MethuenRailTrail » images

Today on the Trail – the widening

admin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:36:44 +0000

New member David Gagnon and I, joined Tim, Matt and T.J. Vermette to work on our ongoing project of trail widening. Today we targeted the small shrubs that had taken control of the ‘island’. The long term goal is to make the path on the WEST side of the trail wide enough to mountain bike or hike the trail comfortably from end to end. After taking on the island, we moved down the trail to the spot under the MSPCA bridge. Where we lopped many saplings out of the train tracks and pushed the brush back.

Rail Trail Clean Up Day Results!

admin — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:06:09 +0000

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

Rails at the Gas line cut

admin — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:03:51 +0000

gas line cut, originally uploaded by jgodsey.

I got a big kick out of this. When the gas line was put in 10 years ago, they cut out just the width of the gas line trench which is much shorter than one track section. Then they put back the cut pieces of track with new ties and brand new gravel. The old ties are piled up next to the section. At the time the track had been unused for over 15 years and would never be used again, but they did go so far as to put it back like the found it.

Trail Images

admin — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:02:48 +0000

MRT03252009, originally uploaded by jgodsey.

I am available to go out and take casual walks on the trail (trash picking optional) Just to give you all an idea of what it out there on the trail right now, i have uploaded the images I took the other day.

If you haven’t looked lately I have a cache of Trail images on Flickr.

I also have some images from Salem, Derry and Windham and other trails.

Rail Trail Then and Now

admin — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 17:07:10 +0000

I was rooting around in my photos and came up with this one tagged: Methuen Rail Bed 2001: taken from the MSPCA dirt road which bisects the railbed. I matched it up from the series I shot last summer(2008), Clearly the shrubbery is making headway. Luckily the area north of the downtown area has fewer Saplings in the rail bed; it is mostly this low growth and invasive species. Areas south of the Wild Life Sanctuary have many more small trees guarding the tunnels and intersections. I wonder if we can find any older images of the trail.

Thawing again

admin — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 17:07:47 +0000

the great thaw

admin — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:09:35 +0000

yippee… another couple of days and all the snow will be gone, but then we have a little mud. . .

Methuen’s Bailey Bridge

admin — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 17:12:59 +0000

This isn’t exactly trail related but relatively interesting since it’s NEAR the trail. I was very excited to see our first section of bridging on Rt 28, as it is a Bailey bridge. (excuse the blurry image)

Bailey bridges are a portable prefabricated bridge with a fits anywhere modular design. It was developed during WWII by an engineer in the British War office. The elements are small enough to be carried in trucks, and the bridge is strong enough to carry tanks. The portable Bailey provided an excellent solution to the problem of German and Italian armies destroying bridges as they retreated. By the end of the war, the US Fifth Army and British 8th Army had built over 3,000 Bailey bridges in Sicily and Italy alone. If you have ever seen a Bridge Too Far, there is a depiction of a Bailey bridge being built.

It is a very clever and economical design, that can also be seen further up river in Lowell. Kudos to whomever signed off on the choice.

a Beautiful Day on the Trail

admin — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 17:15:26 +0000

I went out for a short walk, the trail is still a little crunchy and I am sure a good rain will turn it into some lovely mud for us. But all and all very picturesque.

more Methuen Rail Tail views

admin — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 18:15:18 +0000

behind acadia mill, originally uploaded by jgodsey.

I hiked the Depot to Lawrence Line yesterday, however the rail bed is absolutely impassable from Union Street to behind the Granite Ave Apartments. If you can get on the right of way, it’s a pleasant walk or ride on your mountain bike, that leads up behind Chase St, the Acadia Mill and Malden Mills area. The rail bed rises up to a point where you are looking down on Stevens Pond and the Spicket.