At the end of 1991, before the last train of the old Edaville Railroad ran, Cranberry Belt Corporation was formed by Peter Barney, Stephen Boothroyd, and James Dunlop. Their goal was to purchase the equipment that was up for sale and continue the operation of the railroad. The deal never materialized, but in later years the group was able to purchase some equipment to start new.
In February 1992 Edaville contacted their old pass holders again to try to sell passes for the 1992 season. Although I had purchased passes for the past 8 years, the rumors I heard were enough for me not to fall for the promise of Edaville is here to stay! Holding on to my money was the right thing to do this time, no wheels turned that summer. On December 14 the newspaper headlines read: Maine man buys Edaville. At first the group promised to keep the equipment in Carver if a new operator could be found. In order to do just that John Temple and Peter Barney formed New England Historic Rail. Negotiations between the two groups were unsuccessful and on September 19, 1993 a convoy of antique trucks carried most of the Edaville Railroad to Portland, Maine, to form the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad.
At about this time Edaville Entertainment bought their first steam locomotive: a 1906 vintage tank and tender German Arnold Jung. It was a handsome little machine but never ran on Edaville rails under steam. The boiler was of lap welded type, which is not acceptable under Massachusetts law. Rather than trying to get an exception from the state inspector it was decided to sell the locomotive to an interested party back in Germany. Within three month after her arrival there she was restored and is still in service today.
Because of continuing disputes with the landlord Edaville Entertainment never resumed operations again after the festival. Since the railroad ran on leased land ever since Mr. Atwood's death, this has always been a problem that plagued every potential operator. After an encouraging year, Edaville ran out of steam. But once again, another group tried their hand at the throttle: South Carver Rail ran a special excursion honoring Fred Richardson's 80th birthday in June 1997. This new group was headed by Paul Hallett and Rick Knight, who had ties to the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad. By August the group had an agreement in principal to operate trains during the 1997 Cranberry Festival. They managed to bring back ex-Monson #3, 2 coaches, and 2 excursion cars for the Cranberry Festival October 11-13 and the trains carried over 8,000 passengers that weekend! Things looked good on the surface but didn't last. Locomotive #7 was steamed up again to haul passengers after the two-foot show in Whitman on November 23, but South Carver Rail dropped the fires after that. Negotiations broke off in December between the group and the landlord. Despite the setback, South Carver Rail continued to be around for another year. In February they steamed up Edaville's "hidden" locomotive, Vulcan #5. Before they could do so, several parts had to be repaired or replaced, including the throttle valve and an injector. After that her boiler had to pass a 220 pounds pressure hydro-test, which did not create any further problems and the locomotive was able to do some test runs. During the summer of 1998 some more track maintenance was performed, at times with help from volunteers of the W.W.&F. Railway museum.
In May 1999 another group tries to revive the railroad and successfully negotiates a 20 year lease of the right-of-way: CranRail Corporation. This effectively ends the years of struggle, because this group has the necessary financial backing to get the railroad back on track. A longtime volunteer at Edaville, Bruce Wilson, has this to say about this part of Edaville's history: South Carver Rail did a good amount of track work, maintenance of rolling stock, and put the old water tower back in service while they were on the property. They cleaned up the machine shop and laid the groundwork for CranRail to begin operations.
My sincere thanks goes to to Steve Boothroyd, Savery Moore, and Bruce Wilson for their help and efforts to keep me honest with this part of Edaville's history.
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