What's A RailTrail

What's A Rail Trail?

Statement of Purpose
And How This All Started

Definition : RailTrails, Rail Trails or Rail-Trails are the same thing.

Rail Trails are old railroad beds converted into trails for public use. Usually the right-of-way of the rail-line falls into disuse and a local municipality buys the rights to the right-of-way. Then the city, town or county must secure funding to convert the rail-bed to a RailTrail. This has been made easier by Congress who have passed two highway bills which contain money for "alternative transportation"; i.e. RailTrails. These new trails can be used for walking, biking, in-line skating and running. They are usually about 10' to 12' wide and smoothly paved with asphalt. Other trails are built on former levees and towpaths.

Montgomery and Greene Counties of Ohio, have developed extensive RailTrail networks. Miami, Hamilton and Butler counties are building their own trail networks connective to those in Montgomery and Greene county. To see where the trails are located, explore this web site (for local and Southwest Ohio trails) and the Rails to Trails Conservancy for other state and national information.

Purpose: This Web Site; the Miami Valley RailTrails , will attempt to capture the changing face of RailTrails in the Miami Valley of Ohio. To a lesser extent I intend to keep informed about RailTrail progress in Ohio and will make what I have learned available to you here. I also include trails that never were rail beds but are included since they "connect" to RailTrails and make vital connections that make isolated trails into "trail systems."

This site will not use the latest state-of-the-art web technology to impress you with my knowledge. I prefer to provide information that you can use without glitzy technology. I'd like to quote from Yahoo Magazine. In it Roger Ebert the noted movie reviewer and columnist says:

"The more I use the Web, the less I want. The less I want graphics and attachments and special effects and little animated men jumping around with their eyes bugging out. And the more I simply want the content."

Here at the Miami Valley RailTrails, content is what you will get in large measure. I will use technology, if it serves my purpose to communicate to you, but not otherwise.

How This All Started: I attended the dedication of the Creekside Trail from Xenia Station to Beavercreek in the Fall of 1997. I had searched the world wide web for sites pertaining to RailTrails in the Dayton area and found none. I asked Mr. Tim Leiwig, former Greene County Parks and Recreation Director, if he knew of any web site commenting on this new trail or on any development in the Miami Valley. He said "No." I asked him if he wanted a web site about the new Creekside Trail. He said "Yes."

"And Now You Know The Rest Of The Story......"

Click on Photo for larger image
Photo Glenn Oster

I am developing this web site for my own enjoyment and yours. I started this site in 1997 and have been updating and improving it since then.

We, wife and I, are avid Volksmarchers (walkers) and now are beginning cyclists. I wrote articles on RailTrails in 1997 and 2001 for ActiveDayton.com which is now Dayton Daily News.com

I also planned, designed, built and maintained the Bike Miami Valley website from its beginning in 1999 to June 2001.

If you have suggestions about this site, or if you'd like to provide reviews of trails you've used in Ohio, please contact me;
Tom Recktenwalt Miami Valley RailTrails Webmaster
Write me at tom_mvrt [at] yahoo [dot] com

Home Page: Miami Valley, Ohio Rails to Trails

For more information on each Web Page or Trail click on its name.