I grew up near a part of the old Boston-Albany grade that was lost in a flood back in 1955. I spent many years running horses up a couple miles of leftover track bed, and that's what spawned my interest in railroad history, and also local history.

The section of the railroad that I lived near was destroyed by a flood in 1955. Unfortunately, the railroad never could have been rebuilt after that flood. The flood devastated several towns, and many lives were lost. The river literally moved itself, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers came and built the dams and the watershed that we have now. It was proven quite necessary. At least twice in my lifetime, I've seen the high water mark changed. If that dam wasn't built, I don't even want to think of the losses the local area would have sustained.

You can come visit and find old remnants of what was the Boston-Albany line if you know where to look. There is still some active freight railroad in the area, but it's a shadow of what it used to be.

Most of the rail near my house is now a rail trail. There are many fragments of rusted rails, rotten ties, old cinder trackbeds, steel trestles, and even some stone bridge abutments.

If you walk along the trail in the early morning fog, let your mind fade into black and white, breathe deeply, and let your imagination go, you can see the old steam locomotive coming through the old stone bridge by the river....