MethuenRailTrail

The kids in Methuen have been oh so busy. We have fresh tagging under the Rt 213 overpass. Admittedly the art work is quite impressive and obviously represents an investment of time and energy. However when the trail is completed this particular type of artwork will look out of place; in the meantime it is worth the walk to go check it out.

On the other hand someone scrawled traditional graffiti on the wooden trestle. This is a much bigger crime against nature. Hopefully much of the paint will not survive the winter, making removal easier in the spring. Small amounts of graffiti can be ignored for the time being but this will appear in every picture shot at this location.

Apparently someone at the Village Mall decided it was easier to toss their bags of leaves over the hill onto the trail. These are from the last 2 months or so; they were not there before that. Tim Vermette has been getting out there quite regularly to clean and this kind of thing is disheartening.

ed. The owners of the Village Mall are looking into the clean-up crew who did this.

Tim Vermette has done some exemplary work cleaning the north section of the trail. That section of the trail from Five Corners to the New Hampshire State lines makes a terrific short walk.

We tackled a short section of track that parallels Pine St. And runs from parking lot south towards the Bridge at Five Corners. Unfortunately this area is filled with years of industrial waste from the businesses on Pine St and illegal dumping from houses on either side.

We focused on liftable items within 20 feet of the Rail Road tracks, even though the property does extend much further. Items that aren’t removable by hand will have to wait for a time when the area will be accessible by trucks and trailers and equipment.

Among the mostly metal detritus, there were approximately 13 tires, 5 electrical spools, 3 chairs, many asphalt shingles and 1 suitcase. Much of the industrial waste is unidentifiable, and seems to be general large trash pushed over the hill onto the rail road property.

Methuen Rail Trail Alliance Members who did such great work:

Julie Levesque

Tim Vermette and his sons Matt and T.J.

Rosanne and Ewald Apel and their children: Nikolas, Lukas and Jessica.

Rachel Banks

Kelly Tondo

Joyce Godsey