A rail trail is a shared-use path on a railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail , or streetcars ( rails with trails ), or with disused track. As shared-use paths, rail trails are primarily for non-motorized traffic including pedestrians, bicycles, horseback riders, skaters, and cross-country skiers, although snowmobiles and ATVs may be allowed. The characteristics of abandoned railways —gentle grades, well-engineered rights of way and structures (bridges and tunnels), and passage through historical areas—lend themselves to rail trails and account for their popularity. Many rail trails are long-distance trails , while some shorter rail trails are known as greenways or linear parks .
88-653: The Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail , formerly known as the John Wayne Pioneer Trail and the Iron Horse Trail , is a rail trail that spans most of the U.S. state of Washington . It follows the former railway roadbed of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railroad (Milwaukee Road) for 300 miles (480 km) across two-thirds of the state, from the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains to
176-593: A catastrophic explanation of the geology, ran against the prevailing view of uniformitarianism , and Bretz's views were initially disregarded. The Geological Society of Washington, D.C , invited the young Bretz to present his previously published research at a January 12, 1927, meeting where several other geologists presented competing theories. Another geologist at the meeting, J.T. Pardee , had worked with Bretz and had evidence of an ancient glacial lake that lent credence to Bretz's theories. Bretz defended his theories, which kicked off an acrimonious 40-year debate over
264-455: A rail trail that crosses Snoqualmie Pass . The trail is located within the former right-of-way of The Milwaukee Road, officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad . Most of the right-of-way between Cedar Falls and the Idaho border was acquired by the state, through a quitclaim deed , as a result of the railroad's 1977 bankruptcy. As part of the reorganization of the company,
352-510: A comment on the Komatsu analysis, Brian Atwater and colleagues observed substantial evidence for multiple large floods, including mud cracks and animal burrows in lower layers, which were filled by sediment from later floods. Further, evidence for multiple flood flows up sidearms of Glacial Lake Columbia spread over many centuries has been found. They also pointed out that the discharge point from Lake Columbia varied with time, originally flowing across
440-609: A corridor to be " Rail Banked " or placed on hold for possible conversion back to active status when or if future need demands. While many rail trails have been built, other proposals have been cancelled by community opposition. The stature of the conversion organization, community involvement, and government willingness are key factors. On the other hand, there are a growing number of cases where existing rails and infrastructure, in service or not, are being called to be torn up for trails. Two cases of this are in New York State , against
528-514: A cost of $ 5.5 million by the state government. Other sections of the trail in Eastern Washington remain unfinished or in need of replacement. Access points to the developed portion of the trail, managed by Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission, are at: The trail features six tunnels, including the 11,894-foot (3,625 m) Snoqualmie Tunnel , which was #50 on the railroad's numbering system. The other five tunnels in order are
616-439: A historic 22-mile railroad corridor circling downtown and connecting many neighborhoods directly to each other. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy is a nationwide nonprofit group that advocates for rail trails and has many documents and advice on building a rail trail. Per their records, the U.S. currently has 22,107 miles of rail trail complete. As of 2015 , Michigan has the most total mileage (2,381) of any state. Germany has
704-582: A newly published topographic map of the Potholes Cataract . Bretz coined the term Channeled Scablands in 1923 to refer to the area near the Grand Coulee , where massive erosion had cut through basalt deposits. Bretz published a paper in 1923 arguing that the Channeled Scablands in Eastern Washington were caused by massive flooding in the distant past. Bretz's view, which was seen as arguing for
792-512: A number of cities disused rail tracks have been converted into linear parks . One example is the High Line (also known as "High Line Park"), a 1.45-mile-long (2.33 km) elevated linear park created on an elevated section of a disused New York Central Railroad . Inspired by the 3-mile-long (4.8 km) Promenade plantée (tree-lined walkway), a similar project in Paris completed in 1993,
