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• Boothbay Railway Village

Boothbay Railway Village - a 10-acre re-created historic New England town featuring a working narrow gauge coal-fire steam train

The Boothbay Railway Village is a 10-acre re-created historic New England town featuring a village green surrounded by over 12 historic buildings, a working narrow gauge coal-fire steam train, old fashioned shops, beautiful gardens, and one of the finest presentations of antique vehicles in New England. With more than 60 vintage cars on display, including a 1916 Model T Speedster, a 1940 Cadillac convertible limo, and a 1962 Rolls Royce Silver Cloud II, the village is also a fascinating look back at the history of automobiles.

The Village Green and the surrounding buildings provide the museum with the contextual elements of history. Whether it is a lecture series in the 1847 Town Hall or one of many events that take place on the green, the village is the heart of the museum and its activities. Comprised of many historically significant structures that house artifacts and displays of rural Maine from 1850 through the mid 1900's, the village can transport the visitor to a time well before the digital age. The village has 13 buildings from Maine railroads including two stations, several car houses and a very unique octagonal crossing shanty once located in Portland, Maine.

The museum has over three-quarters of a mile of two foot gauge railroad track. Having three steam locomotives available for service along with vintage and replications of Maine narrow gauge rolling stock makes for an authentic experience of railroad history. Offering the opportunity to ride through our village and visit an authentic station lobby of one of our two historic Maine railroad stations is only a part of your visit to the museum. There is an extensive photographic and artifactual exhibit of the history of Maine two-foot gauge railroading. In addition to re-creating Maine's narrow gauge historical steam trains, the museum offers rural village exhibits in a variety of historic buildings.

There is also a model railroad exhibit under construction for the Boothbay Railway Village in an effort to portray railroading in Maine during the 1950s-1960s timeframe which will allow both steam and diesel locomotives. The current HO scale layout has been under construction since the fall of 2006 and will take several years to complete. The exhibit is housed in a replica of the Maine Central freight station in Bowdoin, ME.

A visit to the Boothbay Railway Village is worth the trip. Visitors can take a ride on Boothbay's steam train, pay a visit to the village toy shop, stop in at the historic firehouse exhibit to view a collection of horse-drawn firefighting equipment, or simply enjoy the day relaxing at the village's scenic duck pond and gardens. The Boothbay Railway Village is less than an hour's drive from Camden.