Do you think that the former POTB line through Salmonberry Canyon will become a trail someday too? Or do you think it is too secluded for it to be put to use as a trail? My understanding was that as soon as the RR(in this case POTB) ceased to operate the ROW property went back to the former land owners.
All the rails-to-trails projects I have seen had the rails ripped up, often by the railroads themselves, years or even decades before becoming a trail. I don't think hikers and bikers are the enemy here.
Some, the rails are barely gone when the trail is under way... I've lived right next to two such undertakings. Boxcab E50
Wasn't that the case with the MILW over Snoqualmie Pass Ken? IIRC the rails were ripped out in 1986-87 and the following summer the ROW was turned into the John Wayne trail. Am I correct on this?
Essentially, yes. I am not certain if the r-o-w east of Lake Keechelus had been acquired by the State beforehand. But they could not use it west of Cabin Creek Jct, until the rails had been gone and formal abandonment completed. It was in late August of 1987 when they started prepping for yanking out the tracks. They were shut down by the Feds on September 18, 1987. (I was present.) But started in again as soon as the snows cleared and pulled the last rail east of Cedar Falls on April 18, 1988. (I was present.) Then it was a few weeks later when Fred started trying to buy the depot and by mid-June it was his and being readied to dismantle. Meanwhile the trail process was getting under way. PS- Don't trust what is shown in Wikipedia. It's full of errors about the trail "history".... Boxcab E50
For the Banks-Vernonia Trail, I'm not talking about Wikipedia. I am talking about actual filings and actual film footage showing the SP&S hauling up the rails for scrap. The Springwater Corridor trail was long since kaput as a rail line, with tracks being torn up long before, when it became a trail. The Crown Zellerbach Trail hasn't had any rails for decades and has just recently become a trail. I can't speak to these Seattle area trails.
