Re: Sandy River and Rangeley Lake - Eustis Branch question

Hi Christopher,

The Eustis RR never did reach Eustis township, so I think the name was somewhat aspirational. This is a question that comes up frequently, and I wouldn't consider it obscure at all.

The Eustis was a strange animal, built by Calvin Putnam's Phillips & Rangeley RR and the Berlin Mills Co. to access stands of virgin red spruce on the north side of Redington Mountain beginning in 1902, it was technically a common carrier but always more of a logging railroad, and its legal status as a subsidiary of the P&R was always somewhat ambiguous (which became a stumbling block in the 1908 consolidation of the SR&RL).

The common carrier portion of the line was 10 miles from Eustis Junction to Greene's Farm, but there were also logging branches/extensions from Greene's Farm to Berlin Mills Camp (2.5 miles built in the winter of 1903-1904), from Dago Junction to Skunk Brook Camp (3 miles built in 1905), and then in one last gasp of activity, from Dyer's Tank to Langtown (1.3 miles built in 1915). However, these were not all in service at the same time.

-Philip Marshall



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2017 12:13PM by philip.marshall.