This 26 mile L-3 Route connected the Littleton Main Station and its 1ESS AUTOVON switch with the radio site at Ashburnham, MA.  This route appears to be in the circa 1960's original condition and does not show any sign of upgrades as other routes in this area have. Ashburnham was the Microwave Radio Control Site for New England.  It also sat on the primary microwave route into Maine and New Hampshire.  Ashburnham's KS horns have been turned down and the facility is in the process of being sold.  In March of 2000 I started at Littleton and followed the L-3 cable's path which skirts the north side of Fort Devens and then travels cross country to Ashburnham.  The clear cut L-3 path is now overgrown and the huts are usually off the road and inconspicuous.  When lost or unable to find the next hut I would stop a local resident and produced a photo of a typical L-3 repeater hut and asked if they knew where one was.  Almost everyone I interviewed knew of at least one, and I was also surprised to find that almost everyone had some sort of story about the mysterious telephone cable that snaked through their community,  whether it was a friend or  relative that worked on the original cable installation or remembering the helicopters that weekly flew the right of way.
 

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