Photo by EdavilleMA, via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Upcoming Events
No ticketed events are currently listed for Edaville Railroad. Many heritage operators publish schedules seasonally or run on regular open hours instead of dated events.
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About Edaville Railroad
A narrow‑gauge train glides along a 2‑mile loop of 2 ft (610 mm) track amid the cranberry fields of South Carver, Massachusetts, offering seasonal rides that include the Festival of Lights celebration. The line, built on former farm levees, showcases historic steam and diesel locomotives such as the Hudswell‑Clarke #21 “Anne Elizabeth.” Visitors experience the sights and sounds of a working heritage railroad set against the region’s autumn foliage and winter lights.
History
Edaville Railroad opens in 1947 on Ellis D. Atwood’s 1,800‑acre cranberry farm in South Carver, Massachusetts, after he laid 5.5 mi of 2 ft gauge track atop the bog levees following the 1945 harvest. Atwood dies in 1950; his widow Elthea and nephew Dave Eldridge run the line until F. Nelson Blount purchases it in 1957, later using its equipment for his Steamtown collection. After Blount’s fatal plane crash in 1967, Fred Richardson manages the railroad until George E. Bartholomew acquires it in 1970; the Atwood Estate evicts the operation in the late 1980s and Bartholomew places the line for sale in 1991. Operations cease in January 1992, and the park is revived in 1999 under Jack Flagg, John Delli Priscoli and Douglas Beaton, who introduce the Hudswell Clarke steam locomotive #21 Anne Elizabeth. By 2005 Jon Delli Priscoli becomes sole owner, removes the original mainline and creates a 2‑mile loop, runs the final “original line” train in late 2005, and in late 2010 declines to renew the lease, putting the railroad up for sale again.
The Trains
Edaville Railroad runs a 2 ft (610 mm) narrow‑gauge line that now forms a 2‑mile (3.2 km) loop, the remnant of the original 5.5‑mile (8.9 km) track built around the cranberry bogs. The operating roster includes former Monson Railroad steam engines #3 and #4, the former Bay Colony #7, and the English‑built Hudswell Clarke 0‑4‑0T steam locomotive #21 “Anne Elizabeth,” which originally served Fiji’s sugar industry; the fleet also contains a variety of historic passenger cars and cabooses that once served the Bridgton and Saco River, Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes, and other New England narrow‑gauge lines. Trains depart from the restored station and travel along the loop that skirts the former reservoir and the “Mt. Urann” subdivision, offering visitors a ride on the same gauge track used since the line’s 1947 opening.
Nearby
Massachusetts riders at the Edaville Railroad can also reach the Cape Cod Central Railroad about 23 mi off and the Boston Street Railway Association roughly 39 mi away.
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