Our quest to find the original Boston & Albany railroad and old bridge abutments was a success, as shown on the lidar maps the railbed is clearly seen. It crossed the river at the bend, the bridge abutment can be seen across the way. The railroad tracks were moved to the other side of the river because there were so many derailments at the bend. We could not find any postcards of the original station most likely because of the limited print/drawings and no photography at the time, but see the postcard showing the tracks on Frog Hollow! We spent some time in Russell the last few weeks working on Unkamit’s Path Section #6 and looking for and documenting the original Boston and Albany Railroad which once hugged Turtle Bend Mountain just across the Westfield River where you find it today. Unfortunately, over the decades the Russell train stations, once located on both sides of the Westfield River have been lost. The most recent one (the freight house) located on Hull Forest Products was burned intentionally. We hiked in on Frog Hollow Road which served both as the rail bed and today is the Unkamit’s Path trail. For the last 5 years this mountain has been actively quarried for A+ finest quality gravel, hence the trail will be rerouted until the quarry land will be given to Fish and Wildlife. Turtle Bend Mountain is the only mountain located inside the Westfield River Valley. Photos by Liz and Karen.

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