Tockwotton Slip ends at the rail fence
Tockwotton Slip is the kind of route that doesn't announce itself. No painted arrows, no heritage plaque—just a gravel lane that starts behind the parking lot on Gano Street and runs northeast alongside the old Providence & Worcester spur.
The first block is unremarkable: chain-link on your left, the back of a lumberyard on your right, enough width for a handcart and not much else. By the second block the gravel gives way to brick pavers, and the fence drops to waist height. You can see the freight line clearly now, still active twice a week for bulk deliveries to the mill district.
Then you hit the rail fence.
It's an original 1910s iron boundary marker, chest-high, with the Providence Terminal Company crest still visible on the center post. The slip appears to dead-end here. Most walkers assume the path was never finished and turn back toward Gano.
The gap is on the left
Twenty feet before the fence, there's a gap in the retaining wall—easy to miss if you're watching the tracks. It opens onto a steep staircase, fourteen steps down to the old canal service road. The road itself is city-maintained now, repaved in 2018, and it connects directly to the Blackstone Boulevard path near the Rochambeau Avenue gate.
The staircase has no railing. In wet weather the brick treads are slick. We've never seen it closed, but the city doesn't list it on the official bike map.
From the bottom of the stairs, the service road runs flat and wide for a quarter mile. On weekday mornings it's empty except for the occasional runner. By evening you'll see a few cyclists cutting through from the East Side. The pavement ends at a T-junction: left takes you under the Rochambeau bridge toward Armory Cut; right loops back to Benefit Street near the historical society.
When to walk it
Tockwotton Slip is unlit. The freight spur is active on Tuesday and Friday afternoons—if you're walking while a train is passing, stay on the slip side of the fence. The brick pavers can be uneven; we don't recommend it in low light unless you know the route.
Early morning is best. The slip catches the sun by seven, and you'll have the service road to yourself. The staircase is easier to spot when the shadows are long.
If you're planning to walk the full loop—Gano to the service road to Benefit—allow thirty minutes at an easy pace. There are no facilities, no benches, and nowhere to refill water. Bring what you need.
The rail fence itself is worth a look even if you don't take the stairs. The Providence Terminal Company hasn't existed since 1964, but the ironwork is intact, and the crest is one of the few surviving examples of the original municipal boundary markers. The city hasn't said whether it's protected, but it hasn't been moved.
For other underused connectors on the East Side, the full neighborhoods section covers the paths that don't make it onto the tourist maps.