Edaville Railroad
| Edaville Railroad | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Massachusetts |
| Dates of operation | 1949 – present |
| Track gauge | 2 ft (610 mm) |
| Length | 92 miles |
| Headquarters | South Carver |
The Edaville Railroad is a tourist railroad in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.
The Edaville Railroad is a 2 ft (610 mm) gauge narrow gauge tourist railroad in South Carver, Massachusetts built by the late Ellis D. Atwood (initials E.D.A, for which EDAVILLE is named) on his cranberry plantation at the beginning of Cape Cod.
History
Atwood acquired four locomotives and various other equipment from defunct narrow gauge rail lines in Maine which, rather than being scrapped, spent their retirement hauling tourists at Edaville. This equipment ran on rails only two feet apart, rather than the more common three-foot narrow gauge in the West. Edaville was run for many years by seafood company owner F. Nelson Blount, who collected several static display locomotives for Edaville. This helped form the basis for his Steamtown collection, first at Bellows Falls, Vermont and later established as Steamtown National Historic Site in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Blount also leased some of the 2ft equipment from Edaville to operate at two theme parks in the Northeast; C.V. Wood's short-lived Freedomland in The Bronx, New York and Pleasure Island in Wakefield, Mass.
Sale and resurrection
Edaville ceased operations in 1991 and the equipment was sold to a party in Portland, Maine, where it was put into operation on the newly-constructed Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum along the shores of Casco Bay. Several railroad enthusiasts fought to resurrect the railroad, and in 1999, the new Edaville Railroad opened for operation. The railroad has a 'new' steam locomotive, #21 "Anne Elizabeth", built by the English firm of Hudswell Clarke and a veteran of the Fiji sugar industry.
2005-present
In 2005, much of the original 5½ mile mainline was taken up, leaving the present mainline an approximately two-mile loop. Half of the line around the old reservoir remains. Edaville USA, as it is now known, is a small theme park with cranberry harvesting and railroading as its two main themes. It is a well-known family attraction throughout New England. Opened in 1947, Edaville is generally regarded as the oldest tourist or heritage railway in the United States.
See also
External links
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