To spot the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum, look for a low blue-and-pink building right next to the train tracks, with a giant mural of a lighthouse and a sign showing a steam engine above the door.
Welcome to the last stop on our tour-the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Museum! Imagine yourself here back in the late 1800s, the scent of coal in the air, and the distant. This museum holds the spirit of Maine’s narrow gauge railways, which once crisscrossed the state on rails only two feet apart-now that's what I call a tight squeeze! Founded in 1993, the museum calls this former Portland Company building home and has a treasure trove of historic locomotives, coaches, and quirky rail artifacts. As you look at the rails stretching along the waterfront, picture old steam trains chugging past-sometimes so close to the bay that a wave might splash your lunch. The museum almost moved out in 2014, but like a stubborn old engine, it stayed put. In 2025, the rails were torn up for a shiny new neighborhood development-imagine the tension, as months ticked by without trains rolling, and the future uncertain. But the passion for rail history never left this spot, and every artifact, from tiny freight cars to grand old diesel engines, carries the echoes of a time when railways shaped Maine's coastal life.
