Last weekend we had the pleasure to take a ride on the Maine Narrow Gauge Railway. The train leaves from Portland, Maine on a 3 mile roundtrip journey alongside Casco Bay. It was a beautiful Sunday morning journey. But what made this experience most interesting to me is that the organization is all volunteer. Established in 1992, this nonprofit organization collects, preserves, displays, interprets, and operates historic two-foot gauge railroad equipment. Our conductor that day has been volunteering for four months at the organization. He said he is the newest volunteer while some have been with the group since the beginning. Volunteers help to restore the engines and cars, maintain the tracks, engineer the trains, staff the museum and are historians. The waterfront train rides help offset the cost of operating the museum. Historic preservation helps us understand how our society was built and about the people who built it. The Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad Company and Museum is doing a fine job presenting how these unusually narrow railroads were a valuable part of Maine’s economy in the later part of the nineteenth century and into the early 
days of the twentieth. www.mainenarrowgauge.org