All aboard: Houlton pupils live rail history> Fort Fairfield museum packed with train artifacts

“Go, go, go, go, go,” the second-graders chanted as their teacher and chaperones ran along the railroad track pushing the stalled motorcar.

In wooden carriers behind the motorcar, the Houlton Elementary School pupils on a field trip last Friday to the Fort Fairfield Railroad Museum, watched two of the chaperones hop into the motorcar with operator Bruce Nett once the engine started.

But their teacher, Hollie McPartland, and a parent, Dorothy Widhalm, though they ran faster and faster, finally gave up the chase.

With a deep sigh and then a laugh, McPartland watched the train filled with little blobs of wind-blown hair wheel around the corner and out of sight. Over the clatter of iron wheels on iron rails, she heard a stern voice from an older student order her charges to sit down.

Arriving back in the train yard, McPartland and Widhalm met a bus load of cheering kids, waving from windows, and Scott Fields of Fort Fairfield, operator of another motorcar that failed earlier about 200 yards short of its destination. Unable to catch the train once the engine kicked over, Fields walked to a nearby potato house and got a ride back into town.

“This has never happened before,” said Nett, a founder of the museum now in its sixth year of operation. Heavy weight on a steep incline and a separated fuel line caused the mishaps, he said, but some pupils in another group that missed out on the high adventure wondered if the problems had been rigged to give the passengers a good time.

The experience would be the grist for a good many stories written by her pupils over the next few days, said McPartland.

Situated at two locations, the former Canadian Pacific Railroad train station near Main Street and the former Bangor & Aroostook train yard at Depot Street, the museum includes rail cars and articles from the two railroad companies that served the region.

According to a local history, when the railroad first connected with Bangor on Nov. 30, 1875, the American flag and Union Jack were hoisted in Fort Fairfield. The big cannon brought in for the Aroostook War with Canada — object of a long-standing dispute between Fort Fairfield and Fort Kent — “belched forth its thunder in a national salute,” according to the history.

Danny Devoe, one of the 37 Houlton pupils, liked the “old-fashioned stuff” during the tour of the train station and caboose near Main Street. His grandmother, who lived “back then” and often had ridden trains, would have liked to come with him, he said.

Eight-year-old Jordan Geiger was interested in the railroad artifacts gathered after the New Brunswick Railroad pulled its first train through town, changing the way local passengers and produce would travel.

At lunch time, the Houlton group moved to the former B&A train yard where a locomotive, dining car, box car, refrigerated car and another caboose are displayed.

While half the group left for a seven-mile motorcar trip, the others entered the dining car for hot dogs grilled by 91-year-old Harold Welch, a 50-year employee of the B&A. Fifth- and sixth-graders from the Fort Fairfield elementary school, members of a railroad club directed by teacher Wendy Ross, Nett’s daughter, served the meal, including carrot sticks and flag-decorated cookies.

Finishing their lunch, the first group headed for the motorcar train as the second returned with teacher Sally Cole and headed for the dining car.

“This is exciting,” said Sarah Putnam, 8, as she chose her seat on one of the carriers.

“Hey, we’re moving,” said Victoria Rowe, 7, to a friend. “Hang onto your hat, Chris.”

Laughing and shouting above the noise of the clackety wheels hugging the old iron rails, riders pointed to clear streams shaded by tall trees. Along the way, the riders viewed a panorama of hills in Canada and scanned grassy fields and newly planted potato fields for the moose spotted earlier by classmates.

As the ground beneath them was left behind, some became dizzy staring through narrow places in the fast-moving floor boards.

Jostling each other for position and a better look past the carrier’s side rails, braver boys were curious about the mechanics of the conveyance.

A group of creative girls discovered that vibrations from their shaking seats changed a clear voice pitch to a throaty resonance, and serenaded passengers with various ranges.

A small, dark-haired girl, wearing glasses and sitting quietly, was content to close her eyes and turn her face to the bright sun and warm wind.

As the Houlton pupils were treated to the impressive collection of regional railroad history, preparations were under way to serve a candlelight dinner the following evening in the dining car. Gourmet beef and salmon entrees, accompanied by wine, were to be served to 42 diners by local high school students.

Pupils and adults alike come in droves to ride the motorcars during special events. Train enthusiasts by the hundreds view the less-traveled sections of the town during the local Potato Blossom Festival. Last year a pancake breakfast was served to more than 600 people at the train yard.

Like others impressed with the museum’s historical collection and significance to the region, McPartland left the Friday field trip with a head brimming with plans to further its development.

“And it was great not having to provide lunches,” she said.