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at Millinocket in 1956 and ’57, which includ- ed chopping up buildings and moving them around the property. While the station was out of commission having a second-floor of- fice added, a handsome wooden coach was substituted.


In addition to all the photos of structures


and facilities, you’ll also find plenty of pas- senger,


freight, and mixed trains pho- tographed in both the steam and diesel eras, which should satisfy your craving for train pictures. — WALT LANKENAU


VIDEO REVIEW


Weekend Railroaders CREW Media, 869 Wisperwood Dr., Rockwall, TX 75087;


214/558-1148; www.weekend


railroaders.com. DVD only, 53 minutes; $20.00 plus $6.00 shipping. TX residents add sales tax. If you always wanted to ride a railroad in command of your own steed but could not afford your own locomotive (or rail- road, for that mat- ter), you can do it aboard a speeder op- erated under the aus- pices of NARCOA, the North American Railcar


Operators


Association. Much like antique automobile groups, folks collect and restore these diminutive cars and ride short lines and abandoned rails on organized trips, with permission and abundant safety precau- tions. The outings are social sightseeing ad-


ventures, and riders often report to railroad management their observations of the con- dition of the right of way (you feel every nu- ance of the track in a speeder). This program is professionally produced and combines the generally unknown history of railroad motor cars with interviews with their owners, close-ups of the cars, and field trips along a few rural railroads.


Author and historian Leon Sapp first nar- rates the motor car’s history from their ori- gins as unpowered push carts up to the gold- en age of the 1920s to 1950s where gasoline powered cars ruled almost all of American railroads. This segment is profusely illus- trated with high quality, archival b&w pho- tos. We learn of the start, around 1845, of vertical pump handcars, improved in the 1860s to include the well-known rocking arm mechanism. Two-cycle gasoline carts appeared late in the 19th century. The Fair- mont Gas Engine and Railway Motor Car Co. of Fairmont, Minn., produced likely thousands of these things and probably was the most famous maker of all (Whitcomb ruled in the United Kingdom, we are told). Production ended in the early 1990s as HyRail trucks with guide wheels were devel- oped. Over their tenure, motor car technolo- gy improved with better engines and trans- missions; the Fairmont MT14 is the model most folks in this program own and operate. Railfans started to buy motor cars, even though they had no immediate use for them. Then groups formed to collect, restore, and run them on lines not used on weekends as well as abandoned trackage. Similar to the Rails to Trails groups, this movement took a while to grow but now sports a sizeable fol-


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