Iron Horse Trail In Centerville

(1.93 miles in Centerville - To be built in 2008)
(3.5 miles in Kettering - In planning)

Trail Open from Creekside Recreation Trail
to State Farm Park in Kettering - 5.3 miles

Images of New Planned Trail - I have taken a lot of new photos to show you where (I think) the new trail will be built. Remember, these are my best guesses of the route of the trail North to the Creekside Recreation Trail. I also show photos of the rail-bed that runs Northwest from the location of the old Hempstead Station into downtown Dayton. This rail-bed is not on current plans to be developed.

Centerville Construction Plans - The Iron Horse Trail will be built in Centerville along the old Cincinnati, Lebanon & Northern (CL&N) narrow gauge railroad that once existed in the area. The current plan is to prepare Request For Proposal (RFP) in 2007. The Centerville - Washington Park District is working with the City of Centerville who received the funding for the trail. By early 2008 the RFP will be ready to be put out for bid and it is planned that about 2 miles of trail will be built in 2008.

Kettering Construction Plans - The City of Kettering does not yet have funding for their trail. It will continue as a wide sidewalk along Hempstead Station Road North crossing East David Road and continuing to the intersection of Wilmington Pike and East Stroop Road. Plans are to cross both roads (location undermined at this time) and return to the old railbed behind and just Northeast of the Wilmington Library at 3980 Wilmington Pike. From there the trail will continue North along the East side of Valleywood Drive, crossing Cemetery Lane until it crosses Eat Dorothy Lane into Delco Park. The trail will use and improve the existing sidewalk in Delco Park and continue North and East until it crosses Woodman Drive. From there will be three blocks of trail along Aragon Ave until it reaches Galewood Street. From there it is one block to the existing trail in State Farm Park.

History of the railbed - As mentioned above the route of the new trail is on the old (CL&N) railroad. A friend loaned me a copy of "Narrow Gauge in Ohio: The Cincinnati, Lebanon and Northern Railway" - (Hardcover) by John W. Hauck, which is available from Amazon.com. The railbed ran North into Centerville up to "Pasadena Station" on Hempstead Station Drive. From "Pasadena Station" the railroad went both to the North into what is now Kettering but also Northwest into Oakwood and downtown Dayton. In Mr. Hauck's book are photos of the "Brown Street Station" showing both NCR and the University of Dayton tower to the South. (Photos reproduced with permission)

This first photo from the book shows the original Pasadena Station which is now on the border between Kettering and Centerville. The caption says: " ...located just North of Hempstead on the Dayton extension between Devon Avenue and Dorothy Lane. Constructed about 1912 the station building still stands." Alas. The building was destroyed only a few years ago.	Click on photo for larger image p278 - Hauck

Click on photo for larger image p199 - Hauck	The next two photos from Mr. Hauck's book show the Brown Street Station in Dayton. This is the line that went North and West from Pasadena Station through Oakwood into Dayton. In this picture we are looking East. You can see the Brown Street Station in the foreground and the University of Dayton tower to the left of the picture (East).

This second image of the Brown Street Station is looking West towards NCR. You can see one of the larger buildings in the center background. It is hoped that Five Rivers MetroParks with the help of the Miami Valley Regional Planning Commission can take advantage of the abandoned spur that runs to Oakwood and to Brown Street and build a continuation of the Iron Horse Trail into Dayton to connect with the University of Dayton an the existing Stewart Street Bikeway which connects to the Great Miami River Recreation Trail.	Click on photo for larger image p199 - Hauck

Photos of the planned Trail - Ms. Carol Kennard the Director of the Centerville - Washington Park District was kind enough to provide me with some photos she took of the proposed trail. I re-photographed the trail from Iron Horse Park North through Centerville and Kettering and have replaced the pictures she provided.

The new trail section in Centerville will start just South and West of Iron Horse Park where the railbed crosses I-675. This photo was taken between I-675 and the park.	Click on photo for larger image Kennard - Centerville - Washington Park District

Click on photo for larger image	In this photo we are starting close to the Southern end of the new trail in Iron Horse Park. This is where the staging area may be where you'll be parking your car to get your bicycle off the rack.

The next two pictures show the entrance to the trail from East Whipp Road at just West of Milshire Drive, looking South. This first photo shows the entrance to the right of way.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	This photo shows how overgrown the railbed has become in the years since it was abandoned. It is hoped that the developers will try to retain as much of the foliage and trees as possible to keep the new trail's rural aspect.

The next major intersection that the trail crosses is East Rahn Road just West of Scarsdale Drive. Here we are looking at the entrance to the trail from E. Rahn Road looking to the South.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	In this photo we are looking at the entrance to the trail from E. Rahn Road looking North.

The trail presumably will continue across E. Rahn Road and continue North following the old railbed to the South end of the Kettering Industrial Park. Here we see an image taking looking South from the Southeast corner of the Industrial Park. The image was taken from behind 5044 Hempstead Station Road in the Kettering Corporate Center at the end of Hempstead Station Road.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	This image was taken looking North from the same location. In the left of the photo is the Eastern boundary of Kettering Industrial Park.

Just North of the Southern end of Hempstead Station Road is Kettering Corporate Center at the turn around in the road. This photo shows the trail coming from the tree line that you see in the photo above. The trail will then run along a wide sidewalk next to the road.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	This image is Hempstead Station Road at Glenstead Drive looking South from the corner. The dead end of Hempstead is about one half mile South. Plans call for the trail to run along Hempstead Station Road North to E. David Road. The road goes by a large Meijers on the right as it curves to the West and ends in East Stroop Road.

