and 57659 in March 1924.

The Maine Two-Footers were famous for their particular layout and the #6 bought in 1907 and described in Locobase 12904 was no exception. But traffic demands called for a bigger boiler and some more power. So Baldwin delivered this up-scaled version six years later. One detail change from the #6 was the deletion of the coil springs under the front rails of the frame in favor of "stirrups attached to ends of transverse equalizer."

Eleven years after that the B&SR returned to Eddystone for a younger sister that was identical except for an increase in weights to 44,000 lb (19,958 kg) on the drivers and 76,000 lb (34,473 kg). Some of the difference was the 1,670 lb (758 kg) in the added 200 US gallons in the side tanks.

Like the 6, the 7 and 8 were taken onto the successor Bridgton & Harrison when the B&SR folded in 1930. In July 1941 bothe were sold to B O Checkwood, which soldt hem three months later to the Edaville Railroad in South Carver, Mass. Edaville was formed by Ellis D. Atwood, who began purchasing the fast-disappearing 2-foot-gauge rail and motive power to run on a 5 + mile line that would circulate through his 1,800 acre cranberry plantation. His was no idle "playing with trains." According to the Edaville site, Atwood "...used the trains to service his bogs as well as hauling paying customers through the plantation for sightseeing."

The Edaville operated the 7 and 8 until it closed in 1991. In 1993, the 8 and several other Edaville pieces were sold to the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, then-headquartered in the former Portland Locomotive Works complex. See an account of the move at "Edaville's Final Years and the Return to Maine" at [], last accessed 21 May 2013. 7 later joined the 8 at the museum.