FARMINGTON – Years of compiling photos and information about railroad lines led Jerry DeVos to produce the book “The Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad and Predecessors.”

DeVos will share his knowledge of the Sandy River Railroad at Monday’s meeting of the Farmington Historical Society at Henderson Memorial Baptist Church on Academy Street.

The public is welcome to attend, said Taffy Davis, a society member. A potluck supper begins at 6 p.m., followed by the presentation at 7 p.m. People are welcome for both or just the presentation.

The Sandy River Railroad, a two-foot wide narrow gauge rail line organized in 1879, ran between Farmington and Phillips before growing into the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad. The railroad met the Maine Central Railroad on Front Street in Farmington taking tourists to the Rangeley area, providing transportation for people, wood and agricultural products.

A retired civil engineer from New Jersey, DeVos is no stranger to the Franklin County area. Researching the narrow gauge system has led him to local historical societies, libraries and the personal collections of local families. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Sandy River and Rangeley Lakes Railroad in Phillips.

“He has come up with some neat photos,” said Nancy Porter, co-curator of the historical society’s museum. “He took it upon himself to visit the sons and daughters and families of old railroad men in the area and scanned photos from their albums. His collection, many displayed in the book, include photos that most have never seen before.”

A photo of the local Narrow Gauge yard in Farmington reproduced on the jacket of his book was found through the Beverly Historical Society in Massachusetts, said Porter, who has done research for him. A facility that built train engines and equipment was located in that area.

“It’s definitely from the transfer yard,” she said of an area “just up the road” from the movie theater in Farmington.

The volume centers on equipment used on the trains and the equipment’s origin, she said.

With the mind of an engineer, DeVos wanted to learn more about how the train worked and the equipment needed. Some of the equipment was built in Strong by a man named Dyar, Porter said. He built box cars on Depot Street until his facility burned.

But, DeVos also has an interest in the industries that were created by the railroad and the impact on and demise of those industries when the railroad left the area, she said.

A huge sawmill operation sprung up in the Madrid area using the railroad to transport the sawed lumber.

The depression did the railroad in, she said.

Although DeVos has collected more photos and information than artifacts like other railroad memorabilia collectors, he has found shipping forms from the Russell Brothers and Estes Mill or the old box shop located near the present Margaret Chase Smith apartments on Route 4 and F.L. Butler’s. He also has obtained the original blueprint for a rail line near Stratton that was talked about but never built, she added.

“He’s pretty amazing. He’ll take a small snapshot that doesn’t mean anything to most of us but he’ll find something important and start telling the history of the engine,” she said.