MethuenRailTrail

Our Project Director Tim Vermette has been secretly clearing the rail bed of brush on his days off. Since B&M Railroad ceased operation, the rail bed has been gradually reverting to a natural state of small trees, brush and vines. In the summer and fall sections nearest the downtown area have been impassable on foot without a machete and jungle guide.

One of the Methuen Rail Trail Alliance’s 2010 goals is to clear the entire Methuen section of the Manchester to Lawrence Branch line, so that it can be traversed end to end by foot and mountain bike. Please join me in thanking Tim for his incredible devotion to this goal.

Tags: clean up, clearing

The Methuen Rail Trail Alliance is looking for businesses to sponsor our group and offer small discounts to dues paying members. Since our group is still not widely known it is more important that we offer benefits to encourage membership.

Last year our only sponsor was Buchikas who offers a 10% discount on purchases. We are hoping to find some Methuen businesses interested in our project.

Tags: membership, sponsors

Tags: cleanup, images, widening

We need a round of applause for Julie Levesque (Provencal), who after much begging on my part has thankfully agreed to take on the job of Secretary pro tem. That fills the last open spot on the Methuen Rail Trail Alliance board of directors.

Tags: blog, Methuen Rail Trail Alliance, projects

Tags: blog, Clean-up days, images

Rail Trail Clean up Day

Saturday November 21st, 2009 8:00am
Bring gloves and whatever implements of destruction you like. We are going to try to make a dent in the accumulated detritus just north of the Five Corners Bridge yet south of the Spicket River. Meet up is same as last time, in the parking lot at the end of Pine St. The city will be making a trash pickup on Monday.

We need a nice turnout of 8 or 10 people to make the time go quickly. We should be done in plenty of time, the Santa Parade doesn’t start until 1:00PM. See you all there.

Tags: Clean-up days, notices

Another late post, my apologies. Last Sunday had incredible weather…the kind that you read about in old books about New England. On the spur of the moment, we got a few folks together for a quick trip on the Windham Rail Trail…we were NOT alone.

Odd some days I get out there and it seems that everyone called ahead and arranged the day. From my experience it seems Monday holiday mornings are FAMILY days, and it seems Sunday mornings are DOG day, or rather BIG DOG day. It seems a new trick is for walkers to bag their Dogs leavings and then leave the bag on the side of the trail for the return trip…as practical as this is. I and the other trails users found this habit slovenly and rude. If you are reading this…knock it off.

If you want to ride for long stretches pretending you are alone on the trail, weekday mornings are ideal. Basically all day week days until about dinner time you can be alone for most of your ride, but the more I ride the busy times, the more i LIKE the happy communal atmosphere that a busy trail gives off. Everyone is smiling, everyone nods as you go past. Dog people talk to dog people, children people try to rein in their kids as they go tearing up ahead unmonitored, it has a very town and country feel to it.

We are hoping that if we keep doing group rides at the drop of a hat, we will eventually build up a base of interested riders to have ‘Official’ group rides.

Tags: event, Windham Rail Trail

Through the good graces of some folks on Methuen Freecycle we have us a smaller trailer for use in trail development. Technically 1980 Besco Folding Motorcycle trailer, this can easily hook to an atv for rubbish removal; allowing us to use the larger donated trailer to move larger loads directly to the dump. We still have no clear idea when all this trail clearing will occur, but when it does we will have some nifty tools to make it easier. <a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3601/3635643678_58346f8f91.jpg”><img style=”margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 500px; height: 364px;” src=”http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3601/3635643678_58346f8f91.jpg” alt=”" border=”0″ /></a>

Tags: Methuen Rail Trail Alliance, tools

We really need bike racks, this is getting dangerous.

When I stopped, the boys ran out to be in the picture, and they agreed – we need bike racks.

Tags: bike racks, Cycling, Methuen