880-484: A pedestrian and bicycle trail. The development of rail trails in southeastern Australia can be traced to the gold rushes of the second half of the 19th century. Dozens of rail lines sprang up, aided by the overly enthusiastic " Octopus Act ", but soon became unprofitable as the gold ran out, leading to a decreased demand for timber in turn. Decades later, these easements found a new use as tourist drawcards, once converted to rail trails. Dozens exist in some form, like
968-568: A rail corridor that was originally built for the now-abandoned Kettle Valley Railway . The trail was developed during the 1990s after the Canadian Pacific Railway abandoned train service. The longest rail trail in Canada is the Newfoundland T'Railway that covers a distance of 883 km (549 mi). Protected as a linear park under the provincial park system, the T'Railway consists of
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#17328514916761056-565: A rail to trail conversion. Even residents who are not encroaching on railway lands may oppose conversion on the grounds of increased traffic in the area and the possibility of a decline in personal security. Because linear corridors of land are only valuable if they are intact, special laws regulate the abandonment of a railroad corridor. In the United States, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) regulates railroads, and can allow
1144-664: A small subset of rail trails in which a railway right-of-way remains in use by trains yet also has a parallel recreational trail . Hundreds of kilometers of rails with trails exist in Canada, Europe, the United States, Australia, and the United Arab Emirates. Missoula Floods The Missoula floods (also known as the Spokane floods , the Bretz floods , or Bretz's floods ) were cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down
1232-539: A total of 1,200 km (750 mi) , a significant figure considering the size of the country. The gradient is never more than six per cent, and the tracks are open to all forms of non-motorised travellers, including cyclists, horse-riders, hikers and even roller-bladers. There is also the Vennbahn , which runs along an unusual border between Belgium and Germany. Baana is an old cargo rail track in Helsinki converted into
1320-402: Is dictated by the free market value of the land, so that land in urban and industrial cores is often impractical to purchase and convert. Therefore, rail trails may end on the fringes of urban areas or near industrial areas and resume later, as discontinuous portions of the same rail line, separated by unaffordable or inappropriate land. A railroad right-of-way (easement) width varies based on
1408-595: The Alpine Lakes Wilderness or Snoqualmie Falls . The park trail continues through the Town of South Cle Elum where the preserved Milwaukee Road depot and substation, as well as the remains of the rail yard are located. The depot, substation, and rail yard are listed in the National Register of Historic Places . There is a small museum in the depot. In Kittitas , the trail passes The Milwaukee Road depot and
1496-628: The Beltline Trail and the West Toronto Railpath . In central Ontario, the former Victoria Railway line, which runs 89 kilometres (55 mi) from the town of Lindsay, Ontario , north to the village of Haliburton, in Haliburton County , serves as a public recreation trail. It can be used for cross country skiing, walking, and snowmobiling in the winter months, and walking, cycling, and horse riding from spring to autumn. The majority of
1584-757: The Catskill Mountain Railroad in Kingston, New York , and the Adirondack Scenic Railroad in Old Forge, New York . In Connecticut, the not-in-service section of track on the Valley Railroad has been proposed by locals to be converted to trail. Though perceived by residents to be, as it has not carried a train since the 1960s, the railroad has never been formally abandoned. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection acquired
1672-701: The Columbia River Gorge at the end of the last ice age . These floods were the result of periodic sudden ruptures of the ice dam on the Clark Fork River that created Glacial Lake Missoula . After each ice dam rupture, the waters of the lake would rush down the Clark Fork and the Columbia River , flooding much of eastern Washington and the Willamette Valley in western Oregon . After the lake drained,
1760-644: The Hanford formation , has documented the presence of Middle and Early Pleistocene Missoula flood deposits within the Othello Channels, Columbia River Gorge, Channeled Scabland , Quincy Basin, Pasco Basin, and the Walla Walla Valley . Based on the presence of multiple interglacial calcretes interbedded with flood deposits, magnetostratigraphy , optically stimulated luminescence dating, and unconformity truncated clastic dikes , it has been estimated that
1848-592: The Idaho border. The former Milwaukee Road roadbed was acquired by the state of Washington via a quitclaim deed , and is used as a non-motorized recreational trail managed by the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission and by the Washington State Department of Natural Resources . State legislation " railbanked " the corridor with provisions that allow for the reversion to railroad usage in
