Rail Trails at Bedford Depot Park

Three rail-trails converge at
Bedford Depot Park:

The Minuteman Bikeway
to West Cambridge, 10 miles

The Narrow-Gauge Rail-Trail to Billerica town line, 3 miles

The Reformatory Branch Trail to Concord Center, 4 miles

Minuteman Bikeway

The country’s 500th rail-trail continues to grow in popularity. The 10-mile Minuteman Commuter Bikeway is one of the most heavily used trails in the United States, according to the national Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

The Minuteman Bikeway was built in 1992 over the “rail-banked” Lexington Branch railroad corridor between West Cambridge and Bedford, Massachusetts, passing through suburban Arlington and Lexington along the way. The trail received its name from the fact that it closely follows the path of the colonial Minutemen during the Battle of 1775.

The Minuteman Bikeway is paved with asphalt and is 12 feet wide. Permitted uses include walking, cycling and inline skating. During winter months, the corridor is often traversed by cross-country skiers.

Arlington’s Bikeway Committee has a web site dedicated to the Minuteman Bikeway:  www.MinutemanBikeway.org

Narrow-Gauge Rail-Trail

The Minuteman Bikeway terminus on South Road in Bedford is near the entrance to the Narrow-Gauge Rail-Trail. The Narrow-Gauge Rail-Trail uses the roadbed of the country’s first two-foot-gauge common-carrier railway, the Billerica & Bedford Railroad. It extends northward three miles from Loomis Street to the Bedford-Billerica town line. Beyond the town line (marked by gates in the woods) is private property. The trail segment between Loomis Street and The Great Road is paved with asphalt; the remainder has a stone-dust surface. Hybrid and mountain-type bicycles are recommended.

One of the attractions passed is Fawn Lake. A famous resort once stood there, the Hotel Sweetwater. Its springs were thought to have medicinal benefits, and people travelled to the resort by train to bath in them. Today, Fawn Lake offers a place to pull off the roadbed and relax amid the natural beauty. A marked walking path circles the pond.

See an interpretive replica of the B&B’s two-foot-gauge track at the Loomis Street end of the right-of-way.

Reformatory Branch Rail-Trail

This trail follows the roadbed of the Boston & Maine’s Reformatory Branch between Railroad Avenue in Bedford and Lowell Road in Concord. It is four miles long and passes through scenic wooded areas. The roadbed is unimproved (not surfaced with stone-dust or asphalt), so hybrid and mountain-type bikes are suggested.

The Reformatory Branch Rail-Trail passes alongside Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge. (We understand that the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service does not permit bikes within the refuge.) Although the last train ran in 1962, keen observers will discover a few railroad artifacts scattered along the route.

Download the RBRT_guide