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Health & Fitness

Local Train Ride Shows Potential for Island Rail Service

Train excursion along Portsmouth's northeast coastline was fun and informative, and showed the potential for an island light rail system.

I spent an enjoyable couple of hours Saturday on the special excursion train that went up the Northeast coast of Portsmouth.

Our conductor regaled us with stories of the history of the local railroad and the key role played by this rail line in Aquidneck Island's economic life. While we moved along at about 10 mph, he pointed pointed out various sights of interest and I got what will probably be my only view of the 's private golf course and waterfront condominiums.

At the northern end of the ride, we crossed the RR trestle over the dredged out Portsmouth Pond and the backside of the . We had to stop just short of Common Fence Point because of the sections of tracks removed a while back by a couple of local crooks, who sold the rail pieces for scrap. I would hope that they would be required to replace the track sections as part of their jail sentence, but it probably won't work that way.

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I learned that the RR bridge over the Sakonnet River was damaged by a tug back in the 1980s and then never repaired. I had thought it had been shut down much earlier due to a hurricane and didn't realize it was that recent. What a waste! We could have rail service from Newport to Boston and other points if the RR bridge had been repaired and maintained. Several of us on this ride discussed the possibility of rebuilding the Sakonnet River RR bridge and the general conclusion was that it would be too expensive. It's ironic that we can send men to the moon but can't figure out how to build a rail bridge across a river!

Our brief rail trip in old, but very comfortable Old Colony Heritage passenger cars, showed the potential for an island light rail system that could pick up passengers in Portsmouth or Middletown and take them to Newport and back without the need to add to Newport traffic or find a parking space. If such a train were to run every hour or so, it might be viable. Of course to do anything like that, we would need to find forward-thinking leaders from all three communities who could work together for the common good to bring trains back to the island. What are the chances of that?

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