Edaville Discussion

Well, it's good that they're advertising and are trying to make a go of it.

We can always hope that if things go well, they may decide that it makes sense to add some trackage.

Either that, or sell it to someone who will.

There is nothing of interest to the adult there. At least in the past you got a decent train ride, behind steam, and had plenty of narrow gauge displays to look at.

They also had a museum which at one time was quite good.

I'm with you, I have no interesting in even thinking about going down there until there is at least a 5 mile loop around the reservoir and at least one of the original 4 Maine locos is back.

Competent management could manage that without it being too much trouble.

One example of the lack of creativity and competence on the part of the present regime down there in S. Carver is the generator that is attached to the end of the train to power the lights.

It's extremely unprototypical, looks foolish, and reeks with lameness.

Back in the day, the combine was used for the generator to power the lights.

They really need to get rid of that silly looking thing and disguise a passenger car as a generator car like what is done by some passenger railroads.

These people are so clueless though. They get rid of a perfectly nice looking water tower and replace it with a little shed and a standpipe.

They pull up sidings for no reason. The sidings are there to make the place look more railroad like.

When you visit a railroad you expect it to look like a railroad. If you visit a restaurant you expect to eat at a table and sit in a chair. You might even use forks and knives. Granted you could eat your food while sitting on the floor, in the dark, with your fingers but such a setup isn't quite up to most peoples expectations. The problem down at S. Carver is that they have no standards. Management with class and at least some clue as to how things are supposed to work would not allow that silly looking generator to be stuck on the end of the train.

I too believe the generator on the back of the train is ridiculous. This is leftover laziness from past management. Hopefully some day they will at least try to cover them up. One step at a time though.

I believe there first big step here is getting #21 back up and running. It seems the person on facebook is more of a customer service rep. then someone who knows whats going on in the process in getting her steamed up again, and just relays messages from the guys that are doing the work. My point is there are guys/girls doing work. SOMEONE cares enough to get a live steamer back in action. And I don't think it's just for capitalizing on shear profit.

I will say that I don't remember exactly what the old Edaville was like, and there isn't a whole lot to look at. But the museum upstairs of the gift shop has some really neat stuff, the static displays are still great to look at, and get on.

I would really like to see some sidings built, the loop extended, more than one train ran at once, a railfan event, and an original Maine steamer back. But let's just see what this year brings.

As you all are seeing, management can have an impact on a railroad even after it's gone. Edaville has been struggleing with the management issue ever since the first close and sell off. It's not hard to cover a generator, and don't you think that as a paying customer it would look better? I also agree with the way that information is being put out on the facebook page with Miss Fiji. It's slip ups like that coming from a person who is percieved to be in a position of knowledge makes the entire staff look stupid and premature. Now we will just have to wait and see what they actually do. All of the talk and good intentions means nothing if they don't do something to show action on it.

oldrr wrote:Management with class and at least some clue as to how things are supposed to work would not allow that silly looking generator to be stuck on the end of the train.

IIRC, back in "the day" they had at least one boxcar with the generator inside and fairly well muffled. kind of a "rustic power car" you'd almost expect to find in the earlier 20th century. Do they even have a servicable boxcar left?

It has been confirmed. There will be STEAM at Edaville this year! More details to follow.

all you have to do is look at their FB page...

They posted 35 picks of 21 under steam tonight...

ENJOY

Here are my own pictures of Number 21 today, Sunday December 4th, 2011 steaming at Edaville.

Steamer

Addin' coal


Ready to Roll!


Roundin' the bend


Long Train - 11 and 1/2 cars!


Back at the Station

Great pictures Hank, that not a bad looking steam engine. Looks Americanized, Makes me want to go check it out now.

Well, it's good to see that they are running steam. That's a good sign.

It will be interesting to see how long it lasts for. If they run steam like they do everything else, they're likely to expose the crown sheet or tie down the safeties so they don't have to listen to them.

The discerning railfan will be cautiously optimistic regarding this development noting that they still have very little track to run it on.

Railfans will note with fondness that in the old days they used to wind up the trains to 25 to 30 mph on the tangents, at least during railfans weekend they did.

I can't see too many railfans being willing to pay 18 bucks to ride behind that engine from Fiji going at about 6mph over less than 2 miles of track.

We'll see what happens.

oldrr wrote:I can't see too many railfans being willing to pay 18 bucks to ride behind that engine from Fiji going at about 6mph over less than 2 miles of track.

Makes MNGRR look like a real bargain when you put it in that context!

I also was able to make make a short HD video of #21 pulling out of the station and running around the bend by the engine house.

It's posted on Facebook. Make sure you click the HQ button at the bottom/right of the video for full 720P viewing.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150442424517446

Steamer

Steamer is to be thanked for going down to Edaville and providing us with still pictures and video of what is going on.

While the operation of steam is a good sign, the discerning railfan will settle for nothing less than authentic motive power as well as authentic rolling stock operating over a 5 mile or longer loop.

The idea of watching this engine from Fiji operating at 5 to 7 mph over a pathetically short loop, pulling rolling stock that looks like it was built entirely with parts purchased at home depot, along with a stupid little generator on the back end is about as interesting and exciting as watching fat chicks at the beach.

oldrr wrote:....with a stupid little generator on the back end is about as interesting and exciting as watching fat chicks at the beach.

WAAAA HAAAA HAAAAA!!!!! At least with Miss Fiji coming back, they are moving in the right direction. And don't deny it oldrr....you sneek looks at thoes hotties in spandex.... :-p

I'll soon be posting video of Monson Railroad #4 pulling the Polar Express in Portland if anyone is interested. Keep an eye on the Maine Narrow Gauge thread; that's where I'll post the link when the video has finished uploading.