Life in the Ville by Jimmy Del Ponte

Before the bike path was built trains rolled along there. Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, the tracks were another playground for us. We had to be very careful for trains but there was always someone looking out. I asked my social media friends and Somerville to share their thoughts on the old train tracks.

“Anyone recall Pollywog Pond, near Cedar St.?”

“Royal White dry-cleaning building, now blue apartment bldg.? I recall catching tadpoles there.”

“Yes, the tracks were like our adventure in the woods. Making bow and arrows out of branches and string.”

“Looking for frogs and turtles and the occasional snake.”

“As kids we built so many forts in the banking along those tracks and then as teenagers, we hung at the platform at the end of Warwick Street and that was Our drinking spot we even had one engineer on the 11 o’clock freight train that would slow down and let us run up and give him a beer.”

“That was probably my father you were handing the beer to on the train, lol! I used to always say thank God those trains are on tracks when pops was driving them.”

“We used to go down behind the little park at Trum Field and catch snakes and frogs.”

“The forts where great and the trails made though the “woods” too! Have a good memory of all the box trains that were stopped … hmmmm will leave that alone to the people that remember!”

“We used to swing on the tire hanging from the tree behind the H.S. that went almost over the train tracks! My father was an engineer for Boston and Maine, and he said he would kick our asses if he saw us swinging from that tire. Needless to say, we paid no attention and we also hopped on the trains to see who could last the longest before it went under the bridge! Ahhh, the good old days!”