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#17328514916761936-873: The Middlewood Way in Cheshire and the Ebury Way in Watford . Notable rural rail trails include the Dava Way , running along the route of the former Highland Railway between Grantown and Forres in the Scottish Highlands , and the High Peak Trail in the English Peak District . In London , a more unusual scheme has been proposed to convert some disused London Underground tunnels into subterranean rail trails under
2024-710: The Milton Keynes redway system runs throughout Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire, England, in parts using the former trackbed of the defunct Wolverton to Newport Pagnell Line (closed 1962) and the Grand Union Canal towpath. Together, these paths form part of the long-distance National Cycle Network Route 6 and Route 51 . Other urban and suburban rail trails include the Fallowfield Loop Line in Manchester ,
2112-578: The National Arts Council . The disused railway consists of the main line from the Tanjong Pagar railway station to Woodlands, extending either 24 km (15 mi) or 26 km (16 mi), depending on the source. There is also the Jurong spur line, 14 km (8.7 mi) in length. The area occupied by the railways is at least 80 ha (200 acres), and up to 173.7 ha (429 acres) when
2200-465: The Spokane Valley – Rathdrum Prairie immediately downstream of Glacial Lake Missoula, for which several previous estimates had placed the maximum discharge of 17 × 10 m /s and the total amount of water discharged equal to the maximum estimated volume of Lake Missoula (2184 km ). Neglecting erosion effects, their simulated water flow was based on modern-day topography. Their major findings were that
2288-573: The Trans Canada Trail and other walking trails are abandoned railways. A small railway line from Musquodoboit Harbour ( Musquodoboit Trailway ) to Dartmouth are nearly fully used by community members and tourists. Another extremely large section is used from Halifax to New Germany to Yarmouth to Grand Pre . A considerable part of the Trans Canada Trail are repurposed defunct rail lines donated to provincial governments by CP and CN rail rebuilt as walking trails. The main section runs along
2376-591: The 37-kilometre (23 mi) Port Fairy to Warrnambool Rail Trail , but only a few – such as the 95-kilometre (59 mi) Murray to the Mountains Rail Trail — have been fully developed. Progress is frequently hampered by trestle bridges in unsafe condition, easements that have been sold off to farmers, and lack of funds. Funding is typically contributed in roughly equal parts from federal, state, and local governments, with voluntary labour and in kind donations contributed by local groups. The latest addition to
2464-564: The Boylston (#45), Thorp (#46), Picnic Area (#47), Easton (#48) and Whittier (#49). The Boylston Tunnel was also known as the Johnson Creek tunnel to the railroad and sometimes tunnels #46 and #47 are known as the Thorp Tunnels. Access points to the undeveloped portion of the trail, managed by Washington State Department of Natural Resources, have not been formally opened to the public. However,
2552-576: The Channeled Scabland landforms were formed mainly by multiple periodic floods or by a single grand-scale cataclysmic flood from late Pleistocene Glacial Lake Missoula or an unidentified Canadian source continued through 1999. Shaw's team of geologists reviewed the sedimentary sequences of the Touchet beds and concluded that the sequences do not automatically imply multiple floods separated by decades or centuries. Rather, they proposed that sedimentation in
2640-476: The Columbia Gorge would be expected to produce higher flow resistance and correspondingly higher floods. The dating for Waitt's proposed separation of layers into sequential floods has been supported by subsequent paleomagnetism studies, which support a 30–40 year interval between depositions of Mount St. Helens' ash, and hence flood events, but do not preclude an up to 60-year interval. Offshore deposits on
2728-526: The Columbia River gorge, it backed up again at the 1 mile (1.6 km) wide narrows near Kalama, Washington . Some temporary lakes rose to an elevation of more than 400 ft (120 m), flooding the Willamette Valley to Eugene, Oregon and beyond. Iceberg-rafted glacial erratics and erosion features are evidence of these events. Lake-bottom sediments deposited by the floods have contributed to
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2816-606: The Glacial Lake Missoula basin resulted from jökulhlaups draining into Lake Missoula from British Columbia to the north. Further, Shaw's team proposed the scabland flooding might have partially originated from an enormous subglacial reservoir that extended over much of central British Columbia, particularly including the Rocky Mountain Trench , which may have discharged by several paths, including one through Lake Missoula. This discharge, if occurring concurrently with
