I don't have a scanner, and the park district's map is a big blueprint that won't fit on anything, so here is the trail the way the
railroad thought of it: by mileposts, counting from the south end. The old railroad mileposts were counted from somewhere else
entirely, a junction forty miles south, so ours are new, and the park district has put a small green post at every half mile. If you
call for help on the trail, tell them the nearest milepost.
| MP | What's there |
| PHASE I · OPEN · paved · 4.2 miles |
| 0.0 | Brannock trailhead. Parking for 40 cars (and it's not enough on Saturdays), restrooms, a drinking fountain, a bike rack, the information kiosk with the map, and the trail counter. Where the old Brannock team track was. Our Buy a Foot table is here most Saturday mornings. |
| 0.6 | Mill Road crossing. Stop sign for trail users. Cars have the right of way. Good sight lines both ways. |
| 1.3 | Sandy Creek bridge. The old steel girder bridge, 90 feet long, with a new wood deck and railings. Good place to stop and look for herons. Kids drop sticks off one side and run to the other. |
| 2.0 | Beaver pond boardwalk. A short overlook built by volunteers in May. Beaver lodge on the far side, wood ducks in the spring, great blue herons all summer, and a lot of frogs. Bench. |
| 2.7 | County Road 18 crossing. The busier of the two. Stop, look, and walk your bike across if there's traffic. |
| 3.4 | The Cut. The railroad blasted a cut through a sandstone ridge here, about thirty feet deep. Ferns and moss on the walls, and it's ten degrees cooler in July. Watch for fallen rock after a freeze; the park district checks it every spring. |
| 3.9 | Orchard bench. Old apple trees on the east side that somebody planted along the right-of-way decades ago. They still bear. Help yourself to the ones on the trail side. |
| 4.2 | Fenwick. End of pavement. The 1903 depot (new roof!), a small parking lot for 12 cars, a bike rack, and the village, with a diner and an ice cream stand that's open until October 31. Work days meet here. |
| PHASE II · NOT YET OPEN · 5.8 miles |
| 5.0 | Kessler Road crossing. The end of the brush we'll cut on October 9. |
| 5.8 | The Sandy Creek trestle. 180 feet of timber trestle, 28 feet above the creek at the middle. The single biggest cost in Phase II: it needs a new deck, railings, and some of the piles replaced. Beautiful, and absolutely off limits until then. |
| 6.6 | Farm lane crossings. Two private lanes where farmers cross the corridor with equipment. The trail will have gates and signs here, and the farmers will keep the right to cross, in writing. |
| 7.5 | Water tower footings. The stone footings of the tank where steam engines took on water, from the days before diesels. Alonzo Jusino's father worked this section. We'd like an interpretive sign here. |
| 8.3 | Township Road 42 crossing. Quiet gravel road. Future small parking area on the old siding. |
| 9.1 | The Long Fill. A high embankment across a side valley, about a third of a mile long. The best view on the whole line: farms, woods and the creek below, and in October, the color. |
| 10.0 | Second creek bridge. A short steel span, in better shape than the trestle. End of Phase II. |
| PHASE III · NOT YET OPEN · 4.0 miles |
| 10.8 | Old quarry spur. Where a spur track once went off to a sandstone quarry. The quarry is private and flooded, and it's not part of the trail. Please respect the fence. |
| 11.6 | The state highway crossing. Four lanes, fast traffic, and the old railroad bridge over the highway was taken down years ago. The park district and the state are studying a signal or a tunnel. This crossing is why Phase III is last. |
| 12.4 | Pioneer cemetery. A small fenced burying ground from the 1830s, just off the right-of-way. The trail will pass it quietly. A Fenwick church group looks after it. |
| 13.2 | Calder village park. The trail will pass along the back of the ballfields. The village has offered its parking lot and restrooms. |
| 14.0 | Calder trailhead. North end of the corridor, at the site of the old Calder freight house. Someday, we hope, the start of a connection to more trails to the north. |
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