This afternoon, State Sec of Transportation Davey, Mayor Warren, Aldermen Crossley, Rice and Yates, president Anil Adayanthaya, nearly the rest of the Area Council, Needham Selectman John Bulian, and 30 or 40 local residents were in Upper Falls to see the first railroad rail pulled up to make way for Newton’s newest park – the Upper Falls Greenway.
Once the official ceremony ended and the first railroad track was pulled up, the crowd heard a train whistle off in the distance. Moments later two small “speeder” rail-riding vehicles chugged into the Chestnut St depot for The Final Ride, to cheers from the crowd.
For the next few hours hobbyists John and Linda Rives and Dan Peck took groups of six people for a ride up and down the rail to the end of the line at NewTV. Check out Julia Malakie’s video of her ride in the “speeder”.
The speeder drivers, George Kirby, and the Iron Horse crew spent the morning prying rusted railroad switches, clearing and digging out the track and had the track cleared and ready to go just in time for the start of the event. Everyone from the young kids to the elderly residents seemed to love partaking in the loud, rickety, and historic Final Ride on the rail line.
… and sssh! Don’t tell anyone but I took my daughter out of school this afternoon so she could ride The Final Ride too.
I usually think of ground breaking and ribbon cutting events as photo ops and PR press pieces. This was different. It was a party, a real neighborhood celebration. We all had a blast. Thanks Taam China for the excellent and warming kosher egg drop soup. Very welcome treat on such a chilly day. The trips in the rail riders were incredibly special. Faster than I expected and we got a beautiful view of an autumnal foliage tunnel all the way to Easy Street. I loved that New TV has their Haunted House Sandwich Board posted at the entrance to the greenway, a comment on how busy this path is going to be in coming years.
… and also thanks to the Depot Coffee Shop for providing the tea.
I clicked through to Julia’ video of her ride. Great stuff! Looking forward to the Greenway, and it’s great to see the positive community excitement