◆The trail follows the former Allegheny Valley Railroad, whose tracks were laid along the flat river corridor between 1855 and 1870.
◆In the early 1900s the line was busy enough to justify double tracks, carrying up to 5 passenger trains and 25 freight trains in each direction daily.
◆The 2,468-foot Brady Tunnel opened on May 28, 1916 and shortened the rail trip by 5.36 miles by cutting through the neck of Brady's Bend.
◆Allegheny River Lock and Dam 9, completed in 1938, was the last built in the series and helped keep open a nine-foot channel for 72 miles from Pittsburgh to East Brady.
◆In 1865 the river carried 380,200 pounds of iron, 3.5 million feet of lumber, and 441,570 barrels of oil downstream to Pittsburgh.
◆The last passenger steamboat on this stretch of the Allegheny, the Ida Rose, made its final trip in April 1868.
The Armstrong Trail runs along the banks of the Allegheny and Kiskiminetas rivers through Armstrong and Clarion counties, linking riverfront towns including Kittanning, Ford City, Templeton, and Leechburg. It follows the former Allegheny Valley Railroad, so the riding is rail-grade flat the whole way, with crushed limestone underfoot and paved asphalt stretches through many of the trail towns. Along the route you pass river views, lock and dam sites, old coaling towers, iron-furnace ruins, and the 2,468-foot Brady Tunnel near the northern end. The trail is a key link in the vast and growing Pittsburgh to Erie Trail Network, connecting to the Redbank Valley Trail and East Brady Spur with future plans to connect with the Allegheny River Trail to the north and the Tredway Trail to the south.
History
The Allegheny River has long served as a transportation corridor. Lumber, iron, oil, and passengers moved by canoe, keelboat, raft, and steamboat, and small river settlements such as Grays Eddy, where Oliver Gray built the first house in 1840, grew up along the banks. The Allegheny Valley Railroad was built along the relatively flat river corridor between 1855 and 1870, hauling iron ore, coal, lumber, and oil. Traffic grew heavy in the early 1900s, with up to five passenger and twenty-five freight trains each way daily, which justified double tracks and the 2,468-foot Brady Tunnel, opened in 1916 to bypass the long loop of Brady's Bend. The corridor later passed to the Pennsylvania Railroad and then Conrail before being abandoned in 1984. In 1992 the Allegheny Valley Land Trust purchased the right-of-way from Conrail, and the following year the Armstrong Rails to Trails Association was formed to build the trail. The organization, now Armstrong Trails, Inc., has since surfaced long stretches with crushed limestone and paved sections through Ford City, Kittanning, and East Brady, and completed a major restoration of the Brady Tunnel.
RailTrailWx Tips
◆This is about as flat as trails get: the steepest sustained grade is only 0.3 percent, and total elevation change is under 100 feet. So, if riding, it is wind, not hills, that decides your effort in either direction.
◆The trail hugs the Allegheny River for nearly its whole length, so calm mornings often bring fog off the water and pooled cool air in the low spots, including where the trail crosses Mahoning, Redbank, Crooked, and Cowanshannock creeks.
◆Since the trail follows a western slope along the river, it is sheltered roughly four-fifths of the route. Deep canopy covers about a third of the trail, keeping it cool, especially in the morning. As noon passes, the valley and canopy walls offer less shade, so afternoons may run warm.
◆The Brady Tunnel near the northern end runs 2,468 feet and stays cool and dark inside, so a jacket and strong lights are recommended.
◆The southern end of the trail merges with local roads as you head into Leechburg. Eventually you will reach the Hyde Park Suspension Bridge, which crosses the Kiskimenetas River, hung across some ancient railroad abuttments.
RailTrailWx