repaired, hard pine stringers being used. The Baring bridge has been recovered and general repairs made on the Union bridge. The rolling stock is maintained in good condition, and the buildings are in good repair. SEBASTICOOK AND MOOSEHEAD RAILROAD. This road extends northerly from Pittsfield on the line of the Maine Central Railroad and is operated as far as Hartland with the extension partly finished to Harmony. Nothing has been done during the year on the extension and the road-bed between Pittsfield and Hartland has been kept in good condition for the traffic over the line. The bridges are wooden structures and kept in safe condition. The rolling stock though somewhat worn, is kept in fairly good repair and cleanly. The station buildings are in good condition and well maintained in all respects. SOMERSET RAILWAY. Running from Oakland on the line of the Maine Central to the village of Bingham. About eleven hundred tons of new sixty pound steel has been laid and three hundred tons of selected iron re-laid. Considerable ballasting and filling has been done, approximately thirty thousand yards. Eight thousand ties have been laid so that the road-bed and track are in good condition and are carefully looked after by the management of the road. Much damage has been done to the road-bed and track by freshets on the Kennebec river between Solon and Bingham involving considerable expense in repairs, but this will soon be obviated by a contemplated change in the line to be made as soon as the management feel that the business conditions warrant the outlay of the amount of money required. Two bridges have been renewed in a very substantial manner and others have been repaired. Three culverts have been rebuilt so that the culverts and bridges on this line are now in first-class condition. The rolling stock and motive power are kept in excellent repair. All of the station buildings have been repaired more or less so that they are in excellent condition. YORK HARBOR AND BEACH RAILROAD. This line extends from Kittery to York Beach running its trains from the Portsmouth station on the Eastern division of the Boston and Maine Railroad; it is operated by the last named road. Its road-bed and track are in good line and surface and well ditched and improved considerably during the year. Quite an amount of work has been done during the year on their bridges, which are mostly pile structures. The rolling stock is furnished by the Boston and Maine Railroad and is up to the standard of that company. The station buildings are modern structures, well designed and well maintained in all respects. NARROW GAUGE RAILROADS. The so called narrow gauge railroads of the State of Maine are two feet in gauge. BRIDGTON AND SACO RIVER RAILROAD. This road runs from Bridgton Junction on the line of the Mountain division of the Maine Central Railroad about sixteen. miles to the thriving village of Bridgton in the county of Cumberland. Its road-bed and track are in excellent condition in all respects. Its bridges are carefully looked after and have been reduced in number by filling until there are only a few of them and all maintained in a very substantial manner. Considerable has been done during the year in re-building, both superstructure and masonry. The rolling stock is in first-class condition in all respects and the station buildings are maintained in good repair, cleanly and convenient. Taken as a whole this is one of the model narrow gauge railroads of the State, and the management are contemplating an extension of the line from Bridgton to Harrison through the village of North Bridgton which promises quite an addition to their traffic. FRANKLIN AND MEGANTIC AND KINGFIELD AND DEAD RIVER RAILWAYS. These two narrow gauge railroads form one line, connecting with the Sandy River Railroad at Strong and extending to Kingfield and Carrabasset; both roads being operated by the Franklin and Megantic Railway. In August the bond holders organized new companies and are now running the railroads. Since they took possession they have done much in the way of repairs and improvements on the Franklin and Megantic division, some needed ditching has been done, three-fourths of a mile of additional side tracks has been constructed, in one place the line has been straightened, about a mile of snow fence has been built, and two thousand cubic yards of ballast and four thousand ties have been used in the track. The trestle bridges have all been thoroughly repaired and strengthened. The Brackley trestle has been replaced with a stone culvert and earth embankment. On the Kingfield and Dead River Railway the road-bed, track, bridges and culverts are in good condition. The rolling stock is maintained in good condition and the buildings are in good repair. KENNEBEC CENTRAL RAILROAD. This two-foot gauge railroad extends from Randolph to the National Home at Togus, a distance of five miles. The road-bed is well ditched and the track is in good line and surface. Ballast is hard to obtain, there being none on the line of the railroad, but they make the most of what they have; three hundred and twenty cubic yards of ballast and seventeen hundred ties have been used in the track. Three bridges have been rebuilt this year, hard pine being used in making the renewals. One culvert has been rebuilt. The rolling stock is maintained in good condition. The station buildings are attractive in design and in excellent repair. MONSON RAILROAD. This is a narrow gauge line six miles in length from Monson Junction, on the line of the Bangor and Piscataquis division of the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad, to the village of Monson. Their traffic is largely the transportation of slate products in quite large variety from the quarries at Monson. The road-bed, track and bridges are all carefully looked after and kept in very good condition. The rolling stock is good and well maintained. The station buildings are well kept. Improvements have been made during the year in painting and general repairs. PHILLIPS AND RANGELEY. This is a part of what is known as the narrow gauge system in Franklin county, and extends from Phillips to the Rangeley Lakes. Its freight traffic is largely timber from mills along its line, and its passenger traffic that of tourists, especially sportsmen going to the Rangeley lakes during the fishing season. Its road-bed and track are in good line and surface, well ditched and considerably improved during the year. Its bridges though not all that could be desired at the time of their construction, have been carefully looked after and are maintained in a perfectly safe condition. All have been more or less strengthened and repaired during the year, and the additional arches put into the bridge spanning the Sandy river near Phillips with a covering put over the whole structure last year has proven very satisfactory to all concerned. The rolling stock is good of its class and well maintained. The station buildings are all that could be required by the patrons of the road. SANDY RIVER RAILROAD. This is another part of the Franklin county narrow gauge system and is the outlet to all other lines. It is a model narrow gauge railroad. Its road-bed and track are well maintained in all respects and during the year considerable has been done in correcting mistakes in alignment and gradients made when the line was constructed. A few years ago there were a large num |