The way points of this bicycle route:
The Somerville Community Path follows the route of the Somerville Freight Cutoff, originally part of the Lexington & Arlington Branch Railroad and then part of the Central Mass Railroad
Seven Hills Park was built over the Red Line subway on the old railroad right of way. It has small monuments for each of the 7 hills of Somerville
In this section, the Community Path leaves the old railroad right of way in order to get around the Route 2/ Route 3/ Route 16 traffic interchange
Alewife was called West Cambridge and was the junction of several railroads: the Fitchburg, the Central Mass, and the Lexington & Arlington Branch (which at one time provided through service to Lowell)
Back on the route of the Freight Cutoff/Central Mass
Now parallel to the Fitchburg Railroad
Originally, the Central Mass and Fitchburg ran next to each other from here to Clematis Brook in Waltham. In 1952, traffic was to Clematis Brook was consolidated on a single set of tracks. In 1971, passenger service on the Central Mass was discontinued and the route was used for freight only to Waltham North. Ultimately, it was used as a freight cutoff only to here, with freight traffic continuing on the Fitchburg.
This little white building was the former Wellington Hill station and was moved here.
This is the Belmont station.
This was the location of the Clematis Brook Station
The road goes under the old Central Mass. From here, the Central Mass runs north of the Fitchburg until Weston, then they switch!
This tower is on the primary control tower on the Fitchburg Railroad and is the last before A tower (just before the tracks cross the Charles River into North Station)
Crossing the Central Mass again
This is the Waltham Highlands station on the Central Mass
Crossing the Central Mass again
Crossing the Central Mass again
To your left down Route 95/128 you can see the bridge that took the Central Mass over the highway. From here, the Central Mass headed west, while the Fitchburg which has been south of us has turned and begun heading northwest at Brandeis and will cross the Central Mass about a 1/2 mile west of here.
This is the Kendall Green station on the Fitchburg Railroad. We are now north of the Central Mass. From here, the Fitchburg will head northwest to Ayer, then west across the state, go under the Berkshire mountains (through the Hoosac Tunnel) into North Adams, and then into New York State.
Crossing the Central Mass
This is the Weston Station on the Central Mass. The designs of the Central Mass stations were very standardized.
The Boston Post Road was the main route west in the 1700's, part of a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts that evolved into the first major highways in the United States.
Crossing the Central Mass
This the Wayland station on the Central Mass. The last train service was November 26, 1971, and the station was restored in 1980.
The town of Framingham did not want train service, so the Boston and Worcester Railroad ran through South Framingham instead. By the mid-1800's, the line had become the Boston and Albany. Today, the primary passenger traffic is again service to Worcester by the MBTA, but the line is also used by Amtrak for its Lake Shore Limited service from Boston to Chicago, and it is also the main freight line into Boston. The station is by HH Richardson, who did Trinity Church.
Welcome to Bikely, take a step by step tour of this path:
Press Start Tour - then use the navigation buttons below to move along the path.
Meet on May 9, 2009 at 9:30 in Davis Square in Seven Hills Park (behind the Holland Street T Station) for a ride to celebrate Nation Train Day 2009 <http://www.nationaltrainday.com/2009/> We will leave promptly at 9:45, and follow the route of the old Central Massachusetts Railroad to Wayland. Along the way, we will stop to look at a number of historic railroad station, and then head south to Framingham, where we will admire the station there (designed by H.H. Richardson, who designed Trinity Church) and then take the train back to another historic station - South Station. 23 miles
Tagged with: Recreational, Onroad, High traffic, Urban, Scenic, Touring
