Good places to photograph CSRR action

Friday I happned to be crossing the dormant trackage and the paved crossing right at Saco Bound canoe (Route 113/US 302 in Center Conway)... I was telling my friends how the MEC line is dormant when an ex-MEC speeder pops out of the woods onto the crossing! We turn around, and the three guys on the speeder are getting ready to go... I should out, "How far are you going?" They said, "State line!" And they disappeared into the woods. I assumed it was CSRR personell since I saw a CSRR hi-rail pickup in Conway earlier in the day.

Well, I looked at my Saco River map the canoe company gave me. This state line stuff makes more sense when you look at the map. Apparently, there is a parkland or preserve that surrounds Lovewell Pond (where my Scoutmaster's cabin is located). The Brownfield Bog Wildlife Management area. Now, railroads are not shown in entirely on this map- only where it may cross the Saco. But since I know how the rail line runs, I recognized the green strip that goes from Route 117 in Hiram, ME, through Fryeburg, and ends at the state line alongside Route 113/US 302. So apparently the section in Maine is considered to be some sort of nature perserve/trail? The tracks pick up on the map south of Hiram and contine to who knows where?

I saw the reconstructed bridges in North Conway, and saw what appeared to be clear track to Redstone. Saw a crane parked on the tracks near the new bridges. The line to Fryeburg has been marked "future development" on the CSRR map/brochure for years. Maybe someday I'll get to see it. It's too bad "Canoe Trains" cant be started on the ex-MEC line- the railroad crosses the navigable portions of the Saco in a couple of places, and it also runs past Saco Bound's facility in Center Conway! Maybe it's all dreaming to me... but at least the tracks are still in place (and apparently passable by speeder)!

-otto-

ps- I shot the train Saturday evening in Conway (what a NEAT STATION, unmarred by gaudy signs or anything- who owns it?), and shot again at North Conway at 2:30 and 4:30. Not too bad. Maybe someday I'll get em in sunlight.

-o

Yup, it's definitely passable by speeder (not counting the grade crossings that are paved over and/or have the tracks removed). I toured the Steep Falls to Fryeburg section a couple of years ago. On one particularly straight section, we got the speeder up to 42mph... not for the faint of heart, but fun nevertheless.

We did a lot of brush cutting that day, too, so it wasn't purely a pleasure trip.

Otto Vondrak wrote:ps- I shot the train Saturday evening in Conway (what a NEAT STATION, unmarred by gaudy signs or anything- who owns it?), and shot again at North Conway at 2:30 and 4:30. Not too bad. Maybe someday I'll get em in sunlight.

-o

The station in Conway is actually the old freight station. I'm not so sure who owns the land but the track siding next to the freight house is used for the CSRR to pull there train set onto as you probably saw. The original passenger station stood just to the south of the freight house, just after the south switch to the freight siding. I have never been able to locate the exact location of where the station stood but I have a feeling that any remains are probably in the Poison Ivy invested woods just next to the south switch of the freight siding.