Book examines Maine railroad line

BOOKS IN REVIEW

THE RUMFORD FALLS & RANGELEY LAKES RAILROAD, by Doug Hutchinson, Partridge Lane Publications, 127 pages, $20.

What started as an interest in a rural area of Maine, where his family’s roots ran deep, evolved into Doug Hutchinson’s first book, a pictorial essay of a little known railroad line that reached far into the western Maine wilderness and helped shape the future of that part of the state.

The book is packed with photographs gleaned from personal and public collections that spanned the life of a railroad branch line geared to the movement of wood products from Oxford and Franklin counties to mills in the Rumford area and the transport of “rusticators,” the first vacationers to experience the beauty of the lake country of Rangeley, Mooselookmeguntic and Kennebago.

Louise M. Korol, who edited Hutchinson’s manuscript, said she had misgivings about her role because of a limited knowledge of railroads in general, and the Rumford Falls and Rangeley Lakes line in particular. Yet, when she became immersed in the project, those misgivings gave way to fascination and delight.

“This book represents a labor of love by the author, whose association with the railroad was peripheral and at the same time an inherent part of his life, and that of his family, friends and associates,” she wrote. “He shares with us his genuine appreciation and affection for the people who conceived, built, nurtured and maintained the 40-odd miles of track which made the area of Maine from Rumford to Rangeley Lakes the center of a lively and productive period in the early part of this century.”

Rare photographs of a RF&RL passenger train sweeping onto Herdsdale Crossing in a winter scene, the railroad’s steam derrick car at Houghton, a rockslide at Summit and a loaded train drifting downhill at 10-Degree, a forgotten place in Letter D Township, bring alive Hutchinson’s narrative.

The book is a profusely illustrated story of good times and hard times in a place where hard times seemed to prevail. There are pictures and stories of the railroaders who carved a line through a harsh terrain and ran trains despite seemingly insurmountable odds.

The log station at Bemis, supposedly the only one of its kind in the world, is featured in Hutchinson’s book, along with the people who traveled to that remote place and those who made their passage possible.

The book chronicles the building of the line, interesting incidents that occurred during its lifetime, its takeover by Maine Central and the eventual demise of railroad service in the country north of Rumford. The railroad ended, perhaps prematurely, in March 1936, when a flood on the Androscoggin River took out a bridge at Rumford.

One of the best parts of the book, are the photographs of locomotive 159, which was moved on rails through the streets of Rumford and Mexico and placed on track that was intact north of the bridge site. The locomotive was used to transport material as the line between Oquossoc and Rumford was dismantled. Finally, when the job was finished, the old locomotive was scrapped as well.

Herb Cleaves is an editor on the NEWS state desk.