Dutch Double

   I don’t have anything too exciting to report on my projects, as I have been doing a bunch of repair/tune-up jobs lately and wanted to clear those out of the way before I take on the more complex work. I did tinker with the Pinarello Veneto frame, as it appears it will require a similar process as the Vuelta bicycle I worked on last fall. I put a bit of MicroSol (a decal softening solution used by modelers) on the deteriorating logos and used a dull X-Acto knife to pick off the remaining pieces. The method works well, but it is time-consuming work.

   This morning I headed out again into Pennsylvania Dutch country to ride on the Lebanon Valley and Conewago Trails. I had the opportunity to ride here a few years ago when I purchased a Motobécane bicycle from someone who lived in the area. Unfortunately the weatherman screwed up his prediction, and a rainstorm rolled in before I even reached the trailhead.

   The two trails primarily follow the route of the Cornwall and Lebanon Railroad (C&L), not to be confused with the rival Cornwall Railroad, which ran parallel much of the way to its namesake town. The Cornwall, originally the North Lebanon Railroad, had a head start in 1850, taking advantage of a connection with the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad to move iron ore from deposits around Cornwall. Robert Coleman, who had received $1.2 million on his twenty-first birthday from the local Cornwall Furnace, built the C&L and had trains running by 1883.

   The big moneymaker for both roads was iron ore, the C&L hauling its freight to a connection with the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) near Elizabethtown. The ore was sent from there to mills in Steelton, just south of Harrisburg. C&L company stock was eventually acquired in 1913 by the PRR. Both the C&L and Cornwall roads prospered well into the 60s, but the mines were beginning to peter out when Hurricane Agnes flooded the mine shafts and devastated the C&L right-of-way in 1972. Not enough revenue remained to justify reopening the line.

   The Cornwall Railroad (a Reading Railroad acquisition in 1962), remained in business for one more year as Bethlehem Steel continued to send shipments of foreign ore to iron concentrator plants in the area. A truncated section served an Alcoa plant, a feed mill and the Lebanon Daily News, until Conrail abandoned the line around 1996. Below are photos of the PRR and Reading stations in Lebanon.

   I’m also mentioning the Cornwall Railroad because the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy had some misinformation about the trails being on the C&L route, as there is a small section of the trail through downtown Lebanon that is actually where the Cornwall Railroad tracks had lain.

   I discovered this when I was riding, as I spied an old Cornwall Railroad structure (photo below), which I thought was a station, still standing not far from the old connection with the Reading Railroad. After doing some research at home, I found that the building was actually the company’s general offices, as the passenger station, demolished in 1974, was across the tracks.

   George Costanza of Seinfeld fame expressed a wish to be a “buff” on some subject, and even though my family members (who call me the “Font of Useless/Senseless Information”) think I qualify on several different subjects, I think that I am only on the hook for two - railroad and cycling buff. However, I know that there are plenty of folks on far more of an expert level in both categories!

   I imagine that my pursuit of railroad information caused two other cyclists some confusion, as I had passed them and then turned off of the trail to a parallel street in order to view the former Cornwall Station (photo below), which now functions as a borough office and police department. Because the trail starts to climb abruptly at this point, to a 130 foot steel truss bridge (second photo below) that used to allow the Cornwall Railroad to pass under the C&L, there was no trail access further down the road. I had doubled back to rejoin the trail and I eventually passed the same cyclists again – I can only wonder what was going through their minds!

   A former riding partner of mine would be thrilled to hear me admit that this trail is definitely not flat, as it climbs nearly 400 feet up to Mt. Gretna. Keep in mind that this was a railroad, so it does so in over six miles! It is a bit of a grind going at the speed in which I usually like to ride, but the grade certainly isn’t something the casual cyclist couldn’t handle. And the ride back down the other side is tons of fun! Yes, I had to eventually turn around and do it in reverse, but of course the trip ends with the downhill back to Lebanon.

   The riding condition of the Lebanon Valley segment was wonderful, as it was a hard-packed dark cinder - none of those patches of thick stone that regularly appear on rail trails and cause your front wheel to “ski” out of control. There were a few rockier sections, perhaps where small washouts had occurred and then had been repaired with coarser stone. Overall I knew how spoiled I was with this surface, as I had little of the palm/wrist fatigue that is a consistent result of bouncing around the rough Perkiomen Trail.

   Much of the extra-wide Lebanon Valley Trail has a separate parallel path for horses, keeping the huge animals safely in the clear, as well as minimizing the damage their hooves can do to the riding surface! I can imagine the width of the trail is due to the railroad having been double-tracked, considering the heavy ore trains that would have been pulled up Mt. Gretna and the need to allow trains to pass downhill in the other direction. By comparison, the Perkiomen Trail was a flatter, single-track Reading Railroad branch with occasional passing sidings. It is a relatively narrow path with not much room to spare, and as a result, some of the nicer, crushed gravel sections have been eventually wrecked with divots created by horses.

   The Conewago Trail may not be as regularly maintained as the Lebanon Valley, but that isn’t always a bad thing, as well-worn tracks are always more comfortable to ride upon! The base for this trail was well designed with a thick clay layer with crushed stone much lighter in appearance than that of the Lebanon Valley’s surface – kind of looked like Strade Bianche, ha!

   Much of both trails are under a thick canopy of deciduous trees (photo above) that created a tunnel-like effect. I almost felt foolish to have slathered on the sunscreen, as I was actually out in the sun very little. I can imagine this shady ride is a great alternative on really hot summer days!

   Another summer attraction to the trail is the Root Beer Barrel, which once again opens to provide snacks and cool drinks to riders. The quirky structure used to stand out on Route 72 near Mt. Gretna, but business flagged and the barrel fell into disrepair. A local boy renovated it as an Eagle Scout project and a lawyer nearby made a donation to have it moved to a protected location along the Lebanon Valley Trail.

Click HERE to see an old feature on the Root Beer Barrel.

   I was a bit surprised that there were no water stops along the 40 miles of the two connection trails, but I found out from a local bike shop owner (who kindly shared a cool bottled water with me) that the reason is very poor water quality in the area. Sounds like a frosty root beer would be a good buy!