This section of 75lb rail was laid down in the B&MLRR's main yard in Belfast, ME, more than a century ago by the MEC when that line operated the road under lease as its Belfast Branch from 1871 to December 31, 1925. The entire 33 miles of the B&ML's single track grade was rerailed prior to 1910 with similar rail all of which was rolled by the Lackawana Iron & Steel Co between 1890 and 1906, and it is all still in use today. The section illustrated here is branded "L. I. &. S. Co. SW SCRANTON 8 96" indicating it was manufactured in the company's steel works in Scranton, PA, in August, 1896. Rail dated after 1902 is branded as being rolled in Buffalo, NY, where L. I. & S. Co. moved it operations in that year. (This four foot cut end section is now part of a display, along with a switch stand which came from the same rail yard in Belfast, by the front door of my home in Ardmore, PA.)

Photographed by Bruce C. Cooper (DigitalImageServices.com), July 27, 2004.
Added to the photo archive by Bruce Cooper, July 27, 2004.
Railroad: Belfast & Moosehead Lake.

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