Interesting adventures await this year on the railway of Big Dreams and Little Wheels in Alna. Advance tickets for all of the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum’s events and trains are highly recommended. (Courtesy photo)
It’s time to get on board for a trip on the heritage railway located just north of Wiscasset at 97 Cross Road in Alna. For first time visitors and regular riders alike, lots of interesting adventures await this year on the Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway; the railway of “Big Dreams and Little Wheels.”
Train runs rain or shine – it’s a perfect outing in both in fair weather or when the beach just doesn’t seem to be a good choice.
The WW&F’s Sheepscot Valley steam train departs multiple times each Saturday and select Sundays through September. This 90-minute round-trip excursion traverses the entire length of the restored railway from Sheepscot Station to Trout Brook Station. Along the way, the tracks pass through pine and spruce forest, farmland, and tiny hamlets.
At Trout Brook there will be a short layover to see the locomotive turn on the turntable – a visitor favorite – before climbing back up “the mountain,” the steepest mainline railroad grade in Maine, back towards Sheepscot. It’s a perfect day out for the young or the young at heart and is fully accessible.
Those looking for a little more than just a train ride will find the WW&F and its local partners have a summer full of great activities to enjoy. On Sunday, June 8, a concert at the pavilion will feature Bold Riley along with food by Reggae Eats.
On Father’s Day weekend, Saturday, June 14, a pig roast catered by the Pig Kahuna promises awonderful roast pork barbecue with all of the fixings. Enjoy an extended train excursion to Trout Brook after lunch.
The museum will be operating Saturday, June 21 and Sunday, June 22 during the “Road to Togus Remembered” Civil War reenactment weekend. Interact with reenactors at their encampment at Alna Center; ride as a hobo aboard the “Hobo Experience;” participate in a special staged photographers event, or have a tintype photograph taken. In any case, there are lots of exciting options to participate in this immersive Civil War experience.
Regardless of which adventure, ride aboard antique wooden railway cars, with options to sit in historic enclosed or open cars pulled by a vintage steam locomotive built Portland over 130 years ago.
Explore the living museum at Sheepscot where cars and locomotives from many of Maine’s 2-footers can be explored and viewed; along with workshops where visitors will have the chance to see a new steam locomotive and cars under construction and many others under restoration.
Advance tickets for all of the WW&F’s events and trains are highly recommended and available at wwfry.org.
The WW&F Railway Museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the restoration and reconstruction of narrow gauge railroads and railway equipment which operated in Maine’s Sheepscot Valley and elsewhere within the state. Currently the WW&F operates 3.5 miles of mainline laid on original right-of-way and maintains a museum and shop complex adjacent to the railway’s Sheepscot Station. As such, all donations are tax deductible.
