Caught wind of this via FB

Pretty wild - story of The Eagle Lake & West Branch Railroad with a link to the location of two abandoned steam engines sitting in the middle of nowhere in Northern Maine.

Map:
https://www.google.com/maps/@46.3223639 ... !1e3?hl=en

Story:
http://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/discove ... ndex.shtml

There are not a lot of places in the world where you can be hiking through a remote wilderness and suddenly stumble upon rusting locomotives...

Enjoy!

/Mitch

Thanks for the additional links.

I did a search using keywords "Eagle" "Lake" "West" & "Branch" and didn't see those, though all seem to be over 3 years old and none, that I saw immediately, feature a link back to Google Maps. You are the search king, Alexander.

/Mitch

I wasn't aware of the saddle tank and boiler.

Mike

From the Orient to Maine
Lake Shore & Michigan Southern 2-8-0s
by Baird, Victor A.
2-8-0 LSMS NYC steam

P. 58, Trains July 1991


Why is the Trains Magazine online search so hard to find?

"From Nowhere to Nowhere, Maine's Eagle Lake & West Branch Railroad"
Narrow Gauge & Short line Gazette, July/Aug. 2007
By Terence Harper

I went there by snowmobile 2 years ago, the folks at chesuncook lake house can fill you in on some of the details about the preservation work that was done. One of the locomotives was near the point of tipping over before a group jacked it up to cross level again.

FYI, our correspondent above, Terry Harper, was a leader in that effort to jack up and re-rail the two locomotives. They ballasted the track by carrying in 5 gallon pails of stone. Terry is also a preeminent authority on Lombard tractors. Talk about a labor of love in preservation!

I hope to be back in Maine this winter. I will pm him!

Just became aware of this railroad via some YouTuber "discovering" these "lost" locomotives.

Is this on private property or public lands? What person/entity oversees it?

Given the dearth of NYC steam that was preserved, am kinda surprised some enterprising group hasn't gotten that one out of there, even given the challenges.

"Given the dearth of NYC steam that was preserved, am kinda surprised some enterprising group hasn't gotten that one out of there, even given the challenges."

I'm told they are on Forest Service land and have become their property and therefore prohibit their removal.
Ned

Disregard the NPS ownership issues.

"Challenges" is a very severe understatement. I forget exactly what it was, but one time I used Google Earth to try and find the nearest pavement to get to these locos. i may be misremembering, but I think it was on the order of twenty-six miles away......

To clarify, the locomotives are located on *state* forest land, not federal, so they are owned by the State of Maine.

-Philip Marshall

Found a link for a Maine Forest Service page about the area: https://www.maine.gov/dacf/parks/discov ... ndex.shtml

Apparently there are "roads" that get within a mile of the engines, if not of a high quality.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/M4WuaPvip7JXCMXR7

The problem of pride of ownership that an entity comes to have over objects under their survey - be it a person, park, or museum - would certainly nix any effort to move them out for a better life, so the access issue is moot.

The road in are very "rural". These are woods roads, not for a family or highway vehicle. It is wet, it is "buggy". If you attempt to go in, know how to get yourself out under stressful conditions. Did I mention it is "buggy"? The two locomotives are considered state property. They have been open for decades of winter winters and summer rains. Some minor care has been give to extend their fading lives. NEITHER LOCOMOTIVE IS GOING ANYWHERE!