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  • Edaville Discussion

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

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 #869384  by GP40MC1118
 
Actually, it should be stuffed and mounted at the entrance to BET. Or on the banks of the
Charles at North Station with a restored RDC. But I can just imagine how the riverwalk/biking crowd
would react to that!

Dave
 #869474  by frrc
 
3rdrail wrote:What ever happened to their huge railroad and traction memorabilia collection that the old Edaville displayed in their railroad museum ?
The collection was auctioned off a number of years ago and scattered all over the place. As mentioned before the Maine Narrow gauge museum got some of the rolling stock, as well as a museum in NH that closed down a year or so ago. The museum in NH sold off their portion of the collection, and from seeing ads on Craigslist , they're trying to sell off locomotive #8, as well as a SRRL boxcar, with no success.

Some of the items still show up at the Brimfield antique shows, as well as on EBAY. At the last Brimfield antiques show, I met an attorney who said there were people who had loaned items to Edaville years ago, and were actively looking to get them back. Good luck with that "chase" I told him.

J
 #869488  by CVRA7
 
I had always been under the impression that at least some of the msueum-display items were on loan from the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society - or at least at one time they were property of the R&LHS. I remember seeing some elements of the former Edaville collection at a railroadiana show in Gaithersburg MD back around 1990 or maybe earlier.
The decline and now apparent death of Edaville is a sad story. Edaville was it's own chapter in the history of New England 2-foot railroads. It was longer in both miles and operating life than the Kennebec Central, one of the original Maine lines. At least most of the Maine equipment was repatriated, and lives on in a new era of the Maine 2-footers.
 #869515  by frrc
 
If the property is sold off, then what will become of Atwood's grave site? Supposedly he's buried on the property after being killed by a boiler explosion.

J
 #869670  by steamer69
 
Is the grave marked? I don't ever remember seeing it there, and I don't remember being told about it either....as a matter of fact, this is the first time I've heard about him being on site.
 #869718  by 3rdrail
 
Here's a page and photo from "Cranberries" magazine (my personal favorite) stating that his grave is in Carver, a short distance from the RR. It definitely is marked and appears to be in a cemetery. Any Carver or South Shore folk familiar with where this would be ?
http://members.cox.net/oldedaville/tribute.html
 #869875  by CVRA7
 
I saw the grave a number of years back. IIRC it's in a cemetary along state route 58, fairly easy to find. The graveyard is within earshot but not sight of the former railroad grade. I remember the whistle signal being given as the train passed closest to the final resting place of one of the most important figures in New England 2-foot gauge railroad history.
Ellis Atwood did what few of his generation ever did - he spent some serious money saving dozens of cars, locomotives, and other 2 footer items from what would have been certain death by scrapping during World War II. I call him the Patron Saint of 2 foot railway preservation.
 #870054  by steamer69
 
Thank you all for the clarification. Here is another question. I see in the pic from 3rdrail, and CVRA7's post that he (Atwood) was a vet. I as well am a vet and was curious, does anyone know who he served with during the war? As a vet, I know how much dreams and hobbies save ones sanity while deployed, and what it really means. I really hope that someone saves at least a piece of his dream.
 #870075  by CVRA7
 
Regarding Ellis's veteran's status, I believe his age made it likely that he served during World War I. This is a guess, not a known fact.
 #870187  by CannaScrews
 
3rdrail wrote:What ever happened to their huge railroad and traction memorabilia collection that the old Edaville displayed in their railroad museum ?
The NRHS or is is the R&LHS sold off the items at an auction in Stratford CT somewhere around 1992.

The prices were NOT cheap - that was just about the top of the collectors market.
 #870254  by CAMB.MASON
 
That is too bad too hear about Edaville, I remember the Father's day events they use to have. I donated money one time to help rebuild one of the coaches that was destroyed by fire back in I think the late 80's. I loved that Museum, I was in attendence when they auctioned off the store fronts section of that Museum. Think it was a two day auction, not all the RR stuff was sent out of state, seems they had a basement full of items as well, bought a RR bell from a unknown line and engine from that auction, lot of other railroad items came out of the basement. I have the crank phone that came out of I think it was the General Store. There was no sticker like the other items in the collection that were marked. Would love to give it to a Edaville collector, have no room at the new place, the guts were removed and is missing the inventory Edaville sticker.
 #870274  by 3rdrail
 
CannaScrews wrote: The prices were NOT cheap - that was just about the top of the collectors market.
...and I would say justifiedly so. Any railway item from the Edaville Museum would have a provenance of two historic origins - whatever railway they were from and the museum itself. One of the features of the museum's collection that I recall was that it's collector (I would assume, primarily Mr. Atwood himself) had a fondness for rather unique railway items which often times, were not to be found in any other collection of railway memorabilia (which perhaps added even another dimension to the value of the collection). I recall a mounted display of cross sections of various street railway rail from the Middlesex and Boston Street Railway Company which I found fascinating and photographed. This was one of many unique and rare items that the museum displayed. I would have loved to have been at that auction.
 #870357  by caduceus
 
I got to thinking about the current track...I heard that at some point they cut off a portion of the track. Looking at satellite images, it looks like a very large portion got cut off, that used to go around the large pond (and maybe out near Meadow St.?), and now its a less than two miles out and back loop around the near pond. Is that the current layout?
 #870453  by bpiche84
 
caduceus wrote:I got to thinking about the current track...I heard that at some point they cut off a portion of the track. Looking at satellite images, it looks like a very large portion got cut off, that used to go around the large pond (and maybe out near Meadow St.?), and now its a less than two miles out and back loop around the near pond. Is that the current layout?
90-95% of the original 5 1/2 mile loop is still there. The only part that was actually torn up was the section that goes over Mt. Urann. The tracks actually still go right up to the edge of the land parcels that were built on. The rest of the loop around the west side of the resivoir is still there from what I know.

There was more railroad owned land just south of Mt. Urann that was where the old sand pits for the bogs were. The railroad could have been re-routed through along the shore of the resivoir through that land, but the cost of doing the enviormental impact study alone was probably more than the operators were willing to spend.
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