This is not a "shameless plug" as I do not benefit from the sale of these dvd's, but I wanted to alert those of you who may be interested in the subject matter, that this new DVD is available.

Gus Pratt was a young kid growing up in rural Maine in the 1930's who saw the narrow gauge dwindling and decided to capture it on film. He got himself a 16mm movie camera and at just 17 years of age drove all over Maine filming the last days of the Maine two-footers. He would show his Sandy River films now and then at meetings of the 470 Club, but for the most part kept the films locked away for over 60 years. Gus followed the rebirth of the WW&F with great interest, and in 2006, at 88 years old, donated his narrow gauge films to the WW&F Ry Museum, for the sole purpose of raising funds.

In "The Films of Gus Pratt -Riding the Maine Two-Footers," Part I chronicles the end of both the SR&RL and WW&F.

In part II, Gus turns his attention and his 16mm camera to the Bridgton & Harrison, filming some of the last days of operation there -including a chartered fan trip in 1938. Then in 1947, he traveled to South Carver, Massachusetts and photographed the first days (if not the very first day) of operation at the nascent Edaville Railroad.

It is noteworthy to mention that in keeping with Mr. Pratt's wishes, my company restored and digitized the films, and at Gus' specific request created an ultra-realistic soundtrack for both part's 1 & 2. (a clip of part 1 can be seen here: http://www.railwayvideo.org)

Both DVD's can be obtained via the WW&F Ry Museum giftshop. http://www.wwfry.org/giftshop/giftshop.html

Stephen

These DVD's will be available for sale at the 29th Narrow Gauge convention in Colorado Springs, CO, later this month as well as many other WW&F items.

Ira Schreiber,
WW&F Railway Museum volunteer.

Where 2' is narrow gauge, 3' is Standard gauge and 4'81/2" is wide gauge.

Thanks, Ira...forgot about the convention!
http://www.29nng.com/index.htm

Stephen