Eustis Railroad

Infobox rail
railroad_name=Eustis Railroad
gauge=RailGauge|24
start_year=1903
end_year=1908
locale=Maine
hq_city=Phillips
successor=Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes RailroadThe Eustis Railroad was a RailGauge|24 gauge narrow gauge railroad built in the U.S. state of Maine to serve the forestry industry.

History

The Phillips and Rangeley Railroad (P&R) needed cash to build a logging branch into aboriginal spruce forests north of their main line; but P&R's financial status was unattractive to investors. P&R management formed and kept controlling stock interest in the Eustis Railroad, and then issued Eustis Railroad bonds to cover the costs of building the branch and purchasing rolling stock. Portland Company built 25 flat cars for the Eustis Railroad. The flat cars were convert|33|ft long and had a capacity of 12 tons. They were the largest 2-foot gauge flat cars in Maine at the time. Construction of the branch began at Eustis Junction in May, 1903, and was completed in 1904. P&R management leased the Eustis Railroad to the P&R as soon as the branch was completed; and used the rolling stock for normal P&R operations. Summer-only passenger service from a resort at Green Farm connected with P&R trains at Eustis Junction.

Eustis locomotives carried numbers higher than the numbers of P&R locomotives. The Eustis locomotives were modernized versions of P&R locomotive #2 built in 1893. They were the heaviest 0-4-4T locomotives operated on any Maine 2-foot gauge railroad. The locomotives were destructive to the 35# steel rail used on the Eustis Railroad, but the P&R needed the branch only long enough to carry logs to a sawmill at Madrid Junction. In 1908 the Madrid Junction sawmill closed because all logs had been removed from the vicinity of the Eustis Railroad. Passenger service on the branch ended that year.

Eustis Railroad was merged into the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad (SR&RL) in 1911. The locomotives became SR&RL #20-22 and the flat cars became SR&RL #363-387.

Locomotives

References

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