In the late 1940's, virtually all of the surviving equipment from Maine's once expansive network of two foot gauge railroads was trucked south to South Carver, Massachusetts to become the Edaville Railroad. Almost 50 years later, on September 19, 1993, most of the equipment was trucked back to Maine in a massive convoy of antique trucks to become part of a museum. I was fortunate enough to witness the two footers in operation several times, and to be present when the equipment made its final exit from Massachusetts on some of the same trucks that had moved it south in the 1940's.
A little background and history is in order first. The two foot gauge railroads covered several sections of the State of Maine starting in the late 1800's. These shortline railroads fell prey to the Depression and competition from trucks, with the last roads shutting down around the time of WWII. In 1946 and 1947, Ellis D. Atwood purchased most of the remaining equipment and had it trucked to his cranberry bogs in South Carver, Massachusetts.
In South Carver, Atwood set up a 5 1/2 mile loop trough his bogs and used the trains both to service the bogs and to haul paying passengers. The operation was named Edaville Railroad, a name formed from Atwood's initials (E.D.A.). Over the years the railroad evolved into a ''Family Fun Park''; with an emphasis on carnival type rides, bright lights and extravagant Christmas displays. Many non-operational display locomotives and cars of various gauges were also added. Edaville Railroad became a local institution, and drew visitors from far and wide.
