When I went biking on the Nashua River Rail Trail I thought that I’d bring my camera with me. The trail runs from Ayer, MA (a great railfanning spot, BTW) to Dunstable MA.
We went as far as Pepperell, where we had lunch, then turned around for the ride back to Ayer. This clock was in Pepperell, but it was made in 2004, and wasn’t a relic of the old railroad line. I liked the photo though, so I’ll include it.
These are the remains of rail racks, which stored rails elevated above the ground so they would last longer until the MOW crews used the rail.
More rail racks at a different location. All of them had 3 posts.
I’m not sure what this thing is, I think it’s a milepost marker, but why there’s a W on top I don’t know, as it’s not really near a crossing. I wonder what it’s 34 miles from…it’s the same on both sides.
This is an original railroad bridge that was repaired and repainted.
This was the abutments for a bridge, which looks to be a rail line, although I don’t know which. Maybe someone who’s familiar with the old lines in this area could help?
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Re: The W on the milepost - that would have signified the location of milepost 0. I’m guessing Worchester. Is the milepost 34 miles by rail from Worchester?
The mileposts along the line I run all have an H because when built the line ran from Herkimer. Our first milepost is around 30. MP H1-29 no longer exist. The line that once ran from Utica to Clayton, NY uses a U - even on the parts that are disconnected and no longer can be reached from Utica.
Another possible but not probable expanation of the w is for Whistle to indicate a possible grade crossing to alert the engineer he needs to blow two longs, a short, and a long.
Not likely a whistle post, with the same indication–including a number–on both sides. The original explanation of a milepost from Worcester is most likely correct.
Around here we have the granddaddy of rail trails, the Illinois Prairie Path, along which little can be found except the occasional original bridge abutment (east branch of the DuPage River), a couple of old stations and powerhouses, and lots of bases for signals, remnants of platforms, a truss bridge and piers over the UP and some streets in Wheaton, and a street named Electric Avenue in Berkeley.
The old coal conveyor hit a nostalgic note for me–when I used to wander the home town as a kid, there were at least four of these around town.
