Border to Boston Bikeway

John Hendrickson
Fay, Spofford, & Thorndike
781-221-1000

The Massachusetts Bikeways page at the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition Web Site seems to have the best list of the Rail-trails and other bike paths and bike routes in the State. That Web Page in turn seems to provide links to whatever other information is available on the Web about these particular bikeways. What follows is a Supplement to the information that is currently available at the Massachusetts Bikeways Page!

Mileage Chart

Miles*

Station
9.34 Danvers
10.73 Putnamville
14.74 Topsfield
17.79 Boxford
20.22 Baldpate
21.44 Georgetown
24.84 Byfield
30.34 Newburyport

 

Miles**

Station
37.27 Newburyport
39.32 Salisbury
41.47 Atlantic, NH

* Railroad Miles from Wakefield Jct.
** Railroad Miles from Boston via Beverly
Dark face = telegraph station in 1923

Mileage and Station Names from Official List of Officers, Agents and Stations of the Boston & Maine Railroad, July 1,1923.

The Webmaster undertook a quick photographic tour on April 29, 2001 for the purpose of exploring the feasibility of opening the abandoned railroad bed for rail-trail use between the MBTA Commuter Rail Station at Newburyport MA to the end of the active railroad track in Hampton, NH. Photographs taken during that excursion have been segregated into groups based upon the name of the nearest historic railroad station. The station names in the preceding railroad mileage chart as well as the chart for the Seabrook to Portsmouth Greenway, are links to the individual pages of photographs and field notes. 

East Coast Greenway

The Border to Boston Bikeway is part of the East Coast Greenway, a multi-use trail that is planned from Maine to Florida. The East Coast Greenway has recently been selected as one of 15 trails for designation as a Millenium Trail, which should be very helpful in focusing public attention on all of the component trail projects.

 Railroad Abandonment Summary

Item From To Year RR Miles
333 Danvers Topsfield 1981 B&M 5.2
167 Topsfield Newburyport 1941 B&M 15.5
345 Seabrook Salisbury 1982 B&M 5
From the "Directory of Rail Abandonments 1848-1994" in the book Lost Railroads of New England, 2nd Ed. by Ronald Dale Karr, published by Branch Line Press in 1996.

Brief History of the Railroad

A brief history of the Newburyport Line (Danvers to Newburyport) is published in Section #54 in The Rail Lines of Southern New England by Ronald Dale Karr, published by Branch Line Press in 1995.

A brief history of the Eastern Line (Newburyport to Atlantic) is published in Section #58 in The Rail Lines of Southern New England by Ronald Dale Karr, published by Branch Line Press in 1995.

1895 County Atlas - showing railroads [very slow loading]:

Sign images are from the Manual of Traffic Signs by Richard C. Moeur.

Updated on May 02, 2001 by Kenyon F. Karl <[email protected]>.
  Unintentional errors are likely!

Go to: