Dead or Just Resting?

While paddling with friends Paul and Ellen this past Thursday we stopped to admire this old railroad trestle spanning the Charles River in Medfield, MA.  I don't think any of us thought the rickety-looking structure could still support the weight of a freight train.  The tracks leading to the trestle looked neglected and an old diesel locomotive with boarded-up windows looked like it had reached the end of the line...

Needless to say I was pleasantly surprised to find a video (taken last year) that someone had kindly posted showing this very locomotive springing to life and then pushing and pulling a good number of freight cars over the very same trestle.  If I didn't see it I wouldn't believe it.

The paddle upriver from the trestle was a nice one, though plans of paddling to Devilsfoot Island via the Stop River were thwarted by a debris-clogged bridge at Causeway Road.

You'd think this sentry at the confluence of the Charles and Stop would have told us the passage was blocked...

Some trash encountered along the way...