We need more videos like this to show our kids and grandchildren what life was like before public transportation ,malls, and cars. The things that are taken for granted now. Someone started this country with hard work and a vision.
yes, as a father of 3 now-grown kids who were huge Thomas fans, especially the younger two, I instantly thought of Hero of The Rails when Thomas finds an old japanese locomotive sitting on an abandoned spur, and sets about restoring him to operation.
My first job out of high school was working on log rafts sorting out logs to be processed by the paper mill near my home. We used small work boats and pushed the bundles of logs to the sorting area where we unstrapped the logs. I ran on the logs while wearing 'caulk boots', pronounced 'cork' boots. They have dozens of small metal spikes to grip on the bark of the logs. I used a 15 foot pike pole to push the logs into position for the crane to lift them into the mill. We stayed on the river during the entire shift. Had a floating lunch shack and toilet. The best part was the fact my grandfather did the same type of work back in the 1920's and 1930's. Those jobs are gone now, but I look back fondly on those evenings running on the rafts in the bay near my home.
Yes. I caught the very end of the waterway transportation of forest products to the mills back in the mid 70's. Ironically enough, my next job was setting chokers for a helicopter logging company on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state. And that was cutting edge technology for its time. Now I raise vegetables and spoil grandchildren. Thank you for prompting some wonderful memories. I wish you many exciting adventures. And keep posting them for folks like me, who love to see them.
From my recollections as told to me by Bill Gove, who is a retired forester and forestry history buff living in Vermont... Until the mid 1960s, that entire operation was essentially frozen in time. When the lot was lumbered out, the company that had built the lumber camp (actually, it was more like a village) just up and left. As I was told, it was intact down to the coffee pots on top of the wood stoves in the bunkhouses. Apparently fearful of squatters moving in and establishing a community, the Maine State Forestry Dept., or whatever the agency was called at the time, was charged with the task of destroying the site, so they sent someone from Augusta up there (and it's quite a task to get to the location). No one from the State had actually been in there and they relied on hunters and trappers for information on the condition of things. When the agent from Augusta saw it for the first time and saw how pristine it was, he made his way back to the nearest phone, called Augusta, and asked if anyone there had SEEN the place (amazed, as he was, with having seen this veritable museum of 1920s-era logging technology). He was told in no uncertain terms to "Burn it!!!". So he went back and burned it. Everything. The lake boat (which had a walking beam engine), the locomotive engine house (those engines came from the New York Central I believe), the bunkhouses, log sluices, drag lines, mill buildings... EVERYTHING! I was recently at the Maine State Museum in Augusta (across the parking lot from the State House--it's an absolutely SPECTACULAR museum) and asked if they had anything from the Eagle Lake and West Branch. They had no idea what I was talking about. Imagine that!
Been there by boat, one year when the water was real high. The engines, tracks and other material was brought in over the ice and assembled. There where no tracks coming in to there. The rivers and lakes were the roads. The rail was to move logs to the south bound route, water, that ran from lake to river until the logs hit the Penobscot River where they were run to Old Town Bangor area mills and sawn in to lumber. Then loaded on ships.At that time Bangor Maine was the richest city in the U.S. maybe the world, 265 saw mills on the river from Old Town to Bangor, about 15 miles. Eventually they built dams and reversed the flow of water that ran north. The trains became obsolete. You missed all the rail cars on a side spur in the same area. Further out on the rail line from there, out over the lake, you can see where they dumped the logs in the lake. Last I heard they were trying to semi restore some of the equipment. It really is in the middle of no where. Probably 150 or more miles from Bangor. Many miles of dirt logging roads and then trails.
How many other rail cars are there other than the locomotives themselves? Lots of parts are needed. The passenger cars, box cars, cabooses themselves could be airlifted out. It cool to have locomotives and tenders but you need to have the rest of the train. I'm sure the switches and signs are equally valuable. Actually all the parts of even the mills themselves and quarters are worth something to some community looking to preserve a time in history and generate tourism. History is rusting through our fingers. Do it for your great grand kids educations, 150 to 200 years from now. 60 years from now you will regret that you did nothing.
@@dewhittjames There where maybe 6 cars. Flat beds with wood sides, looked like for hauling logs or 4' pulp wood. They are in a line tucked in the wood near the locomotives and on a track. It's all grown up around them. Can't remember a caboose, probably no need since they had a short haul just moving wood. there is also a big wood structure along the water with tracks on it, I believe thats where they dumped the wood in the lake for it's trip down river.
