Iron Horse Trail

Route: The Iron Horse Trail extends South from the "T-Connection at the West end of the Creekside Recreation Trail about 5.4 miles. It crosses Woodbine Avenue in Dayton after about 1 mile. It extends another 2 miles East across Woodman Drive to Spaulding Road. There the trail connects to a wide sidewalk that continues for about .7 mile and ends at the end of Research Blvd. and beginning of County Line Road in Kettering a trail total of 5.4 miles. The trail was extended in Summer 2006 along a new sidewalk next to Research Blvd. The trail continues just past the Ohio National Guard Armory on County Line Road and then turns into a dedicated trail as it enters and runs through State Farm Park in the City of Kettering.

Plans are being made to extend the trail South from State Farm Park through the City of Kettering and in to the City of Centerville to end at I-675 South of Iron Horse Park in Centerville. (See above for links to plans).

Map: See map from Yahoo Maps by clicking. You can see Falke Drive parallel and East of the trail which is a line of trees going North to South. Also you can see Arcadia Blvd. identified on the map. You can manipulate this map to see the trail run South across Woodbine Avenue and then turn East to cross Woodman Drive.

To West: From the trail's beginning at the "T- Connection" with the Creekside Recreation Trail continue North on the Creekside Recreation Trail North to Eastwood MetroPark. There is parking, water and restrooms at Eastwood MetroPark

To East: Take the Creekside Recreation Trail about one mile East to the Fifth Third Gateway Park on the trail just after you cross I-675. There is parking, water and restrooms at the Gateway Park.

Impressions: This is a "feeder" trail. It will connect the Cities of Kettering and Centerville to the trail system. It is a nice 5.4 mile ride, flat and mostly straight. See Trail Plans below for short and long range plans

Trail Review: The trail was new as of Fall 2004. The City of Kettering extended the trail another 1.7 miles to State Farm Park in the Summer of 2006. I have taken pictures and have rewritten the descriptions of the photos below.

Click on photo for larger image	The Iron Horse Trail starts at the T-Connection on the Creekside Recreation Trail. When you get to the end of the trail near Dayton you reach a "T." If you turn right or North to continue on the Creekside Recreation Trail to Eastwood MetroPark to connect with the Mad River Recreation Trail that takes you to downtown Dayton to connect with the Great Miami River Recreation Trail. If you turn left or South you'll cross under the US-35 bridge as seen at left, and cross over Linden Avenue (in the foreground. The trail continues south until it gets to Spaulding Road a total of three miles where it connects with a trail in Kettering.

Here we see the Iron Horse Trail crossing Linden Avenue looking South. At the right of the trail is an active slow freight railroad line that we follow into Kettering.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	The first intersection is at Arcadia Blvd. and Falke Drive. Arcadia Blvd dead ends at the trail as you can see in this photo. The trail is running north to south and we are looking west towards the end of Arcadia Blvd. The intersection of Falke Drive which parallels the trail is just behind us.

Here is a more current picture of Arcadia Blvd. You can see the short spur to the end of the street allowing the whole neighborhood access to the trail.	Click on photo for larger image

I have a map from Yahoo Maps. that you can see and manipulate to follow the trail south to Kettering. The trail is a line of trees that crosses Woodman Drive just South of where Rainier Drive crosses Woodman. You can manipulate this map to follow the trail East and South to

Click on photo for larger image	In this photo we are across the trail from Arcadia Blvd. The trail to left is about 100 yards South of Linden Avenue. Arcadia Blvd. dead ends at each side of the trail. We are parking on the west side of the trail.

In this photo we are South of Arcadia Blvd. The trail continues and the next intersection in about a half mile is Woodbine Avenue.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	Here we have continued South and are now crossing Woodbine Avenue. The photo is looking South towards Woodman Drive

After you cross Woodbine Avenue the trail turns to the East and continues until after the Woodman Drive crossing. While we were riding the trail we heard a loud buzzing behind us. What we heard was a four wheel ATV piloted by Ranger Wallen of Five Rivers MetroParks. He told us that by using an ATV instead of a bicycle that he could patrol 2 to 3 times more trail in the same amount of time. He "wizzed" past us. I tried to catch him but even at over 25 MPH I couldn't do it!	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	Here we are looking back up the trail towards Woodbine Avenue. In about 30 yards we will be crossing Woodman Drive.

