On Saturday morning April 13th, a few of us are planning a free and informal walk in Billerica, MA along some of the remaining portions of the right-of-way of the Billerica and Bedford Railroad – the 2' gauge railroad that started it all. A who's who of railroad and local historians will be joining us: Don Ball, the author of
George Mansfield and the Billerica and Bedford Railroad, is flying out from Kansas City and Ronald Karr, author of
The Lost Railroads of New England will be there. Add to that Jim Shea, President of the B&B preservation group
Friends of Bedford Depot Park, and our own Dave B. and Philip Marshall.
The 8 mile B&B was built in 1877 and went bankrupt only nine months later. Its two Forneys, rolling stock, and rails were moved up to Franklin County to jumpstart the Sandy River Railroad. Back in Massachusetts, most of the B&B ROW was built over in 1885 by the standard gauge Boston & Lowell Railroad, obliterating the original narrow gauge roadbed. But three miles of the original B&B that looped around Billerica Center were bypassed in the construction of the more direct Boston & Lowell. Much of that bypassed section was buried under housing developments in the 20th century and lost to history, but there are still a handful of interesting sections where a hundred yards or more of the original B&B can be clearly seen running through quiet woods.
Those are the sections we'll be exploring – think suburban archeology rather than a rail trail walk. We've cleared out some of the underbrush on these sections so the sight lines are good. A photo of the NG ROW at its southern point of divergence from the SG is shown here to give you an example of what things look like today.
If you would like to join us that day, please let me know at
ben.rockney@gmail.com . I'll send you further details on our meeting place and send along some Google Earth files so you can see where we'll be walking and even follow along on your cell phone as we walk.
