What a delightful afternoon all along the Iron Horse Trail. It really was beautiful. It was such a refreshing grassroots event. Friendly people everywhere!
I didn’t take as many pictures as I should so I’ll link to sites that did a better job and add more as I find them :)
Links:
- Iron Horse Trail Stories – a collection of audio stories (very cool, I will spend the time to explore this site).
- Facebook group for friends of the Iron Horse Trail
- Facebook page of photo’s for Animating The Trail
- Record article inviting everyone out to Animating the Trail.
First rest stop was after passing City Cafe Bakery, there were a few tents setup that we passed but there didn’t seem too much going on and I didn’t think the type writer was going to interest the 2 year olds that much.
This robo cop bike seat is awesome and got tonnes of comments. Little Rhys is a natural salesman.
The blue grass music kept with the theme, providing some great entertainment. Behind the duo was a flame throwing juggler.
More blue grass …
The dreaded railway crossing by Victoria Park.
A lesson in static electricity at Victoria Park before returning along the beautiful Iron Horse Trail.
Looks like a fun time!
I wonder why they made the trail so they’d cross the tracks like that?
Welland canal trail crosses train tracks a couple of times, however the trail was designed so that they crossed straight across.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/545/1010003s.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/109/1010005l.jpg/
Work on re-aligning the trail crossing to make it safely cross at 90 degrees is expected to be contracted out this June.
@MIke Boos – Are they building it in June or just starting the process of redesign? The problem isn’t the angle of the crossing, it’s the double bars across the bike path that kills cyclists. (But I’m sure that’s what you meant).
I believe they are contracting out the work of paving a new section of path (to connect with the path from the Victoria Park parking lot). That was the impression I had from the rest of the Kitchener Cycling Advisory Committee (which I’ve just joined) and has been something they’ve been advocating for some time now.
@Ryan – I like the design of the crossing, hopefully that’s what Kitchener gets. Ever heard of any complaints about the post in the middle of the trail? I wonder why they’d put those there. In all my riding in the Netherlands I can’t recall a post like that in the middle of a bike path (doesn’t mean there aren’t any my time in NL was quite a while ago). Why not just paint reflective lines outlining the path as you would a roadway for cars.
I haven’t heard of any complaints of those posts, though I suspect most are like myself and just curse them in passing.
I am not quite sure why they are there. It could be just to make sure people are aware that there are train tracks. These areas can be a bit more remote and your mind can wander onto the passing nature, or if you’re listening to an MP3 player.
We also have those metal gates at road crossings and a year ago a woman fell off trying to ride past.
http://www.thespec.com/news/crime/article/529756–woman-seriously-hurt-in-fall-from-bicycle
I found some videos I posted two years ago of my trip to Welland. These just involve the different gates or posts at crossings:
First part 0:43 – 0:53
Second part 1:30 – 1:53
Third 0:52 – 0:59
Thanks for posting the videos Ryan. How long is the welland trail that’s posted in the first clip. The third clip has some crazy posts :) First, is the trail as narrow as it seems in the first few seconds with a rock ledge along one side and a chain link along the other? How close are you to the cyclists coming from the opposite direction? And then I started thinking the black posts were just crazy and then I see telephone poles in the middle of the trail! Crazy. Almost as good as the telephone poles waterloo hydro planted in a bike trail here. http://www.therecord.com/news/local/article/721996–there-s-a-hydro-pole-stuck-in-the-middle-of-a-waterloo-road-exactly-as-planned
Looks like a fun time!
I wonder why they didn’t design the trail so they crossed the tracks straight.
Welland canal crosses tracks a couple of times, however the trail was designed to cross straight across.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/109/1010005l.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/545/1010003s.jpg/
sorry for the double post…my wordpress account went all screwy.
No Worries I’ll clean it up.
Hey Graham,
The trail in the first video is probably somewhere around 10-15km (obviously a lot was cut out). The trail in total, which starts in St. Catharines (Lake Ontario) and goes to Port Colborne (Lake Erie) is around 40km in total and is about 97% off road, with the odd road crossing.
There are other trails that connect Port Colborne to Fort Erie, then Fort Erie with Niagara Falls & Niagara-on-the-Lake…In total is circles the entire region and is around 140km and is probably 90% on an off road trail.
The width is 3 metres. For passing other cyclists there are no issues at all. I would guess three cyclists could easily ride across with no issues.
The St. Catharines and Welland stretches are a bit more tricky as you have a lot more pedestrians, rollerbladers, dogs etc. It just requires slowing down more and sometimes waiting for a clearing to pass, but I’ve never encountered any issues (except for pedestrians distracted with music or phones).
I don’t mind the telephone poll stretch all that much. I seldom encounter people there. Plus the polls have been there long before the trail and there really wasn’t anywhere else to put the trail or polls.
Despite never seeing a train there the train tracks are still active and the road is too narrow to do anything with.
I saw a video on YouTube with that poll in Waterloo, which I must say I’m still scratching my head over!