The Chester Creek Trail is Officially Open and It's A Masterpiece! It's likely to become the most cherished adaptive reuse the area has ever seen.

Knowlton Road Entrance and Parking Lot

As young kids, we walked what was left of the Chester Creek Railroad back in the 80's.  For us, it was pure adventure as we spent hours exploring the tracks while thinking what it would have been like to ride a train on the actual line.  We found a lot of rail road spikes, but our most precious haul was typically a vintage beer can we hadn't yet added to our personal collections.  Back then, collecting beer cans was what we did as hobbies and we loved it.   My greatest find on that line I think was an old steel, slightly rusted, but presentable Reading Beer can.  I may still have it.

I thought about those stories when I arrived to take a walk on the newly opened Chester Creek Trail that has been years in the making.  It all looked familiar to me as I've walked every inch of the line from the parts behind Linvilla Orchards to the Lenni Septa depot 3 miles away.  What was different when we arrived at the Knowlton Road entrance was a parking lot that led right up to the path that
had bikers, walkers, runners, strollers, and dogs.  What I remember being overgrown and almost impassable had turned into a beautiful recreational area.

Picture perfect

We quickly jumped on the trail and started to walk towards Lenni.  Along the way, we quickly noticed how nice the paved trail was and the attention to detail given.  Whether it be the nice rail fencing barriers, the brand new signage, or the well thought out landscaping that accentuates certain areas; it all looked fantastic.  In fact, it exceeded all my expectations of what a trail like this should be!

The two railroad bridges we crossed, which are probably close to being 100 years old, seemed perfectly adapted to their new, rustic roles.  Even the two roads with traffic that run across the trail at certain sections were well marked for both pedestrians and drivers.  You can pretty much do the whole trail and not break stride.  As we marveled at how well this trail turned out, we quickly covered 3 miles to our destination in no time.

Adaptive reuse of train bridge

Despite the health benefits this trail will provide, it's also made the area much more enjoyable.  Lenni alone has a lot to benefit from this trail, especially if Septa extends the Media/Elwyn Line out to Wawa.  There might be plans for just that as we noticed that where the trail ends at Lenni, the mile marker says .7 and not 0.  If the trail does extend to a future train station, that could definitely be interesting for housing and business development in that area.

The volunteers who saw this effort through after the passing of Friends of Chester Creek Trail President, Mike Fusco deserve a lot of credit for their persistence.  I'm not sure if trails like this are given awards for layout and design, but this one would have to be a candidate.  As for Mike, the true testament of his vision and success will be the many people who use this trail each and every day for generations to come.  It's a masterpiece!

Bridge over Pennel Rd (Rt 452) going towards Lenni

Trail through Lenni