Lancaster Junction Recreation Trail

The Lancaster Junction Recreation Trail is a short county rail trail in western Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. It follows a little over two miles of the former Reading and Columbia line north from the Champ Boulevard lot near Route 283 and Landisville to the hamlet of Lancaster Junction at Auction Road. The grade is rail flat on a wide, well-graded surface, with two road crossings along the way. The southern half runs between open farm fields and meadows. The northern half borders Chiques Creek, where the trail follows the meandering stream through a quieter, greener stretch. It is an easy out-and-back for a family outing, a lunchtime run, or a warm-up before a longer day on the county's other trails.

• The Reading and Columbia Railroad ran its first train over this line in 1863, built to carry coal, iron ore, and general merchandise from Reading toward the Chesapeake Bay by way of the Susquehanna Tide Water Canal.
• At its peak the line carried as many as ten passenger trains a day.
• Regular passenger service on the Reading and Columbia Branch ended on November 5, 1950.
• Four pieces of the old Reading and Columbia route still see trains, including a two mile segment near Landisville run by the Landisville Railroad.
• Manheim's 1881 station on the same line is attributed to the Victorian architect Frank Furness, who designed many Reading Railroad stations.
• Chiques Creek takes its name from the Lenape word Chiquesalunga, meaning place of crayfish.
• Federal mapmakers called the stream Chickies Creek in 1896 and 1916, then made Chiques Creek the official name in 2002.
• Chiques Creek runs about 32 miles from near Mount Gretna Heights in Lebanon County to the Susquehanna River at Marietta.

The Reading and Columbia Railroad ran its first train through this corridor in 1863. The company built the line to haul coal, iron ore, and general merchandise from Reading to the Chesapeake Bay region by way of the Susquehanna Tide Water Canal. The route ran from Reading through Ephrata, Lititz, and Manheim to Landisville and Columbia. Lancaster Junction became the place where the line split, one leg heading for Lancaster and the other for Columbia and Marietta. In its best years the railroad ran as many as ten passenger trains a day. Manheim got a Frank Furness station in 1881. Regular passenger service on the branch ended on November 5, 1950. Freight traffic faded over the next decades. When Conrail took over in 1976 it cut the line north of Lititz, which ended through freight between Reading and Lancaster. The stretch past Lancaster Junction was abandoned in 1985. Local citizens pushed the county to buy the right of way, and Lancaster County dedicated the Lancaster Junction Recreation Trail on October 14, 1987. It has been run by the Lancaster County Department of Parks and Recreation ever since. The trail today runs just over two miles between Route 283 and the hamlet of Lancaster Junction, and the county has moved trailhead parking to the Champ Boulevard lot at the southern end.

• LandisvilleMILE 0Directions
• Lancaster JunctionMILE 2.3Directions

• Lancaster County Department of Parks and Recreation · Historical Information About the Lancaster Junction Recreation Trail
• Railpace Newsmagazine · Exploring Norfolk Southern's Lititz Industrial Track
• Manheim Historical Society · Railroad Station
• Wikipedia · Chiques Creek
• Pennsylvania DCNR · Lancaster Junction Recreation Trail