2904-740: The High Line has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway and rails-to-trails park. Railroads in North America were often built with a mix of purchased land, government land grants, and easements. The land deeds can be over a hundred years old, land grants might be conditional upon continuous operation of the line, and easements may have expired, all expensive and difficult issues to determine at law. Railroad property rights have often been poorly defined and sporadically enforced, with neighboring property owners intentionally or accidentally using land they do not own. Such encroachers often later oppose
2992-621: The Rail Trail scene in Victoria is The Great Victorian Rail Trail which is the longest rail trail in Victoria covering 134 km (83 mi). It has become popular with tourists as it meanders through steep valleys and open farm country. The Rail Trails Australia website is a good source of local information. about trails in Australia. A number of rail trails have been established through New Zealand;
3080-715: The Sarnia Bridge was inducted into the North America Railway Hall of Fame . A railroad between Gateway Road and Raleigh Street (i.e. streets immediately parallel to the railway on each side) in Winnipeg , Manitoba , was turned into a 7 km (4.3 mi) asphalt trail in 2007. It is called the Northeast Pioneers Greenway, and there are plans for expansion into East St. Paul , and eventually to Birds Hill Park. In Nova Scotia , almost every section of
3168-680: The Waterville Plateau into Moses Coulee, but later, when the Okanagan lobe blocked that route, eroding the Grand Coulee to discharge there as a substantially lower outlet. The Komatsu analysis does not evaluate the impact of the considerable erosion observed in this basin during the flood or floods. However, the assumption that flood hydraulics can be modeled using modern-day topography is an area that warrants further consideration. Earlier narrower constrictions at places such as Wallula Gap and through
3256-666: The abandonment of the Prince Edward Island Railway in 1989, the government of Prince Edward Island purchased the right-of-way to the entire railway system. The Confederation Trail was developed as a tip-to-tip walking/cycling gravel rail trail which doubles as a monitored and groomed snowmobile trail during the winter months, operated by the PEI Snowmobile Association. In Quebec, Le P'tit Train du Nord runs 200 km (120 mi) from Saint-Jérôme to Mont-Laurier . In Toronto , there are two rail trails,
3344-513: The agricultural richness of the Willamette and Columbia Valleys. Glacial deposits overlaid with centuries of windblown sediments ( loess ) have scattered steep, southerly sloping dunes throughout the Columbia Valley, ideal conditions for orchard and vineyard development at higher latitudes. After analysis and controversy, geologists now believe that there were 40 or more separate floods, although
3432-596: The best known are the Hauraki Rail Trail (linking Thames, Paeroa, Te Aroha and Waikino/Waihi), Otago Central Rail Trail and the Little River Rail Trail . The New Zealand Cycle Trail project, a Government-led initiative, will greatly accelerate the establishment of new trails. The first seven projects (not all of them rail trails, though) were announced in July 2009 and will receive NZ$ 9 million in funding of
3520-626: The border from Malaysia. Government agencies such as the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) and the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) have taken responsibility for developing and implementing ideas and activities for the former rail lands. The URA has a dedicated web site on Rail Corridor. An example of activities permitted include street art on a section of the disused railway, supported by the SLA, URA, Land Transport Authority and
3608-467: The breach of the Lake Missoula ice dam, would have provided significantly larger volumes of water. Further, Shaw and the team proposed that the rhythmic Touchet beds result from multiple pulses or surges within a larger flood. In 2000, a team led by Komatsu simulated the floods numerically with a 3-dimensional hydraulic model. They based the Glacial Lake Missoula discharge rate on the rate predicted for
Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail - Misplaced Pages Continue
3696-567: The calculated water depth in each flooded location except for the Spokane Valley–Rathdrum Prairie was shallower than the field evidence showed. For example, their calculated water depth at the Pasco Basin–Wallula Gap transition zone is about 190 m, significantly less than the 280–300 m flood depth indicated by high-water marks. They concluded that a flood of ~10 m /s could not have made the observed high-water marks. In
3784-418: The catastrophic floods, which he called the Spokane floods , in the 1920s. He was researching the Channeled Scablands in Eastern Washington , the Columbia Gorge , and the Willamette Valley of Oregon . Beginning In the summer of 1922, Bretz conducted field research on the Columbia River Plateau for the next seven years. He had been interested in unusual erosion features in the area since 1910 after seeing