@@WESTOFEDEN71 There should be footage of the last log drive on Machias River. I think on youtube. It was considered bad for the environment, so they built roads all over the woods, along the river, cut trees and dug pits for gravel to do it. What was worse? Might look up log booms too. millions of board feet of logs circled by cable being pulled by steam ships across lakes.
Actually Steam could make a comeback in a huge way. Volkswagen back in the 90's actually made a 220 hp prototype steam engine that could get up to temperature in 30 seconds. Never came to mass production due to no consumer interest. However I think it had more to do with the oil industry. dyler.com/posts/317/the-volkswagen-engine-prototype-that-did-not-need-oil-or-conventional-fuel
@@heyokawalker197 another gem of a steam car would be 1925 Doble E-20 Steam Car ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-rUg_ukBwsyo.html 132.5 mph 150hp 1000 footpunds
The one with the cab is a 1911 Baldwin 2-8-0 logging locomotive that was EX-NYC, it sank in the mud. An had new tracks and roadbed built under it. It is up to the state of Maine to remove and restore the locomotive. Due to Maine owning the locomotive The one with no cab is a Baldwin 4-8-0 Ten wheeler that has a unknown year and origin, the tracks and roadbed were also rebuilt. I did my hardest research on this locomotive and it was really hard to find the name and model of this locomotive. If you have anymore to add on, then comment below.
Thank you for making the video. Being a New England guy I can appreciate the history of the area and it breaks my heart to see those once proud iron giants just dying alone in the forest.
Thanks for going out there and video taping it. I love all the extra history information as well. If you didn't do this i would have never gotten to see this. I'd love to go out there but between severe fibromyalgia (chronic pain) and more importantly my lack of funds I don't think that's going to happen. It's nice to see that someone is out there partially maintaining the area for visitors. And thanks to RU-vid and guys like you I can explore from home. And you provide all the needed information needed to have any clue what's ever of what things are for or rather were for. Plus after abandoning my cats for two weeks at Christmas they won't let me leave again. Ever.
I visited these 40 years ago and still have pictures. We canoed in from the south end of Eagle lake, fished and camped for a week. Thanks for the video, brings back memories.
Thank you for calling them locomotives and being concise, and not mislabeling what you saw. There are some you tube videos of this marvelous place in history, and they have no idea what they are seeing, mislabeling items. Thank you for encouraging, yet not misinforming your views of what they are observing.
Hi Dylan, thanks for all the effort you put into the making of these Videos!You also provide alot of information besides about the History behind all of it!Great work from great guys!Keep up the good Spirit!
He still missed all of the terms for the switch. Couldn't tell in the video if that was a real switch, or just a sign. (Didn't see the frog for a switch.)
Why do you get so upset/excited when he says trains/locomotives. Are there more important things in your life??? Who cares about nonchmenture any way They are just going to rust into the ground
I really appreciate you sharing this! I'm in Alabama so i doubt i'll ever be able to go visit these in person. I think it's sad that before our cell phones and the technology were used to having now, people actually had to have a lot of ingenuity to be able to design and bring to life things like those locomotives that rarely exist now. Again thank you for your video!
Really well done production Dylan. Great camerawork, great music, great little history lesson, great adventure. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for sharing!
Dude I haven't been on your channel in a while, but I've been here since a couple hundred subs. The aesthetic of your vlogs have totally changed, and I totally love it. Amazing job, dude. Can't wait to see more. Good luck on the amazing adventure you get to call life.
This is both cool and sad. It breaks my heart seeing these once beautiful locomotives reduced to rusting hulks, but it's also beautiful to see how nature has taken over. I especially loved the shot of the tree growing around the wheel.
There are to stay in the woods ..they are a monument to the great loggers of northern Maine I love in northern Maine them staying where there are mean alot to us mainers
How the hell would they get them out? There’s no roads, the railroad is either gone or beyond operating condition, and even if you did have a truck or something you couldn’t get it through the forest
Brings back a lot of good memories of when I did the complete Allagash Waterway 30 years ago. We had to portage at this point between Chamberlain and Eagle Lake. I see they have done some work there to show how the process worked.
Hey Dylan, this is the first time I've seen one of your videos and I have to say it was a pretty awesome adventure. I've been fascinated with trains/locomotives (😉) since I was a child; specifically steam locomotives. So being able to see something like this - in person or otherwise - is truly amazing. Thank you so much for posting this video, because it documents some of America's lost history.
I used to work as a Counselor / Photog in a Maine Summer Camp. Have sent this vid's link to the camp. Hopefully, the Campers will visit the site. THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS AMAZING VID. Maybe you could do some exploring and find other cool and little Northern Maine Sitez; logging camps, abandoned lumbering, farming and mining towns. Wouldn't be great to find an abandoned town with a grass runwayed airport with some abandoned cars and planes left behind !
Very Nice Footage you provided here with this video. My son who is 19 now knows everything about the era and has taught me so much. A part of America History rarely ever spoke about .
Stationary steam engines. Originally they were probably decommissioned locomotives themselves converted to stationary units to provide power for logging equipment or other industries. This often happened and several really ancient locos have been found this way. These were probably early locos from the 1860's to '70's. By the early 1900's they'd have been too small for the trains which had become too heavy for them, so they got themselves a second life as power plants. They might even have been the predecessors of the locos you found
These locomotives are relics of the Eagle Lake and West Branch Railroad. It was a 13 mile long railroad that hauled timber from the Allagash region of northern Maine. It ran from 1927 to 1933. During the great depression, demand for paper dramatically decreased and the railroad was mothballed in 1933. Great Northern Paper, which owned and operated the railroad, found it more economical to ship by using trucks when business returned after World War II. It became a popular destination for snowmobilers in the 1960's, becoming the victims of relic seekers. In 1969, the shed the locomotives were stored in was burned to the ground. That also destroyed the wooden cab of one of the locomotives. Since then, the locomotives have been left to the elements. Currently, the locomotives and nearby tramway are owned by the State of Maine Department of Conservation and are being preserved in their current state as a historic site and a testament to Maine's logging heritage.
Normally I could careless about an old "train" , but this was so cool. I really enjoyed this well made video. Thank you for broadening my interests in the American history .
Reason for checkpoint's isn't just to maintain the road's. That log truck you went by, is upwards of 13 feet wide, and the roads beyond the gate are privately owned by the logging companies. So it's a safety thing to account for who's going where. Should have a MURS radio too if you're running those roads, maps like you said, good idea. People down below don't realize, it's literally in the middle of the woods, cellphone coverage is nonexistent. But there's plenty of great fishing holes, so that makes up for it in my book. Thanks for visiting Maine and sharing these Loco's. Been awhile since I've seen 'em.
As "engine" is a synonym for "locomotive," a diesel engine in a locomotive is often referred to as the "prime mover." This eliminates the ambiguity between "engine" and "locomotive" and differentiates the main engine from any auxiliary ones, such as those used to produce head-end power on some passenger units.
As somebody that lives in Maine you can leave my states trains alone. They are there as a monument to the loggers such as my grandfather and great uncle's
@Old Iron Building new ones would be a lot cheaper and more practical. The blue prints are most likely available some where or measurements could be taken from the originals.
I'm happy to forgive the lack of proper terms on some names of parts...he did a lot of work to get to that location to show everyone these amazing old locomotives. Thanks for your efforts!
I don't have time to scroll through all the comments to see if this is already there. However, the locomotives are former New York Central and last belonged to the Eagle Lake and West Branch Railroad. They were brought in by skidding them over the frozen lakes. There used to be an enginehouse and the locos were intact. However, a dunderheaded park service employee misunderstood his instructions when he was told to torch all the old buildings at the logging camp. He was NOT supposed to torch the enginehouse. So there they sit and rot exposed to the elements with all their wood burned off.
sjwhitney Maybe that's how they get them out of there to be restored for static display. Wait till winter comes the lake freezes then skate the engines across the lake. Then bring back building materials to build a new Roundhouse and then bring the engines back after being restored and put them in the new Roundhouse.
I kind of wish I could get them out of there, a much better service could be used in my local town where the old B&O line runs through with a restored station as well. They would love to have a classic 2-8-0 repainted and re-numbered to fit the setting. After all these are going to just rot away, it's best to utilize them in a better fashion where people will treat them as they are meant to be treated. All I would need is one, and preferably the one with cab intact.
@@briandonlin9321 well the steam engines used branch lines you see .. branching off to small towns and picking up what farmers wanted to sale ..it was a team thing , everyone on same page of living .. now eggs come from states over verses the next town as an example... Yeah the steam tractor followed for sure sadly 😔 . Big Oil killed the American Dream in sooooo many ways it's surreal.
where I live in Finland we have one of those old locomotives, running every summer for a few days, for people to get some nostalgia, we also have one standing at our train station for display.
