1st Steam back in Phillips, Maine since 1936

H.T. Crittenden's Maine Scenic Route has a nice SR&RL map in the pocket!

(Gotta burst through the Lama fence across the street first!)

Let's go!

Next time you go up to SR&RL country, stop at Farmington and visit the Narrow Gauge Cinema Theater which stands in the old yard. Inside the lobby is a huge wall mural of a narrow gauge train swinging into the Phillips yard. On the opposite wall you'll find an equally huge map of the entire SR&RL system at its peak, including all sidings and a color key which deliniates the various predecessor lines before the 1908 consolidation. The SR&RL's herald is at the lower left in maroon with gold lettering. Fantastic! The theater owner must be a narrow gauge fan.

Right next to the theater, overlooking the yard from above, is an old mill building which is now a restaurant called the Narrow Gauge Brewery. Great food and lots of rail memorabilia and photos. T shirts and mugs are available with one of the SR&RL forney locomotives imprinted on them.

The MEC depot still stands at Farmington too, but pushed back into the old yard, and an addition built on one end. Next to it is the old Sandy River freight house.

Well worth a visit.

Wow!

I didn't know that Farmington Yard had changed so much! I haven't been there in years (I usually stay in Phillips or Rangeley)

I was there the first time in August 1982. Although the Farmington branch was closed, the Maine Central tracks were still in the yard. That Fall they were removed.

Is the MEC's steel bridge over the Sandy River still there? The last time I saw the yard in the 80s it was.

The bridge was washed out some time ago. There's a "park"/trail on the old MEC roadbed from the yard area out to the bridge site. Very nice, benches, etc.

I remember one Spring probably 1990 (+/-) the ice took out the Route 4 bridge over the Sandy River just North of Farmington and we spent at least 2 years taking the back roads tour of West Farmington before they replaced the bridge. I bet it's the same year the MeC bridge went down. When the rails were pulled up some local people told me they hoped if the right of way could be kept intact maybe someday they'd put the track back and re-open the branch. Maine weather has a habit of making its own plans!

South of Farmington the ROW is a recreational trail. I rode it on my mountain bike a few years back and enjoyed it a lot! There is still a big bridge in West Farmington just South of the Depot (Temple Stream?) which has been decked over for non-rail use.

Anyway! What are we doing down in Farmington when the real fun is up in Phillips!

I have to say. Way back when they started up 'Sandy River Railroad Park" they chose well. They picked a site with foundations for a roundhouse and turntable, and potential access to Phillips itself. I really hope they do get through to the rest of their right of way some day. At the rate they are recovering old stations and moving them in there they are in danger of having more stations per half mile than any other railroad on the planet!

BTW I know they had to give up on Kingfield Station. Does anybody know what the status of this building is?

Word is that the Kingfield station has finally been torn down. I believe the Sandy River people did manage to get some sample woodwork from it before it disappeared.

I believe the SR&RL crew did a good photo documentation of the inside of the Kingfield depot. Seems to me they posted some of those on their website. Also took measurements, etc. It just was too expensive a proposition to move it to Phillips. When we first went to Kingfield a few years back (well, more than a few), the whole complex was still in place. The wooden roundhouse, the depot, the car shed, etc. Even the turntable's granite pit foundation stones could be seen poking through the cinder fill in front of the roundhouse. Too bad it all had to go to make way for a car lot. The old adage, "when money talks, history walks".

Try to look at it this way:

Lose a touchstone to a legendary and unique past era,

gain a bigger Dodge dealership!

I guess not everybody sees this stuff the way we do!

Back in the 80s, I was standing in Phillips yard taking pictures of the depot and the shop building. A couple of local boys were riding through on their bikes. They stopped and asked me what I was taking pictures of.

I told them and all I got was kind of a baffled stare!

It's the biggest thing Phillips ever had (I mean, Farmington at least gave the world earmuffs!), and they not only don't care about it they don't understand anybody else caring either!

Used car salesmen, oil co. executives... lawyers...politicians! Cholera, black death, scarlet fever..... gangreene...
... you get the picture.