Railroad Forums 

  • Rail Trail Security (New England Specific)

  • Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England
Pertaining to all railroading subjects, past and present, in New England

Moderators: MEC407, NHN503

 #1518613  by Guard Dog
 
Bonjourno, Lads.

Since I forgot my password from decades ago, I gave up and made a new account.

I was Jackinbox1. Still cautiously optimistic about rail service in NH, but that’s a whole can of worms I’m not looking to open again, though this has a very minor connection to that.

In the last few years, they paved over the Methuen section of the Manchester and Lawrence branch. Now, if none of you have the, uh, “joy” of living in Southern NH or Northern MA, you’re gonna have to know that Methuen is not the most pleasant place on earth.

I digress. The general consensus here seems to be “who in their right mind would ever want to walk through Salem, Methuen, or Lawrence? Someone’s bound to end up hurt or dead, right?”

Kinda.

“Body Found in Methuen Woods: Police”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.necn.c ... ml%3famp=y

Knowing that plenty of New England rail trails go through somewhat dangerous, run down industrialized areas (shocker), is this a recurring theme? And is there any way to make these corridors safe?
 #1518738  by MEC407
 
Didn't Methuen lay off a large number of police officers last year or the year before? I've never gone to Methuen and thought to myself, "Gee, this town has too many police officers," but hey, what do I know? At any rate, they might not have enough officers at this point to do patrols of rail trails.

The city I live in has many miles of trails, including two rail trails, and the police don't patrol them because the PD is understaffed (and has been for many years). We only have one part-time/seasonal park ranger, so she's not able to do it either.
 #1518743  by Guard Dog
 
They were going to lay off about 50 of them earlier this year, but they seemingly were able to keep their jobs.

Lots of people using the trail makes sense, BandA, but the general belief is already there, that places like these just don’t seem to be safe. Frankly I don’t blame them. Lawrence and Methuen are scary, Salem’s section is, well, noisy. Windham and Derry arguably have the most bearable sections, and Londonderry is light industry and the airport. Don’t get me started on Manchester.

Asking for PDs in these areas to add patrolling a rail trail to their list of general crime fighting seems a bit demanding and not worth their time unless it becomes a “serious” problem, which is all relative.

I get the legal suggestions of rail trails (“preserve the corridor for future rail use/prevent abutters from reclaiming property” or whatever) but personally I think I’ll just keep walking along the WN&P behind my house, which is somewhat overgrown but moderately safer in my humble opinion.
 #1518745  by chrisf
 
Guard Dog wrote: Thu Aug 29, 2019 1:07 pm
“Body Found in Methuen Woods: Police”
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.necn.c ... ml%3famp=y

Knowing that plenty of New England rail trails go through somewhat dangerous, run down industrialized areas (shocker), is this a recurring theme? And is there any way to make these corridors safe?
Given that no foul play is suspected in this instance, I don’t see that it’s at all related to security concerns.
In general, rail trails are quite safe.
 #1518752  by neman2
 
Article says police indicate no foul play suspected. I have walked/biked numerous rail trails in Eastern Massachusetts and Southern NH and have yet to find one trail that I have found to be dangerous. I haven't heard of any violent activities on rail trails. They are already safe.
 #1518755  by Guard Dog
 
Hello,

Apologies for not reading further. It does indeed say that no foul play is suspected. Still doesn’t remove my lack of faith in these specific areas, but it’s good to know that this wasn’t the byproduct of something nefarious
 #1518926  by newpylong
 
BandA wrote: Fri Aug 30, 2019 3:28 pm Trail patrol by cops, park rangers or a volunteer group. Monitored cameras. Lots of people using the trail. Perhaps a curfew on the trail
I live near one of the busiest stretches of rail trails in New Hampshire - most of these aren't feasible because who is going to put up the resources to do any of that? The local police have enough to do - most places are not like Boston where they can afford to just have people walking the beat. Park Rangers? Trails rarely pass through such a place where they would have authority, if they even exist in the municipality. Volunteers would not fly either, no authority. They could watch for activity, but when it came to calling it in - it could be too late. Who is going to pay for the cameras, who is going to monitor them, or pay for the connectivity to connect them anywhere?