Two feet to Portland. Monson Railroad #4 takes a Guest Engineer caboose hop eastbound toward Portland's Marine Terminal on a chilly December morning.
Like numerous other tourist railroads and museums, the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company and Museum offers rail enthusiasts an opportunity to hop into the cab of one of their steam locomotives and learn how to operate the beast, under the careful supervision of an experienced crew. The MNGRR program gives the customer about 90 minutes of running time, which is typically enough to make two complete trips up and down the museum trackage. One unique feature of this program is that the customer is allowed to operate with a caboose behind the locomotive, and may bring along family members to enjoy and help record the experience. The caboose seen here is a restored, original Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes unit, and the green combine that the train is passing is also original SR&RL equipment. And yes, the caboose is equipped with steam heat, for comfortable winter travel!
