By Justin Franz 

SOUTH CARVER, Mass. — The Edaville Railroad is up for sale. Earlier this month, on the eve of the amusement park railroad’s 75th anniversary, owner Jon Delli Priscoli told the Carver Reporter that he was looking for new owners. 

While some serious railfans might dismiss the attraction, officially called the Edaville Family Theme Park, as nothing more than an amusement park ride, they would be sorely mistaken. Edaville was founded by Ellis D. Atwood in 1947 after he had purchased all of the equipment he could find from the recently defunct Maine two-footers. Initially, Atwood planned to use the narrow gauge trains to serve his extensive cranberry bog operations, but people kept showing up asking for rides. By the 1950s, Edaville had turned into a full-fledged tourist railroad. The railroad operated until the 1990s when the equipment returned home to Maine to form the core of the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Co. & Museum.

In 1999, Delli Priscoli reopened the park after leasing it from the Atwood family. A few years later he purchased the entire park. An asking price for the park has not been disclosed but Delli Priscoli told the newspaper he hopes to have a new owner in place this year. 

This coming weekend, a series of excursions will be run to mark the railroad’s 75th anniversary. The star of the show will be Monson 0-4-4T 3, on loan from Maine Narrow Gauge.