The Ironton Rail Trail is a

rail trail A rail trail is a shared-use path on railway right of way. Rail trails are typically constructed after a railway has been abandoned and the track has been removed, but may also share the right of way with active railways, light rail, or streetcar ...

that spans in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The trail was made from tracks of the defunct

Ironton Railroad The Ironton Railroad was a shortline railroad in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. Originally built in 1861 to haul iron ore and limestone to blast furnaces along the Lehigh River, traffic later shifted to carrying Portland cement when local iron mining ...

and includes a paved loop. The trail spreads across Whitehall Township, Coplay and North Whitehall. It is a very popular trail in the Lehigh Valley for walkers, bikers, runners and dog walkers. The trail has many events such as a 10k race held every year.

History

The Ironton Railroad was originally chartered in 1859 and built during the 1860s. It transported iron ore from mines in

Ironton, Pennsylvania Ironton is a village in North Whitehall Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Lehigh Valley, which has a population of 861,899 and was the 68th-most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. as of the 2020 census. It uses the ...

to the

Thomas Iron Company The Thomas Iron Company was a major iron-making firm in Hokendauqua, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania from its organization in 1854 until its decline and eventual dismantling in the early 20th century. The firm was ...

plant in

Hokendauqua, Pennsylvania Hokendauqua is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Whitehall Township in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The population of Hokendauqua was 3,340 as of the 2020 census. Hokendauqua is a suburb of Allentown, Pennsylvania ...

. The railroad was acquired by the

Reading Company The Reading Company ( ) was a Philadelphia-headquartered railroad that provided passenger and commercial rail transport in eastern Pennsylvania and neighboring states that operated from 1924 until its 1976 acquisition by Conrail. Commonly called ...

in 1923 and was consolidated into

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

in 1976. However, the railroad was ultimately closed in 1984, and tracks were removed in 1990.

Right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

for the stretch that would become the Ironton Rail Trail was purchased from Conrail in 1996.

References

External links

* {{pennsylvania rail trails Rail trails in Pennsylvania Protected areas of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania