N62 = Northampton 62 miles Persistence will build 104-mile rail trail Thursday, September 07, 2006  By Christina Uss, columnist for the Springfield Republican If Calvin Coolidge were mayor of Northampton today, he'd understand the process by which the Mass Central Rail Trail is developing. Silent Cal believed "nothing in the world can take the place of persistence - persistence and determination alone are omnipotent." And persistence and determination are the most potent forces transforming this 104-mile trail from dreamy potential into solid, bike-friendly fact. The Mass Central Rail Trail will someday reach from Northampton to Boston following an old railroad corridor. DCR's Norwottuck Trail is the longest completed portion. The Wachusett Greenways near Worcester represent the next-most-complete network with 10 miles of bikeable trail segments between the towns of Sterling and Rutland. Thirty more miles are under development here, and some sections even include refurbished bridges received from Boston's Big Dig. It's been a considerable while since anyone envisioned a long-distance transportation route across our fair state that didn't involve automobiles. According to the Mass Central Rail Trail coalition (www.masscentralrailtrail.org ), this particular line was ruined for train travel by a hurricane in 1938. Memory of its history gradually faded, and today, precise ownership of the corridor is messy. In the intervening 68 years, bridges have been demolished, land parcels have been sold, and enterprising neighbors have built swimming pools and doghouses across the right-of-way. However, volunteers in communities across the state believe that even the longest bridgeless gap and the ugliest doghouse are no match for the power of persistence. A new land protection entity, Central Highlands Conservancy, has formed to buy former railroad corridors to prevent further fragmentation from sales to adjacent landowners or inappropriate commercial developers. The Conservancy then holds onto these corridors for safe-keeping until a local trust or community can afford to purchase them at cost. I keep abreast of MCRT news with Northeast Greenway Solutions, a consulting firm run by dedicated railroad and rail-trail enthusiast Craig Della Penna (sign up for the newsletter at www.greenwaysolutions.org). When biking in Florence with Della Penna two summers ago, he pointed out that progress on building rail trails often moves at glacial speed, due partly to the fact that about 15 percent of all people can't stand change and will complain about anything. He counters anti-trail sentiment with patient determination, declaring, "When someone says to me 'You can't build that trail because ... ,' I prove them wrong. "And then I teach the local trail proponents in their community to speak compellingly on the subject so they can move their project ahead. These are the most difficult transportation projects to do, but at the same time they are the most rewarding." One intrepid traveler, Chuck Fisk, walked the length of the MCRT corridor in 1988 with his sons. Della Penna is now retracing this daunting trek by mountain bike, pedaling on selected days with a travel writer from the Boston Globe and a cartographer from the East Coast Greenway to see what lies out there today. So far, he's made it from Boston to Sudbury and reports that the portion through Weston is beautifully maintained by volunteers. However, some upcoming sections are likely to be so overgrown with vegetation they may need machetes to forge ahead. Someday, when the 104-mile dream becomes reality, we'll remember the patient machete hacks of volunteers and advocates who kept the process rolling. I think Silent Cal would say - well, he'd probably not say much. But I think he'd approve.