05/31/2026
In the North Woods of Maine, the “Maine Ghost Trains” can be found hidden deep in the forest, far from towns, paved roads, and almost everything modern. These two rusting steam locomotives once belonged to the Eagle Lake & West Branch Railroad, a remote logging line built to move pulpwood through the wild Allagash region during Maine’s huge timber years.
The railroad ran about 13 miles from Eagle Lake to Umbazooksus Lake, helping move wood toward the Penobscot River and the mills farther south. One of the engines was built in 1897, and the other was built in 1901, long before they ended up stranded in the Maine woods. The line only operated for a short time, and when it shut down in 1933, the locomotives were left behind because removing them from such an isolated place was not worth the trouble.
Nearly a century later, they still sit near the old tramway site, surrounded by trees, moss, old rails, and deep quiet. Reaching them takes real effort, usually by hiking in during warmer months or snowmobiling in during winter, which makes the whole place feel even more like a forgotten piece of Maine history slowly being taken back by the forest.
