My 3-day, 3-trail vacation in Southwestern Ohio concluded here today - Another amazing blue sky - 80 degree day in mid-October. My goal was to study, in detail, the farthest west one can access the old Pennsylvania Railroad's Pittsburgh-St. Louis Panhandle Main Line in the Buckeye State. Starting at the beautifully restored "union" passenger depot, I headed west. Another one of those interesting shared ownership railroads so common to the state, this line west of Dayton was shared by the Pennsy and the old Baltimore & Ohio. Within two years after the demise of Amtrak's National Limited in November of 1979, the line was quickly abandoned by Conrail, the successor to the PRR and Penn Central. Chessie (later CSX) continued to service the abundant corn harvests out of Arcanum, so the line continued to see service from Dayton out to Dodson, well into the 1990's. In that light, it was not surprising to find the line's mileposts renumbered from Dayton, so you will see CSX milesigns 14 through 19, between Brookville and Verona. Note the railroad rail beside MP16, stenciled "16", stuck into the ground on-end, in the manner in which the old Western Maryland Railway marked their milepoints. 2.1 miles west of Brookville, the PRR and B&O routes diverged. In little Dodson, you will see several relay cases and a phone box, lovingly restored with "Chessie Systems" (Sorry, guys, it was only one "System"), and "PRR", in a somewhat distorted keystone corporate logo. But, very nice!... Very nice! If you look carefully at the location of the phone box, you can see the old PRR grade diverging from the trail (the B&O grade from here north) to the northwest. The teaser in the trail description entices the imagination to wander the 20 miles farther west the trail will someday hopefully go into Richmond, Indiana! Hard to believe that we had high speed passenger trains running out that direction, from the Pennsy's "Blue Ribbon Fleet" to Richmond, Indianapolis, Terre Haute, and Saint Louis, to Amtrak's 1979 "Train of the Year!" With the paradox that the old B&O branch to Greenville survives as the trail, north to Verona! Do stop and take a walk through Dull's Woods", just north of Dodson. Mr. Dull, an ardent conservationist and farmer, donated this tiny, 8-acre remnant of the region's once massive swamp forest, to the trail's caretakers. Huge pin oaks and other massive trees present this region as it appeared before farming drained and tamed the land. A "tree island in a sea of agriculture." A beautiful little wooden walkway conducts the visitor around a quarter-mile circle under this most interesting refuge! After a gentle 2.5 mile climb out of Brookville to Dodson, you will enjoy a pretty much all-downhill 4 miles into Verona. With this, I closed out my little "weekend vacation" over the west ends of the Creekside and Wolf Creek Trails. And what a better way to be serenaded back into Brookville and its town festival, than with a female country vocalist singing Arlo Guthries' "City of New Orleans!" "Good night, America, how are you?... Don't you know me, I'm your native son... I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans... I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done..."

"I did this ride on a beautiful warm Saturday in late April. I was surprised to be the 1st one in the lot at the old station in Trotwood at around 11am. The bathrooms were locked...grrr.

The beginning of the trail isn't obvious from the parking lot, or marked on the maps there. From the station, walk your bike across Main, then immediately cross Broadway and then you'll see the start of the trail breaking right, from the sidewalk.

I thoroughly enjoyed this ride-it wasn't crowded, and Brookville was a pleasant town in the middle of the 13 mile trail. You'll pass a wetland preserve along the way. The trail becomes rather remote and sparsely ridden as you head to its northern end. Then it very abruptly ends next to a farm field, just shy of a stone mill."

Riding or blading from the Verona end of this trail starts out serene and quiet in a country setting. It builds up to the city for lunch or overnight stay. There are several eating or stayover places in Brookville. This trail is never very crowded on the north end.