RANGELEY — The first history of Redington is now on the market in a new 312-page book by Guy Rioux titled “The Franklin County Narrow Gauges — The Next Stop is Rangeley.”

The book provides detailed descriptions of the building and operation of the two lumber mills at Redington and of the Phillips and Rangeley Railroad, Gary Priest of the Rangeley Lakes Region Historical Society, said Tuesday in a news release.

“This book would be a great gift for a local history or railroad buff,” Priest said. “There is still time to get one for Christmas.”

Included in the book are several area photographs, 13 previously unpublished maps and the names of people who worked for the railroad as engineers, conductors, station agents and others.

Priest said Rioux is a longtime Rangeley visitor who has been involved with Maine narrow-gauge railroad research since 1994, and lately, with those specifically in Franklin County.

“This is his first book on the subject,” Priest said. The book is available exclusively in Rangeley.

He said the mills of Redington existed from 1890 to 1899 when the main mill was dismantled and relocated to Toothaker Pond in Phillips. The mills were built to saw the timber harvested within a 4-mile radius of the mills. The railroad was constructed to haul the lumber to market down-country.

Priest said the railroad was finished to Rangeley in 1891 to provide passenger and freight service, thus opening Rangeley to tourism and initiating the great hotel building boom of the late 1890s and early 1900s.

The Ecopelagicon Nature Store on Pond Street has the hardcover edition of Rioux’s book, Priest said. As a bonus, an artist’s 11- by 14-inch drawing of the second Redington station can be included for the first 20 buyers, he said.

Copies may be purchased at the store or by calling Linda Dexter at 864-2771 or writing ecostore@ime.net.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com