Strong, a Mussul Unsquit village

The Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad Engine# 7 left the rails on the Bigelow Extension ca. 1916. Here the crew works at righting it.

In order to stand this 18-ton iron horse back on the rails without a crane, they used only ropes, pulleys, chains, jacks and cribbing.

Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes railroad station in Strong around 1910.

From 1879 to 1935 narrow gauge railroad service was available in Strong. Strong became the connecting point of service between Farmington, with its Maine Central line, and all points north. By 1909 all of the small narrow gauge service in Northern Franklin County was consolidated into one system, the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad. S.R.R.L. could then serve passenger and freight customers to Farmington, Strong, Freeman, Salem, Kingfield, Carrabassett and the Dead River region, as well as Phillips, Redington, Madrid and the Rangeley area, all under the same banner.

Hunting enthusiasts, locally referred to as "sports", traveled from as far as New York to experience the thrill of the hunt. The Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad provided a rail connection to hunting areas in northern Franklin County. It was common during hunting season to see "sports" loading their trophies onto the train at the station in Strong for their return home.

Frank L. Dyer (1854-1932), the station agent at Strong, is seen in this image (far right foreground).

Carroll Brackley and Menzor Will partnered in a venture to process and can local apples rather than pack and ship them fresh in the customary wooden barrels. Their canning shop was set-up on Depot Street with railroad access across the street. The canning shop operated for twelve years, receiving and processing as many as 50,000 barrels of apples from area orchards.

This elevated conveyor carried crates of Pierpole Brand canned apples from the apple shop to the railroad siding across the street. There the crates were loaded into waiting boxcars for shipment to distant markets. The conveyor could also be reversed to receive incoming shipments of necessary supplies.

In the distance, at right, one of the Burnham & Morrill corn canning buildings can be seen.

Frank L. Dyer (1854-1932) served as the railroad station agent at Strong for 52 years. As such, he was responsible for the entire operation of the terminal connecting the Sandy River Railroad with the Franklin & Megantic Railroad and the Phillips & Rangeley. He was also the Western Union telegraph operator.

The railroad station is in the center of this picture with Daggett & Will Store to the left, Forster's toothpick mill behind and to the right, and the railroad turntable and maintenance shed at far right. The turntable was used to change the direction of an engine and tender for the next run.

The narrow gauge tracks of the Franklin and Megantic Railroad ran easterly from the Strong station, behind Forsters Toothpick mill, then northerly through the mill yard. North of the mill yard the tracks crossed Vine Street on the way to Freeman, Salem and Kingfield.

In this view the buildings on Vine Street from left to right are the Methodist Church, Stubbs' barn, the J. H. Norton home, the Ed Howard home and the railroad maintenance shed. In the distance at far right is the Jesse Phillips home at the north end of High Street.

Looking north past the Bradford L. Beal home, through the mill yard of C. V. Starbird lumber mill, the train of the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad follows the rails south toward the station.

Though very convenient to have rail service running through the mill yard, employees often had to drop what they were doing to run trackside to extinguish small blazes caused by sparks from the boiler or wheels of the "Iron Horse."

A Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad section crew was responsible for conducting periodic inspections and maintenance on their assigned section of track. The handcar was the primary means of transportation to get the crew up and down the section. The crew needed to be prepared to remove it from the rails whenever a train approached.

The men are named on the back of this photo as: Wallace "Wiggles" Welch, Roy "Wez" Witherell and Ned McCourt.

The junction at Strong was tied-up for some time when engine #20 from the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes jumped the rails of the switch and stopped in the gore between the lines. The points of the switch were not set properly and opened as the engine entered from the Phillips line, causing it to go off the rails between the north-bound line at the station and the Kingfield line.

Parlor car #9 of the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad, parked on siding rails behind Forster's warehouse, after it was sold to Dr. Charles W. Bell when the railroad was dismantled. This was reputed to be the only narrow gauge parlor car in existence.

When automobiles and trucks came onto the market, passenger train ridership declined for the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad. For a time, in an attempt to reverse that decline, railbuses were operated on the line. Railbus No. 4 was one of those used.

Early photo postcard depicting the railroad station at Strong where the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes narrow gauge railroad would pick up and drop off passengers and freight.

In order for Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes railroad passengers and freight to make connections at Farmington for destinations beyond, a combination of rails and switches was established. It was necessary for narrow gauge rails to cross and merge with standard gauge rails to get the smaller equipment to the station and freight yard. Occasionally you could see engines and rolling stock of both sizes at the station together.

Here the S.R.R.L. engine is visible beyond the larger Maine Central engine.

When the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Railroad discontinued operations in 1935 several pieces of rolling stock were purchased by local businessmen. Dr. Charles W. Bell acquired this parlor car and the rails it sits on. When the tracks were pulled, this piece of the siding was left in place with the car on it.