The story of the Edaville Railroad begins just before the outbreak of World War II. One by one the Maine two footers had checked out and most of the equipment had been scrapped. The last one to go was the Bridgton & Saco River. Before all of the equipment was put to the torch and the cars burnt to salvage only the metal, a rail fan with the financial means to purchase the remaining items appeared on the scene: Ellis D. Atwood. He owned a 1,800 acre cranberry plantation at South Carver, MA, which gave him also the space to set up the railroad. World War II delayed the move of his new purchase, but during the fall of 1945 the trucks of C. E. Hall & Sons started to arrive with cars and engine #7 at South Carver.

Linwood W. Moody, noted author and historian of the Maine Two Footers joined Mr. Atwood and together they came up with a name for the new railroad: Edaville. The name was derived from Mr. Atwood's initials. The line also became known as the Cranberry Belt Line.

Photo by Dana D. Goodwin (04-07-47)
From the cover of "The Railroad Enthusiast"
Volume 5, Number 1

A 300-acre reservoir was located in the center of the cranberry plantation with bogs surrounding the reservoir. The track for the Cranberry Belt Line was laid around the reservoir and through the bogs since Mr. Atwood intended to use the trains to work the bogs. The loop was completed on April 7, 1947, and besides the driving of a "golden" spike, the event was celebrated by smashing a bottle of cranberry juice on the smoke box of #7. The caption for the photo at left reads: "John W. Merril takes a hefty swing at the gold spike - and misses. The date was April 7, 1947, and the auspicious occasion was the last gold spike ceremony held on a narrow gauge railroad in this country - celebrating the completion of the 5½-mile Edaville railroad. Other participants in the driving of the 12 silver spikes and a single gold one are, in the front row, from left, Cyrus Hosmer, Jr., holding hat, author of our lead article in this issue; Tony Lopes, on the footboard of No. 7; Francis Merrit, holding maul handle; Mrs. Elthea Atwood; and Carl Harju, down the embankment."

The Edaville sand pit near Mt. Urann
Postcard from my collection

Besides the loop and yard tracks, several spurs into the bogs and a sand pit near Mt. Urann were laid. The railroad was now used to haul workers around the bogs, move boxes of cranberries at harvest time from the bogs to the screen house (today's museum), and bring sand from the pit for bog maintenance during the winter.

But Mr. Atwood always enjoyed visitors and was very willing to accomodate them by running passenger trains between the freight operation. You could ride free but had to pay 15 cents if you wanted to take a ticket home as a souvenir. By the end of the first year the Edaville railroad had moved 78,000 passengers! The first Christmas light display was established in December 1947, the museum was opened on July 4, 1950, and Peacedale was first set up during the same year. Mr. Atwood's improvement plans came to a sad end when the furnace in the screen house backfired while he was working on it. He was struck by the iron clean out door with such force that he died four days later on November 30, 1950, without regaining consciousness. He was laid to rest in a cemetery close to the location of his beloved Sunset Vista along the old mainline. Today every engineer still blows the whistle in memory of the railroad's founder when the train passes the marker near the switch to the old Atwood main.