DCR, designers and local historians refine rail-trail signage and Diamond Junction plans

Designers, DCR staff and the Sudbury Historical Commission spent the Nov. 12 meeting refining how the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail and the intersecting Mass Central Rail Trail will look and be interpreted in Sudbury.

Marsha Rasmussen, staff liaison to the Rail Trails advisory committee, presented consultant Lynn Horske's proposed sign system: three types of interpretive elements (granite posts, National-Park-Service-style posts and kiosk bulletin boards), a reduced text question-and-answer approach, and a blue color palette. "We have 3 different types of signs that are along the rail trail," Rasmussen said, explaining the concept and the need to streamline language and use local photographs where possible.

Amber Christofferson, DCR trails and greenways planner and project manager for the Sudbury-to-Hudson section of the Mass Central Rail Trail (MCRT), and Jeffrey Harris from DCR's Office of Cultural Resources reviewed CAD plans for the Diamond Junction roundabout and material choices. Harris noted technical and historic issues: the plan includes a concrete setting with ballast to reference historic track ballast and a granite edge; he also summarized a prior memorandum of agreement (MOA) related to Eversource mitigation. "The MOA as written ... indicates that Eversource would provide the stone abutments to the town at a location of the town's choosing," Harris said when commissioners asked about salvaged granite from Bridge 128.

Local railroad historian Rick Connor (self-identified) urged the commission to standardize the railroad name across communities. Connor summarized the line's corporate history and recommended using "Massachusetts Central Railroad" (often called Mass Central) to match usage in Wayland and Weston and the built sections of the trail.

Commissioners discussed a series of design choices for Diamond Junction: whether the granite edging should be a lower seat wall (about 18 inches) so users can sit, whether tracks should be shown raised on ties or flush with the paving for authenticity, and how to link the interpretive diamond to the town's efforts to acquire the yellow South Sudbury Station. Bill (surname not specified) suggested using wooden railroad ties rather than poured concrete where feasible to improve historic appearance; others noted security and maintenance concerns (spikes can be stolen). "If you were to raise it up as if it was on railroad ties, you might want to think about using railroad ties instead of concrete," he said.

On Bridge 128, commissioners requested follow-up with Eversource and DCR to locate any salvaged granite abutments and timbers and to determine whether those materials could be reused as seating or interpretive elements along the trail. DCR said they will follow up with Eversource and report back; commissioners also proposed signage or a viewing area to interpret the understructure (historic trusses) beneath the new bridge where safe public viewing is not possible.

Next steps: DCR will continue design work, consolidate comments from the commission and, per the schedule discussed, return with final panels and fabrication timing; commission members volunteered to review content over the winter and to coordinate with Mass Central signage owners for consistency at crossing points.