This image was Glenstead Drive and Hempstead Station Road. The photo shows just a brown field with my wife Donna at far left. We think that this may be the location of the original Hempstead Station. From here a railbed went due North and another west to the Northwest through Oakwood to downtown Dayton near the University of Dayton. Please see Yahoo Maps for an aerial view which you can manipulate	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	These next two photos show an historic topographic maps from the United States Geological Survey. These old maps were scanned and put into a website called MapTech. This image is Waynesville 15NW from 1915. (Click on Northwest 1915) or to be taken directly to the map; Click Here. I've cut out area of Hempstead Station Road with E. Stroop Road North of it. The neighborhood that I have colored is the area North of Stroop. The image shows the two rail-beds; one going North into Kettering and Beavercreek and the other going Northwest to Oakwood and downtown Dayton.

This image is a current Google Earth image of the same area. You can see E. Stroop Road (running East and West) and Hempstead Station Road running just West of Meijers. The colored area is the same as the 1915 map above. You can see the tree line just East of Claybourne Road and West of Roslyn Avenue (shown but not named.) Just South of Stroop at where Hempstead Station dead ends there is a large building. This is the Cassano's Pizza warehouse. The rail-bed going Northwest looks to behind it following the parking lot line.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	This photo was taken at almost the end of Hempstead Station Road where it ends at E. Stroop Road. We believe that the rail-bed that runs Northwest from the old Hempstead Station goes behind the white building in the photo, Cassano's warehouse.

Here we see the rail-bed Northwest of E. Stroop Road on its way to downtown Dayton, We are on the corner of Berwin Ave. at Claybourne Road. We are looking South from Berwin Ave. at the old rail-bed. You are looking at the backyards of houses that front on Roslyn Avenue.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	I took this photo from almost the same location as the photo above. This playground is on the corner of Claybourne Road at Berwin Avenue. The trail, if it is ever built will go right alongside this playground.

We have stopped following the Northwest rail-bed from the old Hempstead Station. This route is not in the City of Kettering's plans for a trail. Only the rail-bed that runs North through Kettering will be built to connect to the Creekside Recreation Trail in Beavercreek. However, it is hoped that this railbed will be developed someday to connect to the City of Oakwood and downtown Dayton. It is possible that this could connect to the Stewart Street Bikeway that connects the University of Dayton to the Great Miami River Recreation Trail.

The trail will cross Wilmington Pike and E. Stroop Road somewhere and I am told go behind the Wilmington Library to connect with the old rail-bed that runs just East of Valleywood Drive. Going North of Valleywood we cross Cemetery Lane. On this lane is the Bulah Cemetery which is to the left of this image. We are looking South and Valleywood (not in image) is to the right. I am told that this land owned by CSX may be purchased by the City of Kettering Parks in 2008 to make it part of the trail.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image	This image was taken looking North from the same location as the photo above; standing on Cemetery Lane. In the distance you can see cars on Woodman Center Drive, the road that goes into Delco Park. The trail will run along this tree line to connect to Delco Park and then to State Farm Park which is the current end of the Iron Horse Trail.

The Google Earth image at right shows you Valleywood Drive and Cemetery Lane which runs East to West and ends in a square in the middle of the photo. That is the outline of the Bulah Cemetery. North of it is the right-of-way for the trail that will connect to Delco Park. You can also see this area at my link to Yahoo Maps.	Click on photo for larger image

Click on photo for larger image p278 - Hauck	Finally I thought I'd put in a picture of the vanished Pasadena Station which is now on the border between Kettering and Centerville. There were two stations, one at Hempstead Station Road and the other North and West of it. The caption on the photo says: " ...located just North of Hempstead on the Dayton extension between Devon Avenue and Dorothy Lane." Constructed about 1912 the station building was torn down recently. If you look at the historical map above just outside the red circle are most of the letters of "Pasadena', the location of the old station.

Iron Horse Park to City of Kettering Plans are being made by the Centerville-Washington Park District to build multi-use trails in the area. The plans are the result of a process called Create the Vision which ended in a written plan for the area. The first priority of the plan is to start construction on the Iron Horse Trail from I-675 South of Iron Horse Park in the City of Centerville North 1.93 miles along an abandoned railroad right-of-way to just past the City of Kettering�s boundary at Hempstead Station Drive .The City of Kettering has plans to continue the trail ( see above)

Grant Request The City of Centerville, in cooperation with the Centerville-Washington Park District and the City of Kettering submitted a request to the Clean Ohio Trail Fund Program for a reimbursement grant in the amount of $272,480 for the development of the multi-use trail in the cities of Centerville and Kettering. The Grant was awarded from the ODNR's Clean Ohio Trails Fund Funds were approved a contract can be let in 2007 with construction of this almost 2 mile trail in 2007.
News: The Centerville-Washington Park District received a $200K Clean Ohio Trails Grant in Fall 2006 to build this 1.93 mile section.

Iron Horse Park to Pleasant Hill Park and Swim Club As a part of their long range planning the Centerville-Washington Park District also plans to extend the Iron Horse Trail South from Iron Horse Park under I-675 to Alex-Bell Road.The trail would then cross Alex-Bell Road and where the trail leaves the rail bed, add new trail through a field to the end of Zengel Drive at Pleasant Hill Parkand the Swim Club.