Heritage Rail Trail County Park (Pennsylvania) Weather Forecast & Planning Guide

Heritage Rail Trail County Park, York County, PA, 26.92 miles

Trail Facts

Hall of Fame

Inducted 2015 by Rails to Trails Conservancy

Length27 mi

Elevation335 to 838 ft

Grade0.4% average

Shade cover47%

Primary surfaceCrushed gravel

Secondary surfaceAsphalt

Activities

E-bikingBikingWalkingRunningHikingBirdingHorseback ridingCross-country skiingand more

Connects To

Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail

Managed By

York County Parks

Trivia

The Howard Tunnel is a 275 foot brick-lined bore built in 1836 and 1837, opened to trains in 1838, and is the second oldest active rail tunnel in the United States.
Abraham Lincoln changed trains at Hanover Junction on November 18, 1863, on his way to deliver the Gettysburg Address.
Lincoln's funeral train left Baltimore on the Northern Central on April 21, 1865, on its way to Springfield, Illinois.
Jubal Early's Confederate troops reached the Northern Central around noon on June 27, 1863, and cut the telegraph lines Union commanders depended on.
During the Civil War the 20th Pennsylvania militia guarded the Howard Tunnel against Confederate cavalry.
Hanover Junction station dates to 1851, where the Northern Central met the Hanover Branch Railroad, and it was restored to its Civil War appearance in 2003 as a museum.
Two Eagle Scouts from Troop 37 built the first 1.48 miles of trail as their Eagle project, and it opened to the public on June 4, 1994.
The excursion locomotive No. 17 York is a replica 1860s 4-4-0 built by Kloke Locomotive Works, and its operator opened as Steam Into History on June 1, 2013, before taking the historic Northern Central Railway name in 2019.
The trail was named the 2015 Pennsylvania Trail of the Year and entered the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Rail-Trail Hall of Fame in September 2015.
Bald Eagle, Common Raven, and Orchard Oriole all nest along the corridor, and the Codorus Creek north of York holds more than a dozen waterfowl species in winter.

About This Trail

Heritage Rail Trail County Park runs about 27 miles through York County, Pennsylvania, from the Mason-Dixon Line at New Freedom north through Railroad, Glen Rock, Hanover Junction, and Seven Valleys, through the Howard Tunnel and downtown York to John Rudy County Park. The corridor is the old Northern Central Railway, and an excursion railroad runs beside the trail between New Freedom and Hanover Junction. The surface is compacted stone south of York and asphalt through the city and on the Northern Extension. Riding is rail-grade easy: a long gentle descent from the state line down the South Branch Codorus Creek valley, then flat creek-side miles past York. At the state line the trail joins Maryland's Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail.

RailTrailWx TIPS

Heritage Rail Trail County Park

Your comfort. Prognosticated.

The trail drops about 500 feet from the Mason-Dixon Line to John Rudy County Park, and almost all of it comes on the stretch railroaders called New Freedom Hill, down the South Branch Codorus Creek. Northbound is a long easy coast; save some legs for the steady rail grade back up to New Freedom.
New Freedom sits on the high ground near the state line, so the top of the trail runs cooler and more exposed than the creek bottom at York, where the elevation is several hundred feet lower.
Shade comes and goes. Wooded creek-side stretches alternate with open farmland and town crossings, so summer riders get real sun on the open miles and the paved run through York.
The excursion railroad is active beside the trail from New Freedom to Hanover Junction, and the trail crosses the tracks at established crossings. Look both ways at every crossing.
Horses are allowed from New Freedom to the City of York but are prohibited on the Northern Extension north of the city. The park is open dawn to dusk year round.

-Cory

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Climate

Excellent biking days per month, 2011-2025 climatology

History

The York and Maryland Line Rail Road bored the Howard Tunnel in 1837 and ran its first trains between Baltimore and York the next year. The company had been chartered in 1832 as the Pennsylvania half of a Baltimore scheme to reach the Susquehanna. In 1851 the Hanover Branch Railroad met the line at Hanover Junction. From 1855 the road was part of the Northern Central Railway, and after the line reached Sunbury in 1858 its main cargo was anthracite coal bound for Baltimore's waterfront. The Pennsylvania Railroad took control in 1861. Confederate troops cut the telegraph at Hanover Junction in June 1863, and that November Lincoln changed trains there on his way to Gettysburg. His funeral train came back over the same rails in April 1865. The line passed to Penn Central in 1968. Tropical Storm Agnes washed out bridges and track in June 1972, and Penn Central let the Maryland section go. PennDOT bought the York to New Freedom stretch in 1973, and after Conrail took over in 1976 the corridor was abandoned. Two Eagle Scouts opened the first mile and a half of trail in 1994. The York County Rail Trail Authority completed the trail from the Maryland line to York in 1999. A Northern Extension along the Codorus Creek began in 2005 at John Rudy County Park, reached Route 30 in 2015, and was finished through York in 2019. A replica steam excursion train has shared the corridor from New Freedom to Hanover Junction since 2013.

Trailheads

New FreedomMILE 1.3Directions
RailroadMILE 3Directions
Glen RockMILE 6.2Directions
Centerville Parking LotMILE 6.9Directions
Hanover JunctionMILE 10.6Directions
Seven ValleysMILE 11.8Directions
Glatfelter StationMILE 13.3Directions
Brillhart StationMILE 16.9Directions
YorkMILE 21.1Directions
Route 30 Parking LotMILE 22.9Directions
Emig RoadMILE 25.8Directions
John Rudy County ParkMILE 26.9Directions

Nearby trails

Northwest Lancaster County River Trail

16 mi·PA

Explore Forecast

Torrey C. Brown Rail Trail

20 mi·MD

RTC Hall of Fame

Explore Forecast

Conewago Recreation Trail

5 mi·PA

Explore Forecast

RailTrailWx TIPS

Heritage Rail Trail County Park

Your comfort. Prognosticated.

The trail drops about 500 feet from the Mason-Dixon Line to John Rudy County Park, and almost all of it comes on the stretch railroaders called New Freedom Hill, down the South Branch Codorus Creek. Northbound is a long easy coast; save some legs for the steady rail grade back up to New Freedom.

New Freedom sits on the high ground near the state line, so the top of the trail runs cooler and more exposed than the creek bottom at York, where the elevation is several hundred feet lower.

Shade comes and goes. Wooded creek-side stretches alternate with open farmland and town crossings, so summer riders get real sun on the open miles and the paved run through York.

The excursion railroad is active beside the trail from New Freedom to Hanover Junction, and the trail crosses the tracks at established crossings. Look both ways at every crossing.

Horses are allowed from New Freedom to the City of York but are prohibited on the Northern Extension north of the city. The park is open dawn to dusk year round.

-Cory