Mitchell Hogg they're still salvageable...at least one anyway. couldn't get a good look at the other one. hell, one still has the drainage pipe and that's usually one of the first things to rust off
Warren Adams Well these locomotives can be restored. They aren't pass the point of no return. In fact, it seems only a few of the parts need replacing or restoration. I've seen locomotives in a EVEN worst state than these ones. For example, there was a Scrap yard in the U.K. called Barry Island. A couple hundred withdrawn locomotives ended up there and were ,Oddly, left to rust away instead of being scrapped. I suggest you Google some images of the old scrap yard, you won't believe how badly the engines looked in the yard. And what's even more unbelievable is that over 2/3rds of locomotives were restored and are currently still in use today.
Even if these engines were able to be restored, I don't see a way to get them out of there without chopping down thousands of trees or air lifting them. And, well, air lifting a steam engine is a stretch. I think it's best that they are left there as a relic of the past
Nice Job on the video and the music, I appreciated the light train whistle while the camera focused on some foliage about half way through the video. I use to spend summers on second lake with family about 15 miles in the woods off route 1 in machos back when the Whales back was open and this brought back a lot of memories. Great job.
Sad to see those old ALCO steam locos got to waist . Those were probably built in the late teens to the early twenties.. They are small and were usually used as switchers and mine/logging operations.Great video! Thanks for the wonderful video and time to take use to see those old workhorses.👍🏻😉
I wonder if any of the works are from the still in operation Fairbanks Morse Company. They made everything from radio to refrigerators in their hey-day. Today they are still in operation making Military equipment. Their radio division ran from 1934 until 1939 out of Indianapolis, Indiana, closing down primarily to make equipment for World War II. The radio division was never re-opened, but the one's that exist today are highly prized by collector's.
It makes me sad to see those beautiful Steam Engines in that state. Sadder yet knowing they one day will only be a red stain in the Forrest. They are beyond saving, might be able to use them as patterns for a rails up build, but I think that they even beyond that as well..
James Goode eh maybe but I've seen locos in far worse condition get restored. It all depends on what shape the frame is in edit:and how money your willing to spend
The boilers in those are almost certainly done for just by safety concerns alone, but you probably could fit a new boiler onto the original frames and make them run again. Just needs a big wallet is all.
it's so serene and intriguing to see this, tysm for uploading this. It just has this nice feeling in the forest and its really nostaglic in a certain way in videos like this.
i have always loved seeing history to see old trains and buildings etc. to be able to imagine them in there day and the people of that time wish time travel was real iam 42yrs old and my family love joy riding and finding this like this 👍👍👍
IF ! There was still water in the boiler or the tender and IF ! You got it up to operating temp/pressure I wouldn’t want to be anywhere near that old boiler when it let go !
In 1972 I was 14 and in the Boy Scouts, my cousins in the Sea Explorers. We went on a 90 mile canoe trip on the Alagash river, started at Telos Landing and canoed to the St. Johns river on the Canadian U.S. border. During the excursion we were informed of the abandoned trains. We set up camp where we were able to have a short hike to the trains. It is a captivating sight walking and all of a sudden two locomotives in the middle of nowhere appear. I seem to remember more woods around them and looks like some clearing was done to help them last a bit longer. If they were in the canopy of the trees lichens and moss would deteriorate the locomotives quicker. Want to return someday.
Jeremy Kamande technically the forest is a museum of the abandoned world , for us to enjoy and explore , like how many museums on earth have restored trains and restored stuff it just gets boring , all the same , yet this is different
I like your video Dylan. It's nice that you explained a little about what you were seeing and how you came about finding this place. Keep it up Friend.
No, not in a boiler. It's a misnomer. Under normal atmospheric pressure of 14.7 PSI, water vaporizes throughout to turn to steam. In steam engines, pressure is usually at 100 or more PSI. Water is not boiling, rather, the steam and water are at the same temperature, therefore, the water flashes into steam. So, usually the water and steam might be at 3 or 4 hundred degrees.
There's just something about those old locomotives that just makes them look so awesome. I swear everything in the old days looked awesome compared to today. Be nice to maintain them if they are just sitting there so that they don't just rust into the ground.
Dylan Magaster it was like I was a kid on the woods of WV again, beautifully shot and edited. We have a long extractive history here too and lots of rusty stuff in the woods as well. Nice job!
Firebox in American terminology, Furnace in european terminology. I don't think these are all that abandoned either. Someone has been grooming the trail that leads to them, and the grass around them seems awful short- I would expect it to have grown up considerably more with shrubs and saplings emerging from it. Just, restoring one of these costs a ton of money. And if they aren't particularly rare or valuable, there they sit waiting for someone to retrieve them.
