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PHILLIPS — Saturday, Sept. 30, will be a busy day in Phillips for both the town and the railroad.
The Sandy River Business Association’s Fall Fest will take place as well as the Sandy River & Rangeley Lakes Rail Road “Ghost Train” trip.
Scarecrows will be out on Main Street, and the Phillips Area Community Center will host a Model Rail and Hobby Fair during the day.
The upcoming fair is a revival of sorts. In 2010 and 2011 the PACC offered rail fairs featuring model layouts and a host of other displays and train-related vendors, but when the chief organizer of those events moved away from Phillips, the event faltered. Now a different crew — together with the SR&RLRR — has organized a new fair, with the emphasis on model trains.
Included in the layouts are several working model train displays, such as an 8- by 16-foot G-scale from the Maine Garden Railway Society. At least eight others — including the SR&RLRR –will set up tables and displays featuring either model train items for sale or historic displays relating to the history of the railroad in Phillips. Local antique car hobbyist Andy Phillips and others will park a number of historic vehicles outside the PACC, and Brian Donovan will bring his 1935 Postal Truck.
Appropriately, the fair is being held in the former SR&RLRR machine shop at 15 Depot St, where the community center is now located. Food will be available at the depot next door, owned by the American Legion, where a weekly Farmers’ Market will be running, together with lunch items for sale. The Rail Fair will be open from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and admission is free.
In addition, The SR&RLRR will be operating its steam train, Monson #3, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. that day, and the annual “Ghost Train” will run that night, starting at dusk. Trains will operate from 6:45 p.m. to 9 p.m., leaving Sanders Station on Bridge Street for their scary runs every half hour. The spooky scenes along the ride will be done again this year by the Phillips School’s eighth-grade students.