3872-465: The city, but this scheme has not been officially approved. With more than 2,500 kilometers of rail trails (Via Verde) in a network of 117 cycling and walking itineraries, Spain ranks high in the European greenways scene. The trails are managed or coordinated by the Spanish Railways Foundation, an institution created in 1985. Many of the converted tracks were originally built for the mining industry, connecting remote mountain sites with port locations on
3960-457: The coast, now offering picturesque rides from wild interior landscapes to the seaside, following near-flat routes with long-spanning viaducts and bridges, plus a number of tunnels. Cuts to Ireland's once expansive rail network in the mid 20th century left Ireland with a vast network of disused railways. While many lines were ripped up and the sections of the land acquired by private owners, a number of former railways do exist intact, thus providing
4048-406: The cracks, generating more heat, allowing even more water to flow through the cracks. This feedback cycle eventually weakened the ice dam so much that it could no longer support the pressure of the water behind it. It failed catastrophically. This process is known as a glacial lake outburst flood , and there is evidence that many such events occurred in the distant past. As the water emerged from
4136-408: The exact source of the water is still being debated. The peak flow of the floods is estimated to be 27 cubic kilometers per hour (6.5 cubic miles per hour). The maximum flow speed approached 36 meters/second (130 km/h or 80 mph). Up to 1.9×10 joules of potential energy were released by each flood (the equivalent of 4,500 megatons of TNT ). For comparison, this is 90 times more powerful than
4224-426: The federal government passing legislation promoting the use of railbanking for abandoned railroad corridors in 1983 which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1990. This process preserves rail corridors for possible future rail use with interim use as a trail. By the 1970s, even main lines were being sold or abandoned. This was especially true when regional rail lines merged and streamlined their operations. As both
4312-488: The former Galway to Clifden railway into a greenway, but negotiations are still underway with landowners regarding its routing. A section of the Waterford, Limerick and Western Railway railway line, from Claremorris to Collooney has been touted for redevelopment as a greenway, but has met with some recent opposition from groups wishing for reestablishment of the railway itself. The RAVeL network in Belgium combines converted tracks, byways and towpaths , adding up to
4400-431: The future. The trail was originally a railroad line which was decommissioned in 1980. Afterwards, establishing a public right-of-way trail on the land was championed by various people and organizations, especially by Chic Hollenbeck, who founded the John Wayne Pioneer Wagons and Riders Association in the 1980s. Beginning in 1981, Hollenbeck and his organization organized annual horse and wagon rides across Washington along
4488-516: The history of the railroad. Their primary revenue is tourist operations, so rail traffic is seasonal; though all three have been granted rights to carry freight, should customers show interest. Though rare, there are several cases in which trails convert back to active railroads. One example occurred in 2012 in Clarence, Pennsylvania , where the R.J. Corman Railroad Company received permission to rebuild 20 miles (32 km) of railbanked line to serve new industries. Conrail had ceased operating over
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#17328514916764576-588: The ice would reform, creating Glacial Lake Missoula again. These floods have been researched since the 1920s. During the last deglaciation that followed the end of the Last Glacial Maximum , geologists estimate that a cycle of flooding and reformation of the lake lasted an average of 55 years and that the floods occurred several times over the 2,000 years between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago. U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist Jim O'Connor and Spain 's Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales scientist Gerardo Benito have found evidence of at least twenty-five massive floods,
4664-434: The land around the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station and other nodes are included. Given the location of the railway lands in land scarce Singapore, there was concern that the lands would be developed. Organisations such as the Nature Society Singapore developed comprehensive plans to maintain the rail lands for nature-related pursuits. The Green Corridor web site is a campaign website dedicated to preserving its natural form. In
4752-447: The largest discharging about 10 cubic kilometers per hour (2.7 million m³/s, 13 times that of the Amazon River ). Alternate estimates for the peak flow rate of the largest flood range up to 17 cubic kilometers per hour. The maximum flow speed approached 36 meters/second (130 km/h or 80 mph). Within the Columbia River drainage basin , detailed investigation of the Missoula floods' glaciofluvial deposits , informally known as
