By Justin Franz

The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company & Museum is pushing forward with an effort to restore two historic narrow gauge locomotives: Monson Railroad 0-4-4T 4 and Bridgton & Harrison 2-4-4T 8. The restoration of locomotives 4 and 8 would mean that all five surviving steam engines from the legendary Maine 2-footers would be in operating condition at the same time for the first time in the preservation era. 

The locomotives will be restored by Maine Locomotive & Machine Works of Alna, Maine. If everything goes according to plan, the locomotives will be in service sometime in the 2030s. 

Presently there are three Maine 2-footers in operating condition: Monson 0-4-4T 3, B&H 2-4-4T 7 and Wiscasset, Waterville & Farmington Railway 0-4-4T 9, which has the unique distinction of also being the only surviving locomotive from the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes and Kennebec Central Railroad. The B&H and Monson locomotives are owned by Maine Narrow Gauge of Portland and the WW&F 9 is owned by the WW&F Railway Museum in Alna, Maine. A collaboration between MNG and WW&F, however, means that the Portland-owned locomotives can often be found in Alna.

Monson 4 was built by Vulcan Iron Works in 1918 to haul slate in northern Maine. B&H 8 was built by Baldwin as the last, largest, and heaviest built for its railroad located in the western part of the state. 

The Monson and B&H were among the last 2-footers in operation in the 1940s and much of the equipment from those two railroads ended up on the Edaville Railroad in Massachusetts, where it ran until coming home to Maine in the 1990s. While all four surviving steam locomotives from the Monson and B&H ran during the Edaville era, they have never been in service at the same time as WW&F 9, which was restored to service back in 2015. 

Visit mainenarrowgauge.org to learn more and to donate.