Mason Railroad Trail
This is clearly the most well known, most well used trail in Mason. It is on AllTrails and several other Trail Websites. The Mason Railroad trail is ~6.7 miles running from Morse Road to Pratt Pond Road in Mason.
The town of Mason purchased in 1985 for a $40K purchase price the Railroad (RR)
bed... Hard to determine the track size - modern track is around 40
Lbs/foot, but track used in 1800s averaged around 27 Lbs/ft. The RR was
built before the Civil War and readings about the trans-continental
track suggest they were using 20 Lbs/ft track.
But even at 20 Lbs/ft, 7 miles of track would weigh over 700 tons - at
today's $200/ton scrap steel prices that would be worth $140,000! Of
course the track was probably replaced at least once since 1840, so
maybe it was heavier.
Guilford, the successor to Boston & Maine, kept a Right Of Way (ROW) easement for
running buried communications lines (fiber optic if memory serves). The
Selectmen at the time of purchase, charged them annual taxes on the value of the easement -
a few years later, Guilford formally abandoned its easement...
Half the purchase price came from Federal funds via the State - which is
why the State can insist that snowmobile use be permitted. However, as
part of the deal, Mason gets some sort of liability protection and the
snowmobile associations help with the maintenance.
At the time there was also considerable developer interest in the RR bed
- which might have been used for a cheap Class V road to develop a bunch
of back lands.
All told, Mason spent around $20K to get a 7 mile trail and prevent that
excess development - not too shabby...
The Railroad Trail is used by hikers, bikers, horseback riders, and snowmobile riders. Motorized vehicles are not allowed.
In 2024, Tim Welsh donated hundreds of hours of his time and equipment to improve the Railroad bed. Over the years many thousands of dollars have been spent on the upkeep of the trail including this year (2025) where part of the bed had to be rebuilt and new culverts put in near Morse Road.
Generally speaking, the Mason Trail Volunteers only do a small amount of work on the Mason Railroad Trail and the Mason Conservation Commission pays professionals with heavy equipment to the major jobs.
The Mason Railroad trail can be considered the only handicap accessible trail in town.
PARKING: The Mason Railroad Trail can be accessed at Morse Road, Depot Road, SandPit Road, Wilton Road, Pratt Pond Road and Scripps Lane. Note that a parking permit is required to park at Scripps Lane. The permit is available to Mason Town residents only and can be obtained at the town clerk's office.