4840-433: The largest number of rail trails in Europe, with 677 rail trails with a total length of 5,020 kilometres (3,120 mi) (as at February 2015). 80 more projects are being planned or under construction. Some of the longest rail trails are in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate . These are the Maare-Mosel-Radweg with 39 kilometres (24 mi) on the old rail track, the Ruwer-Hochwald-Radweg with 44 kilometres (27 mi) on
4928-425: The largest of the boulders moved by the flood. He estimated the water flow was 9 cubic miles per hour (38 km /h), more than the combined flow of every river in the world. More recent estimates place the flow rate at ten times the flow of all current rivers combined. The Missoula floods have also been referred to as the Bretz floods in honor of Bretz. As the depth of the water in Lake Missoula increased,
5016-458: The line from Penn Central in 1969, and subsequently signed a long-term lease with the railroad. The railroad has been continually working to bring this section of the line back into service. Both Departments strongly support the preservation of the line, and have provided support to the railroad with property encroachment from abutters and the provision of railroad ties . All three of these examples are heritage railroads , which serve to protect
5104-540: The line in 1990, and 10 miles (16 km) was converted to the Snow Shoe Rails to Trails. Most original rail lines were surveyed for ease of transport and gentle (often less than 2%) grades . Therefore, the rail trails that succeeded them are often fairly straight and ideally suited to overcome steep or awkward terrain such as hills, escarpments, rivers, swamps, etc. Rail trails often share space with linear utilities such as pipelines, electrical transmission wires, and telephone lines. Most purchase of railway land
5192-494: The majority of rail trails are maintained by either the local authority or charitable organisations such as Sustrans , the Railway Ramblers or Railway Paths . A 31-mile (50 km) section (between Braunton and Meeth ) of the Tarka Trail in Devon is one of the longest of these. Many of these former railway lines form part of the British National Cycle Network , connecting with long-distance paths and towpaths along Britain's extensive network of canals . For example,
5280-463: The most developed portion of the trail. At Cedar Falls, the west end of Iron Horse State Park, the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail connects to the Snoqualmie Valley Trail of the King County Regional Trail System. The Snoqualmie Valley Trail is built on a portion of the former Milwaukee Road branch line from Cedar Falls to Everett. Like most rails-to-trails projects, Iron Horse is popular with hikers and cyclists. There are many trail heads across
5368-440: The most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated, the 50-megaton " Tsar Bomba ". The cumulative effect of the floods was to excavate 210 cubic kilometres (50 cu mi) of loess, sediment, and basalt from the Channeled Scablands of eastern Washington and to transport it downstream. The multiple flood hypothesis was first proposed by R.B. Waitt Jr. in 1980. Waitt argued for a sequence of 40 or more floods. Waitt's proposal
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#17328514916765456-415: The name did not conform to the State Parks naming policies. The Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission adopted a new name, the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail, in May of that year. In April 2022, the Beverly Railroad Bridge across the Columbia River reopened to provide access for hikers, cyclists, and horse riders following the trail. The railroad trestle, south of Vantage , was renovated at
5544-406: The old rail track and the Schinderhannes-Radweg with 36 kilometres (22 mi) on the old track of the Hunsrück Railway . Up to date, the 23 km long Nordbahntrasse in Wuppertal is still the rail trail with the highest standard in Germany and is a prime example of conversion of an abandoned railway track into a multiuser cycling path. With almost 150 lines in use, the United Kingdom has
5632-478: The oldest of the Pleistocene Missoula floods happened before 1.5 million years ago. Because of the fragmentary nature of older glaciofluvial deposits, which have been largely removed by subsequent Missoula floods, within the Hanford formation, the exact number of older Missoula floods, which are known as ancient cataclysmic floods , that occurred during the Pleistocene cannot be estimated with any confidence. Geologist J Harlen Bretz first recognized evidence of
5720-482: The only carrier to exist in Bermuda folded in 1948. Some of the former right of way were converted for automobile traffic, and in 1984 18 miles were converted to a rail trail, reserved for pedestrian use and bicycles on paved portions. The rail bed spans the length of the island, and connected Hamilton to St. George's and several villages, though several bridges are derelict, causing the trail to be fragmented. The Kettle Valley Rail Trail in British Columbia uses
