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  • The original Edaville Railroad (1947-1991)

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

Moderators: MEC407, NHN503

 #1038708  by 3rdrail
 
Let's try it this way. This is for the good memories when Edaville really was Edavile, ok ? I often think of the amazing collection of non-running railroadiana that Blount had collected during his lifetime. Where did that stuff wind up ? I have never seen it after Edaville.
 #1038732  by MaineCoonCat
 
Good memories?
A couple that spring to mind right away:

Making sure I got a seat in the cupola of the caboose. Drove my mom nuts.

Playing in the cab of B&M 1455

A not so good memory:

Getting stung three times in rapid succession by a wasp in the cab of B&M 1455

Sure remember finding cinders in my hair...
 #1038744  by MEC407
 
Moderator note: while I appreciated and enjoyed the humor in the original subject line, I changed it so that it will be very clear to people what the purpose of this thread is -- to discuss the original Edaville Railroad, which operated from 1947 to 1991, and not to be confused with later organizations that used the same name.

For discussion of the later versions of Edaville (1999 to present), please visit the Edaville Discussion thread. Thanks. :-)
 #1038755  by MaineCoonCat
 
Here's a quick general "timeline" of how the "original" went "on the ground". http://freepages.history.rootsweb.ances ... ville.html
 #1038760  by Arborwayfan
 
Visiting at Christmas as a tiny child and being scared, or awed, by the glowing coals falling from the fireboxes at the station (did they have a particular place where dumped ashes periodically?).

Visiting in daylight one fall day and ringing every bell I could. On one track car I tied my jacket onto the bell, which had no rope, and rang up a storm.

Visiting in the night when a little older and going to stand on a side track to the left of the station, so that the engines were aimed straight at me, but wouldn't actually come that way (probably not too smart).

Watching cranberries being gathered up with booms.
 #1038844  by jaymac
 
Anyone responding with memories is carbon-dating him or herself, but nonretiring retiree that I am, here goes. As a Huntington Ave. Y daycamper, I was part of a group of 40 or so that got packed into a Korean-Conflict-era school bus and went slowly south in the very-pre-SEXway and very-pre-Rte.-24 days to the other side of the world in South Carver. The length of the trip and confined space combined to magnify whatever ADD/ADHD tendencies there might have already been in us and sent the counselors looking for ways to discharge all our pent-up energy. The solution? They had us hide behind a berm next to the ROW and when the train got near, we hooped, hollered, charged up the berm, and charged down the berm in our best single-digits-in-age attempt at staging an attack. How much the crew's individual and collective lives might have been shortened by the prospect of the train attacking us was something that never entered into our pre-adolescent or the counselors' post-adolescent brains. Fortunately, there was no contact.
 #1040119  by steamer69
 
I'm sure it must have scared the crap out of the crews the first couple of times it happened. I know that if I had been running it would have made me jump.
 #1043481  by number7
 
When I was a kid we usually went down with a trailer group and camped in the parking lot, adjacent to the overflow lot.

We'd usually arrive after dark on Friday. The next morning brought the sight of Edaville and my favorite engine which was the one just outside Cranberry Jct station on the right. Number 6. I would usually sneak in and play on the engine before the place opened up.
 #1072897  by CVRA7
 
Wow - papabarn, I sure can identify with your experience! I also enjoyed riding - or trying to ride - in the caboose cupola. And the B&M 1455 - I was posing for a photo sitting in the engineer's seat when a wasp emerged from along the armrest. I was lucky - or was I? I couldn't get out of there quick enough but I sure wish my Dad had been successful with the photo.
My first 2 visits were in 1957 and 1962, at the ages of 7 and 12. On the first visit I wondered what was wrong with the railroad with the rails being so close together and only room for one to seat on each side of the coach aisle. It was also the first time I ever saw steam up close.
By the time I was 12 I was a couple of years into being interested in railroads and their history and it was perhaps this visit that began my interest in the Maine 2 footers.
The next time I returned was around Christmas of '66 and I went back for the next several Christmases. By then I knew who F Nelson Blount and Fred Richardson were. In 1967 I got a cab ride in one of the Monson engines and as we cut through the darkened woody near the Atwood whistle tribute area I imagined myself riding theough the Maine woods. I believe this was the year that was the "high water mark" for my Edaville adventures - I saw 4 trains running with #5 on standby near the turntable, clearly steamed up. Still remember the music of at least 6 whistles echoing over the bogs through the cold evening air.
Yes, Edaville was really responsible for a good part of my railroad interest.
My hat is off to you, 3rd Rail, for starting this thread!
 #1073008  by MaineCoonCat
 
CVRA7 wrote:Wow - papabarn, I sure can identify with your experience! I also enjoyed riding - or trying to ride - in the caboose cupola. And the B&M 1455 - I was posing for a photo sitting in the engineer's seat when a wasp emerged from along the armrest. I was lucky - or was I? I couldn't get out of there quick enough but I sure wish my Dad had been successful with the photo.
My first 2 visits were in 1957 and 1962, at the ages of 7 and 12.
Jeez! With your timeframe it could've been the same family of wasps! I've only recently started getting over my fear of the damn things! Image
 #1073028  by 3rdrail
 
Image
 #1081129  by number7
 
While the original Edaville was very good, there are a few things that I can think of that would have added to the railroad flavor of the railroad.

The spur off the track in the "woods" was a trailing point switch and really should have been left in. It would add interest and mystique to the RR. Where did the spur go? The same thing goes with the spur into the sandpit, trailing point, and would have added interest.

As far as I could tell vandalism wasn't a big problem down there, otherwise they would have lost Peacedale and the other displays. Thus, it may have been possible to leave a freight car on the sandpit spur. Further adding interest.

I believe I saw on one map one last little spur, this time over on the west side between a couple of bogs. Would be nice to have left that in.

In order to add interest, it wouldn't have been a bad idea to have a track that would have created the small loop that is in use now. Something to add interest and provide a short loop for times when it may be appropriate. And, of course, one more thing to run on Railfans weekend.

It was disappointing to see the removal of the track going into the museum where the Rangely was. It was either removed, destroyed or buried, it wasn't passable when I was down there a few years before the place closed.

There also used to be a track that went up to the south or south west side of the screen house. Would have been nice to have that left in or rebuilt. It was significant in that it would have allowed Atwood to transport the berries directly to the screen house by rail.

An additional water tower up at the ball field wouldn't have been the worst thing in the world. If it actually worked, so much the better.

It's too bad they didn't build an engine house around the turntable. I imagine that if Blount had not been killed, they probably would have.

A coal tipple or authentic looking building for loading coal would have been nice as well.

I think that I would have put in a track that deviated from the mainline before the pine grove and ran along the outside of the overflow lot as well as the regular lot, it would have had to curve back in and rejoin the mainline somewhere before the Eda Ave south crossing.

It would have added interest, would have been something fun to use on Railfans weekend and it would have added interest to the railroad.

It would have been interesting to look at exactly what property Atwood owned to see what trackage could be added.