MethuenRailTrail » Today on the Trail

Before and After

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 22:09:40 +0000

Tim Vermette has been a busy boy lately.
give the man a used lawnmower and he gives us back a trail you can jog on with pride.

Before and after images of the rail bed on Railroad St.

Rail Trail carved out of the weeds

admin — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 01:14:11 +0000

Tim Vermette, the MRTA Project Director has been sneaking out with a lawn mower clearing more and more trail bed every time. This is some of the work Tim did today. The sad part is that the weeds grow back as fast as he can cut them. Once the tracks are removed and an actual hard pack trail is put down, it will be much easier to keep the sides groomed for running and cycling. Cheers to Tim for his awesomeness!

Sign of the times

admin — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:17:37 +0000

we only have one…and a homemade one at that…but hopefully by advertising our meetings in more than newspapers, we can draw in the curious and the just plain interested. If people think National Grid is doing all this trail clearing for US, we may as well take advantage of it.

today on the trail

admin — Mon, 24 May 2010 04:34:15 +0000

Today on the Trail I spied some new graffiti – funny i dont’ remember THIS much tagging of the granite bridge..perhaps it’s a new phenomenon. there is also evidence of a camp fire and a lot of empty beer bottles, perhaps some kids were letting off some steam. now we have to get out there and clean it up.

Including somehow removing a television and a propane tank from the river.

May Methuen Clean Up day on the Rail Trail

admin — Sat, 22 May 2010 01:05:04 +0000

Our clean up days have been reduced to One Hour sweeps, and we do more in that one hour than most people do in three!
Thanks Gang!

April clean sweep

admin — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:18:00 +0000

Thank you for a successful cleanup day!

We had such a great turn out and accomplish so much more in these little clean up splurges, that in future we will limit our clean ups to no more than 1-2 hours, depending on location. Whatever we miss we get on the next pass.

This time out we tackled the Railroad St location just north of the Old Depot. There is an issue with trees and brush left on the trail from the VFW roofing project, but no doubt we can get that taken care of in time. Aside from that we made great headway removing all the visible trash and debris.

one pole at a time

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:43:14 +0000

our Project Director Tim Vermette has diligently been working on the trail alone and has managed to advance the end to end clearance project by another phone pole. The Methuen Rail bed should be passable from the state line down to this point just south of Oakland Ave. Cheers Tim!!

A lot of water under the bridge

admin — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 14:06:53 +0000

As expect Methuen’s Spicket Basin gets flooded a few days AFTER the rain stops falling. There are a number of low flooded spots on the Rail Trail but nothing unusual – except for this tank, which stopped by for a visit.

Winter Trail Clearing

admin — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 02:26:47 +0000

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.

Fresh paint

admin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:47:29 +0000

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.