5808-505: The option for the development of many rail trails in the future. The rail-trail on the former Westport to Achill Island line, known as the Great Western Greenway , was completed in 2011. Much progress has been made on the development of a rail-trail on the former Limerick to Tralee / Fenit line, in the form of the Great Southern Trail . As of 2013, a 36-kilometre (22 mi) section from Rathkeale to Abbeyfeale has been completed. Planning permission has been granted to redevelop
5896-407: The origin of the Scablands. Both Pardee and Bretz continued their research over the next 30 years, collecting and analyzing evidence that led them to identify Lake Missoula as the source of the Spokane flood and creator of the channeled scablands. After Pardee studied the canyon of the Flathead River , he estimated that flood waters above 45 miles per hour (72 km/h) would be required to roll
5984-410: The pressure at the bottom of the ice dam increased enough to lower the freezing point of water below the temperature of the ice forming the dam. This allowed liquid water to seep into minuscule cracks present in the ice dam. Over a period of time, the friction from water flowing through these cracks generated enough heat to melt the ice walls and enlarge the cracks. This allowed more water to flow through
6072-448: The rail industry led to the closure of a number of uneconomical branch lines and redundant mainlines. Some were maintained as short line railways , but many others were abandoned. The first abandoned rail corridor in the United States converted into a recreational trail was the Elroy-Sparta State Trail in Wisconsin , which opened in 1967. The following year the Illinois Prairie Path opened. The conversion of rails to trails hastened with
6160-466: The rail trail passes through sparsely populated areas of the Canadian Shield , with historic trestle bridges crossing several rivers. The old Sarnia Bridge in St. Marys, Ontario , was re-purposed as part of the Grand Trunk Trail . The former Grand Trunk Railway viaduct was purchased from Canadian National Railway in 1995. The Grand Trunk Trail was opened in 1998 with over 3 km (1.9 mi) of paved, accessible trail. In 2012, The re-purposing of
6248-427: The railbed of the historic Newfoundland Railway as transferred from its most recent owner, Canadian National Railway , to the provincial government after rail service was abandoned on the island of Newfoundland in 1988. The rail corridor stretches from Channel-Port aux Basques in the west to St. John's in the east with branches to Stephenville , Lewisporte , Bonavista , Placentia and Carbonear . Following
6336-464: The railroad embargoed its lines west of Miles City, Montana, in 1980 and ceased service in Washington. The state acquired the land in the early 1980s and eventually converted the right-of-way west of the Columbia River into a 110-mile (177 km) hiking , mountain biking , and horseback riding trail. The trail continues beyond Iron Horse State Park to the Idaho border. Iron Horse State Park contains
6424-533: The ruins of one of the substations. That depot is also listed in the National Register of Historic Places. In addition to these buildings, other infrastructure remains, such as tunnels and bridges. [REDACTED] Media related to John Wayne Pioneer Trail at Wikimedia Commons 47°13′45″N 117°14′59″W / 47.22917°N 117.24972°W / 47.22917; -117.24972 Rail trail The Bermuda Railway ceased to operate as such when
6512-859: The second-largest network of rail trails in Europe after Germany. The development of rail trails in the United Kingdom grew after a major programme of railway line closures in the 1960s known as the Beeching cuts . The scheme, named after Dr. Richard Beeching , the then chairman of British Railways , decommissioned approximately 5,000 miles (8,000 km) of railway lines all over Great Britain. Many rural and suburban lines were closed along with selected main line trunk routes. Since then, approximately 1,200–2,200 miles (1,900–3,500 km) of disused railway lines in Britain have been converted to public leisure purposes, and today
6600-545: The second-longest, extending for 321 miles (517 km), the longest being the Ohio to Erie Trail in Ohio at 326 miles (525 km). The BeltLine , in Atlanta , Georgia, is currently under construction. In 2030, its anticipated year of completion, it will be one of the longest continuous trails. The Atlanta BeltLine is a sustainable redevelopment project that will provide a network of public parks, multi-use trails and transit along
6688-416: The southern areas of Canada connecting most of Canada's major cities and most populous areas. There is also a long northern arm which runs through Alberta to Edmonton and then up through northern British Columbia to Yukon. The trail is multi-use and depending on the section may allow hikers, bicyclists, horseback riders, cross country skiers and snowmobilers. In North America, the decades-long consolidation of
