charding wrote:https://metacometgreenway.org - there’s a group that is trying to convert the old New Haven/Old Colony Railroad Wrentham Branch right-of-way into a rail-to-trail from Walpole thru Wrentham to Plainville and North Attleboro...having grown up in Walpole, I find this an exciting opportunity.
I grew up in Walpole myself, and have always wanted to see a bike path on that route myself, so I concur!
charding wrote:Almost all the entire Wrentham branch was sold (or reverted to landowners) when Conrail declined to include it in 1976. And even then, it had been severed from Plainville to Valley Falls for many years prior. It will take lots of money to pull this off, if it is even possible.
I do note that the proposed route accommodates some of the major obstructions by re-routing the trail around them (including a segment along busy Route 1A in Wrentham.) I wish them well.
From Creek Street south in Wrentham it is owned by National Grid, then the Town of Plainville owns most of their section, and then BOS Park Realty owns most of the North Attleborough section, so I think it's more possible than you think. It's north of Creek Street where the ROW is taken over, but the Town of Norfolk owns most if not all of their section and then it's just a cut across the former Southwood Hospital property to the new sports complex in South Walpole. Should it continue past there, the Town of Walpole owns most of the ROW between Winter Street and Industrial Road (the tracks are still intact there!), and I can see a possibility of using Production Road, the Framingham Secondary, and the power lines to reach South Street and the existing rail trail that runs from the town forest parking lot to the new police station at the Common Street bridge.