The Iron Horse Trail continues East from Woodbine Ave. The next major intersection is Woodman Drive. Here we can see the crossing. We are standing on the East side of Woodman Drive looking West across the road. You can see that the trail developers have placed an traffic island in the middle of Woodman to help you cross this busy street. Please be careful crossing Woodman Drive. The traffic is usually very heavy.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	In this image we are looking North on Woodman Drive at the trail crossing. As you can see their is a Mobil gas station with a United Dairy Farmers store inside. Ice Cream Yum!

The trail continues another mile or so until it gets to Spaulding Road in the City of Kettering. At this point the trail crosses over Spaulding and joins a .7 mile sidewalk that continues on to end to where Research Blvd. becomes County Line Road. Here we are looking West back towards Woodman Drive to show you the trail crossing at Spaulding. I'm standing on the sidewalk that continues South on Spaulding	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	Looking South along the sidewalk that continues into Kettering. This is Spaulding Road. The road turns bears left in a few hundred yards after it intersects with Founders Drive. and goes by some of the buildings in the Miami Valley Research Park.

We are almost to the end of Spaulding Road . We have gone south of the intersection with Founders Drive and are crossing the Little Beaver Creek at the bridge. Just ahead at the signal lights the trail turns right (South) onto Research Blvd.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	We are at Research Blvd. and Research Blvd. (SR-825) in Beavercreek just across the street from the Bergamo Center. We looking North towards the Little Beaver Creek bridge which you may be able to see in the background. At this point the trail is running due East but will turn South at this corner.

As you can see the new sidewalk alongside Research Blvd. going South into Kettering is almost completed. So you'll have to cross the street to continue on the trail.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	Here we are at where Research Blvd. turns right or West. We are across the street looking North back towards Spaulding Road. The cones are the new sidewalk. Behind me Research Blvd. becomes Countyline Road.

In this photo we are looking right from where we took the photo above. So the road behind me is Research Blvd. and the road ahead is renamed Shakertown Road. I provide this photo because you can see the "Welcome to Beavercreek" sign at the corner. We are 4 miles from the beginning of this trail at the West end of the Creekside Trail. If you travel North of this trail you can connect to Eastwood MetroPark and continue to downtown (West) Dayton on the Mad River Recreation Trail. Going East you connect to Xenia Station and the 5 trails that converge there.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	After the trail crosses Shakertown Road on right you'll see the headquarters of Reynolds & Reynolds on right. They have two crossings of the trail and "Reynolds Way" the main driveway to their parking lots and then "Reynolds Way" again the Southern entrance to their parking lots. Here we are looking back towards the previous corner. We have just crossed the first Reynolds Way.

After we pass Reynolds & Reynolds the next building on the right is the Ohio National Guard Armory. In this photo we have just passed their parking lot to the right in this photo and are just starting on the dedicated trail into State Farm Park. We are 4.7 miles from the beginning of the trail.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	We are continuing along the new trail. The Armory parking lot in on our right as we cross a small bridge. The trail will transit some unimproved park property before we get to State Farm Park proper. On your left as you go along the trail are the bocce ball grounds of the Bella Vista Hall which is an Italian American association. Look at the Yahoo Maps picture here. Reynolds & Reynolds parking lot is at top right and the park is in the center of the picture.

We are at the end of the unimproved section of the park and are now entering the park proper. The trail follows the Northern periphery of the park. The trail goes through an "S" curve to get into the park .(See City of Kettering Parks) Here we see "friend wife" walking the new trail near the existing restrooms.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	This photo shows the main entrance to State Farm Park. We turned onto Vale Drive from Countyline Road just past the Bella Vista Hall. Then we turned right into the park. The cross street is Blackhawk Drive. In the park are restrooms (seasonal) water and ample parking. You can just see one of the buildings behind the sign in the foreground.

The park has an existing bridge over the Little Beaver Creek that runs through the park. Here you can see the bridge leading to houses that front on Aragon Avenue East.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	The trail continues around to the West end of the park where a new trail bridge crosses over the Little Beaver Creek again.

In this photo we have crossed over the creek. The fence to left in the picture is the edge of the pool complex. At the end of the road is the parking lot for the pool and park on Galewood Street. This is the end of the current trail construction. We are 5.4 miles from the beginning of the trail.	Click on photo for larger image

Note to Cyclists: If you wish to continue your ride turn right (North) onto Galewood Street and ride about 100 yards to Aragon Avenue South. Follow it 4 blocks and you'll be crossing Woodman Drive. Cross Woodman and you may be able to use the road that connects to Delco to get to Delco Park. This is the route that the Iron Horse Trail will take when it is extended South towards to trail section being built by the Centerville-Washington Park District. See Iron Horse Trail 2. for more information on this topic.

See Yahoo Maps for a view of State Farm Park, where the current trail ends, just West of County Line Road. The trail ends at the parking lot at the old swimming pool at Galewood Street.	See Trail Plans below for what is planned by the cities of Kettering and the Centerville-Washington Park District to make this 5.4 mile trail into one over 9.2 miles in length.

Trail Plans - This trail was previously called the "Kettering Recreation Trail." The cities of Kettering and the Centerville-Washington Park District have announced plans to extend the current trail that ends in Kettering at State Farm Park. They plan to continue the trail South to Delco Park in Kettering and then to I-675 South of Iron Horse Park in Centerville. This dirt trail in Iron Horse Park is planned to be paved by the Centerville-Washington Park District to the City of Kettering border. Much later the Centerville-Washington Park District plans to extend the trail under I-675 to the Swim Club. See City of Kettering Plans and Centerville-Washington Park District Plans below for details.

The Centerville-Washington Park District plans, are building a 1.93 mile multi-use trail on an old CSX railbed from Iron Horse Park to Hempstead Station Road in Kettering . From there the City of Kettering will build the trail North in several sections
News: The Centerville-Washington Park District received a $200K Clean Ohio Trails Grant in Fall 2006 to build this 1.93 mile section.

Section 1 � Hempstead Station Drive to Wilmington Pike / Stroop Road intersection
The City of Kettering will address this 1 mile section of the trail first. The trail starts where the Centerville-Washington Park District's effort ends at Hempstead Station Road in the City of Kettering. The route is not fully determined at this time, but is expected to continue as a wide sidewalk along Hempstead Road. After crossing David Road, the trail will continue to the intersection of Wilmington Pike and Stroop Road. The trail will cross both roads and continue North going back to the old railbed. There is no funding at present for this trail section. The City of Kettering will request grants for funding of this section once the right of way is completely planned in 2006 (or later - Webmaster comment)

Section 2 - Wilmington Pike / Stroop Road to Delco Park
This section will go back to running on the old railbed to travel about 1 mile crossing Dorothy Lane into Delco Park. The existing walking path inside Delco Park will be utilized and modified as needed to connect the bike trail through the park. The trail will exit Delco Park at the Northeast corner of the park and run along Delco Drive. Funding will be determined once an easement or land purchase has determined the final route.

Section 3 - Delco Park through State Farm Park to connect with current trail
The trail will leave the Northeast portion of Delco Park onto Delco Drive as a wide sidewalk. The trail will cross Woodman Drive and continue East on Aragon Avenue, then will cross Galewood Street into State Farm Park. The trail will follow the Northern end of the park and come out onto County Line Road next to the Army National Guard Armory. At present there are no funds for development of this trail section.

State Farm Park Section
The .5 mile trail through State Farm Park was built in the Summer of 2006 by the City of Kettering through grant money. Trail section was completed as of 1 November 2006

When complete the Iron Horse Trail in Kettering will total approximately 3.5 miles. It will join with the 1.93 miles of trail to be built in the City of Centerville and Washington Township and connect to the existing 3.7 miles Iron Horse Trail in Beavercreek, making the trail approximately 9.2 miles long. The completed Iron Horse Trail will connect the City of Centerville, Washington Township and the City of Kettering to the entire Miami Valley Trails system at the Creekside Recreation Trail in Beavercreek. From there trail users can access the whole system.

Route	Surface
Park & Ride Locations	Map
Impressions	Restrooms
Trail Plans	Trail Review (With Pictures)
Iron Horse Trail In Kettering	Iron Horse Trail in Centerville
City of Kettering Plans	Centerville and Kettering Plans (IronHorse1)