6776-413: The state's 2015 capital budget that would close a 130-mile-long (210 km) section of the trail east of the Columbia River. It was later revealed that a typo, referring to the closed section as "from the Columbia River to the Columbia River", nullified the amendment temporarily. In April 2018, Washington State Parks proposed renaming the trail and Iron Horse State Park to resolve confusion. Additionally,
6864-414: The state, most with modern facilities, ample parking for a less common trail, and even a handful of campgrounds. The trail passes through mostly woodland, along lakes and waterfalls, and goes directly through the divide at the old Snoqualmie Tunnel . The park is easily accessible from I-90 . Iron Horse is popular for its scenery and its history, although it is less well-known than other nearby areas like
6952-555: The supply of potential trails increased and awareness of the possibilities rose, state governments, municipalities, conservation authorities, and private organizations bought the rail corridors to create, expand or link green spaces . The longest developed rail trail is currently the 240 miles (390 km) Katy Trail in Missouri . When complete, the Cowboy Trail in Nebraska will become
7040-542: The terrain, with a 100 feet (30 m) width being ample enough where little surface grading is required. The initial 705 miles (1,135 km) stretch of the Illinois Central Railroad is the most liberal in the world with a width of 200 feet (61 m) along the whole length of the line. Rail trails are often graded and covered in gravel or crushed stone, although some are paved with asphalt and others are left as dirt. Where rail bridges are incorporated into
7128-426: The top of the Touchet beds. The two layers of volcanic ash are separated by 1–10 centimetres (0.4–3.9 in) of airborne nonvolcanic silt. The tephra is Mount St. Helens ash that fell in Eastern Washington. By analogy, since there were 40 layers with comparable characteristics at Burlingame Canyon, Waitt argued they all could be considered to have similar separation in deposition time. The controversy about whether
7216-693: The total project budget of NZ$ 50 million. On 24 May 2010, the Singapore and Malaysia governments agreed to move the Singapore terminus of the Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad (KTMB) from the Tanjong Pagar railway station in southern Singapore to Woodlands Train Checkpoint in northern Singapore. This resulted in the railway lines in Singapore becoming surplus as the Woodlands terminus is just over
7304-609: The trail provides access to the unique geological erosion features of the Channeled Scablands regions of the state of Washington, and several stretches have been recognized as providing access to this area created by the cataclysmic Missoula Floods that swept periodically across eastern Washington and down the Columbia River Plateau during the Pleistocene epoch . At Malden, once home to the largest railroad turntable in
7392-480: The trail, the only alterations (if any) tend to be adding solid walking areas on top of ties or trestles, though bridges in poorer condition do receive new guardrails , paint, and reinforcement. If paved, they are especially suitable for people who use wheelchairs. Where applicable, the same trails used in the summer for walking, jogging, and inline skating can be used in the winter for Nordic skiing , snowshoeing , and sometimes snowmobiling . Rails with trails are
7480-408: The trail. The organization aimed to fortify the public ownership of the land, in opposition to nearby private property owners’ extralegal efforts to exert control over the land for their own use. When it was officially established, the eastern part of the trail took on the name "John Wayne Trail" after the organization that lobbied for its existence, themselves being named after actor John Wayne , while
7568-462: The western 100-mile (160 km) portion from Cedar Falls (near North Bend) to the Columbia River south of Vantage was named the "Iron Horse Trail" and had been developed and managed as the Iron Horse State Park . In 2002, it was designated a National Recreation Trail . In 2015, two Washington state representatives from the 9th district attempted to include language in an amendment to
7656-521: The world, Washington State Parks is planning a trailhead in the former rail yard. Iron Horse State Park , part of the Washington State Park System and the Palouse to Cascades State Park Trail, is a 1,612-acre (7 km) state park located in the Cascade Mountains and Yakima River Valley, between Cedar Falls on the west and the Columbia River on the east. The park is contiguous with
7744-610: Was based mainly on analysis from glacial lake bottom deposits in Ninemile Creek and the flood deposits in Burlingame Canyon. His most compelling argument for separate floods was that the Touchet bed deposits from two successive floods were found to be separated by two layers of volcanic ash ( tephra ), with the ash separated by a fine layer of windblown dust deposits, located in a thin layer between sediment layers ten rhythmites below
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