9.4 mile out and back beginning in Wayland.
Relatively flat, paved trail with lots to see along the route.
An Easy Tour of Wayland and Weston
Route Description
This featured route is a 4.7 mile segment of the Mass Central Rail Trail - Wayside, from Wayland Depot to Jones Road in Waltham. This section of the Mass Central Rail Trail - Wayside was completed by DCR in 2019, in partnership with Eversource's access road project. The Town of Weston contributed the Conant Road underpass.
The Route
This route starts at Wayland Depot at 1 Cochituate Road, Wayland, MA, which has a small parking lot. Use the pedestrian traffic light to cross Cochituate Road / Route 27 and begin the MCRT heading West. You will stay on the MCRT for this entire route. Note that this part of the MCRT is open and unshaded due to the overhead power lines. Since no herbicides are used, wildflowers proliferate in the sprint and summer with new species emerging every week or so.
Mile
0.1 - Wayland Freight House
1.3 - Plain Road / Tower Hill Station site
1.6 - Trail access to Weston Jericho Trail Network (walking and mountain biking)
2.3 - Side path to parking lot at Warren Lane
2.8 Concord Road Bridge - short walk or ride to Weston Town Center with shops and restaurants
3.2 - Conant Road bridge over MCRT
3.6 - Weston Depot
4.5 - Stony Brook RR trestle bridge over Fitchburg MBTA tracks
4.8 - End at Jones Road Waltham
Additional Information
Parking is also available near the start at the Wayland Town Library, 5 Concord Road, and at the finish on Jones Road or at 55 Church Street in Weston.
A map of this route can also be explored on the Mass Trail Tracker - https://masstrailtracker.com/map?segment=50,240
Why this is an essential MCRT route
Heading west, you will immediately see the Wayland Freight house, built in 1881. The building was restored by the Town of Wayland with the original Railroad colors. It was used for loading/unloading freight while the Station was used for passengers.
East of Plain Road, this cabinet can be found. It was used to house electrical equipment to control the automatic highway crossing flashing red warning lights and bell when a train approached. The Wayland Museum provided photographs for this historical project which Rick Conard and the Town of Wayland Historical Commission created with funds from the Wayland Cultural Council.
The Wayland Depot https://thewaylanddepot.com was built in 1881. Since 1980,The Wayland Depot, a charitable women’s consignment craft shop, has operated out of the building. The railroad signalling equipment seen above the roof on the left was recently restored.
West of Plain Road in Wayland, the site of the former Tower Hill Station building.
Now in Weston, there is a small parking area for the MCRT, on both sides of Concord Road. Murals have been painted on both sides of the Concord Road underpass.
The Town of Weston built the Conant Road underpass for the MCRT. Eversource did not need an underpass for the Phase 1, gravel access road.
The historic Stony Brook Bridge over the MBTA Fitchburg Commuter Rail. Looking west. This bridge was built in 1896 and is a riveted lattice truss bridge on stone abutments, and it was restored in August 2025. The bridge tell-tale was preserved; its purpose was to give warning to the engineer and brakeman that the train was approaching a low clearance obstacle.
At the entrance to this section, rails as a tribute to the railroad were laid out by DCR. This concludes the featured ride, at Jones Road in Waltham.
The former Weston Depot building has been in private ownership for decades, where it was abandoned and severely deteriorated. In 2022 it was listed on Massachusetts Most Endangered Resources Program. More recently, a new owner purchased the building for the purpose of a free donation for preservation. In 2025, a nonprofit, Friends of the Weston Depot, was formed and had begun preservation activities, such as the new wooden supports shown. https://www.westondepotfriends.org/
Looking West, a historic contrast: The top image is from “The Final Days of the Central Mass Branch” Poor track conditions in 1976 led to this derailment. The bottom image is from Wikipedia, showing the 2025 MCRT bridge project completed, with a MBTA Fitchburg Line train passing underneath. A history of the final days of the Central Mass Branch can be found here: https://www.wgbh.org/forum-network/lectures/the-final-days-of-the-central-mass-branch
