On Saturday, May 23, the Boothbay Railway Village will open for its 50th season. The museum will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekends only from May 23 until June 14, when the museum starts daily operation. Steam train rides are offered on the hour between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.  

By late 1963, George McEvoy, just 27 years old, was amassing a collection of railroad memorabilia that filled the family home in Grafton, Massachusetts and it appeared that their Southport summer cottage was about to also reach capacity. He had to find a place to store his collection.

Teaching school in Bowdoinham at the time, McEvoy had befriended Phillip Carr, the station agent at Freeport, on frequent visits on days off. On one such visit a sign was posted on the door that said the station would be closing. When Carr told McEvoy that the station itself would be put up for sale the first idea of having a museum took hold.

McEvoy purchased Freeport Station, was later gifted Thorndike Station from the Belfast & Moosehead Railroad and then found himself and his friends spending the summer of 1964 laying three quarters of a mile of railroad track around what would eventually become the site of today’s Boothbay Railway Village.

On Memorial Day weekend of 1965, the then Boothbay Railway Museum opened to the public for the first time, making it the first public railroad museum in Maine.

Later that summer when the steam engine arrived and was put into service, it was the first narrow gauge train to run in Maine for nearly three decades. All of the historic narrow gauge lines had long been abandoned. It was also the only operating passenger rail service in the state until the historic lines began to reorganized under volunteer leadership in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Some people credit McEvoy and the Boothbay Railway Village with setting the stage and building the interest necessary for those efforts to launch.

A not-for-profit since 1981, today when you visit the museum you’ll learn about how technologies like steam engines and the automobile changed life along the coast of Maine between 1850 and 1950. In addition to the opportunity to ride in a vintage coach behind a 100-year-old steam locomotive, the museum also occasionally offers rides in one of their Ford Model Ts. Two of the most popular attractions are the pair of resident goats who delight visitors of all ages with their antics. From a display of hundreds of salt and pepper shakers to a collection of engines that powered everything from small boats to whole factories, there truly is something for everyone in your family to enjoy.

Admission to the museum (which includes the train ride) is still just $10 for adults and $5 for children. Museum members get in free and receive discounts on special event tickets. Well-behaved and leashed four-legged friends are welcome to visit and ride the train throughout the season. For more information find Boothbay Railway Village on Facebook or visit the museum’s website at www.railwayvillage.org. The Boothbay Railway Village is located at 586 Wiscasset Road, Route 27 in Boothbay.