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The Panhandle Trail follows the old Panhandle route of the Pennsylvania Railroad for about 29 miles from Walkers Mill in Collier Township, west through Oakdale, McDonald, Midway, Bulger, and Burgettstown, across the state line to Harmon Creek near Weirton, West Virginia. Riding it is easy rail grade: a gentle rise up the Robinson Run valley to the watershed divide near Midway, then a long, barely noticeable descent down Harmon Creek. The Allegheny County end and the West Virginia end are crushed limestone; the Washington County middle, from McDonald to the state line, is paved. Near McDonald the trail passes under a 1913 trestle that carries the Montour Trail, and a short connector links the two.
Panhandle Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Panhandle Trail has about 109 to 150 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, e-biking, birding, biking, running, and walking, with April, May, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Panhandle Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Panhandle Trail peaks October 18 to 28, typically around October 22. The trail has 44% deciduous coverage, with the majority being black cherry, red maple, sugar maple, northern red oak, white ash, and yellow-poplar.
Work crews for the Pittsburgh and Steubenville Railroad began serious grading on this corridor around 1856, pushing west from Pittsburgh toward the Ohio River. The line had to cross the narrow northern panhandle of Virginia to get there, and that sliver of map gave the route its name. In 1865 the Steubenville bridge and its connecting links opened, and through trains ran from Pittsburgh toward Columbus. In 1868 the Pennsylvania Railroad gathered the Panhandle properties into the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. Louis Railway. A larger consolidation in 1890 created the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad, the PCC and StL. The railroad carried the region's coal and oil. In 1890 drillers struck oil at McDonald, and within a year the McDonald field was among the richest in the world; in 1891 the Cook well exploded beside the tracks and burned for six days. Coal filled the yard at Burgettstown, described in the 1920s as the largest coal yard in the country. The Pennsylvania Railroad took a long-term lease on the line in 1921. Penn Central and then Conrail followed. The line between Walkers Mill and Weirton closed in 1995, and crews pulled the tracks in 1996. In 1999 West Virginia, Washington County, and Allegheny County struck a deal for the corridor days before Conrail went defunct. The first mile of trail opened on October 29, 2000. Volunteers formed the Panhandle Trail Association in March 2001, and in January 2007 a connector to the Montour Trail was completed near McDonald.
