Bikepacking the New River Trail

My spouse and I bikepacked the New River Rail Trail over three days back in August. While the trail was nice, we picked up some lessons along the way.

While I had planned to start in Galax and ride north, Millrace Campground was full on Saturday night so I flipped the trip to start in Pulaski and ride south to Galax. On Sunday morning, we would meet a shuttle to take us back to Pulaski. 

View from Sloan Creek trestle and its neat
extruded viewing platform

On the first day, we got a late start and drove four and a half hours to Pulaski. We rode 22 miles from the Dora Junction parking lot to the Millrace Campground. Just half a mile in, we crossed one of the trail’s defining features, a high trestle bridge. There are about seven others along the trail, spanning valleys and even the New River. The Norfolk & Western Railroad (N&W) began building the North Carolina Branch with an eye towards shipping minerals from mines as well as iron ore. The N&W’s financial troubles (it went into receivership in 1895) required a cautious expansion and by the time it reached Fries and Galax in 1903, the financial prospects for a North Carolina extension had dimmed and the extension was never built. Instead in 1896, N&W bought the Roanoke & Southern Railway which already connected Roanoke to North Carolina.

As we crossed Hiwassee bridge, we felt rain and before we knew it, the sky opened up and managed to soak our shoes for the weekend. It was amazing how much water could come down in about 20 minutes. Due our late start, we did not arrive in the campground until after dark. Unfortunately, the campground’s site numbers were not sequential so it took a bit of looking to find our site but once we found it, we cooked up some beef stroganoff and then went to bed. 

There are two campgrounds along the trail and both are considered primitive, meaning pit toilets, no shower and no vehicle access, how fitting for a rail trail! But the park rangers still expect everyone to drive to the campground, providing a parking pass and wagons to cart your camping gear from the car to the sites. Both campgrounds also require reservations. All of the sites have gravel tent platforms, picnic tables, fire pits and a pole with hooks for food storage. At Millrace in the morning, we discovered flush toilets just up the hill, accessible on the outside of the gift shop. Millrace has a small store, stocked with fishing equipment, gifts, ice cream and soda. 

Millrace Campground

On day 2, we had to pedal 24.6 miles to Cliffview Campground. At breakfast, we discovered our shrimp probably would not make it to dinner. There are no amenities near the trail between Pulaski and Galax except for a dollar store in Ivanhoe. Fortunately, they had canned chicken and rice-a-roni as well as some other sweets and soda. I rode a side street to get to the store and there was a tiny creek passing right through people’s yards. One hundred years ago, the lower part of the town adjacent to the trail had factories and mills but now, it is all woods. I had to walk the bike up Botany Ln, a bit worse for wear than shown in Streetview.

We stopped for a snack at a picnic table and as I glanced over at the river, I noticed raindrops. Scattered thunderstorms were predicted for Saturday afternoon so we stayed at the picnic table (it had a roof) and then eventually resumed pedaling as the rain petered off. At Fries Junction, we stopped for a rest. I pedaled down to check out Double Shoals, a primitive campground of four sites about half a mile down the Fries branch of the trail (it splits into two branches, one to Galax and one to Fries). While I prefer trailside campsites, these did not look as though anyone had stayed in them all summer as the grass was tall. The sites were exposed right on the riverbank, had no picnic table or potable water supply, and the nearest pit toilet was back at Fries Junction. 

View from Austinville Trestle's extruded
viewing platform

We crossed the longest bridge towards Galax and the trail switched from following the wide New River to the narrow Chestnut Creek. The trail portion along the New River is often carved out of the cliff, up fairly high from the river bed. It is also mostly covered in trees, giving it a tunnel like feel. The portion along Chestnut Creek is much more open and the trail runs closer to the creek. The trail surface is cinder dust but it was a bit rougher in places. We passed through our second tunnel of the day and stopped briefly to looked at Chestnut Falls, a small waterfall which a great view from a trail bridge. 

We rolled into Cliffview Campground in the late afternoon. With just 12 sites, this primitive campground also lacks direct vehicle access but the park ranger left us two parking passes just in case! I eventually found the cliff, a small one across the creek. Our site looked out across the creek to a parking lot and country road. There was also a large power line running right through the campground. And of course, the cars in the parking lot had night spotlights to help them cope with their fear of the dark all night long.

There is only one shuttle in the area, New River Outdoor Adventures, and the owner only had time to pick us up Sunday morning at 8 am. He rents bicycles, kayaks and tubes as well, and is very friendly and highly knowledgeable about the area. After a leisurely 2.2 mile ride, he picked us up for the hour ride back to Pulaski. 

I learned a few lessons on this trip. First is the need to leave early, riding in the dark was not much fun and starting earlier on Saturday may have avoided some rain. Second, my desire for fresh food (beef and shrimp) was no match for my freebie soft cooler. Third, my spouse's bike needs a new seatpost and seat and could use a front basket to better balance the weight as her front wheel kept popping up on all of the rocks. Fourth, the trail dips down from Pulaski to the New River and then gradually climbs to Galax, which meant uphill pedaling for most of the trip. 

The New River Rail Trail managers, Virginia State Parks, does not really get bikepacking which negatively impacted our experience. Their master plan from 2012 omits any mention of bikepacking. In contrast, the nearby Greenbrier River Trail has a dozen trailside campsites with pit toilets and picnic tables. Some have potable water and even camping shelters. No reservations are required. There is also a state campground with showers at the midpoint of the trail. Having that many camping options makes planning much easier as one can stop at the nearest site whenever one tires. But with New River, one can pedal either north or south, stop at the same two places, and if you cannot manage the 24.6 miles between them, you are out of luck. 

While the park’s master plan calls for a full campground and reopening a closed Forest Service one, lack of funding has not advanced those plans. They could allow camping where there are already picnic tables and pit toilets such as at Lone Ash (MP 16.7) and Buck Dam (MP 32.6). All that would be required are signs and possibly tent platforms. Replacing Double Shoal’s exposed sites with a more sheltered and scenic option at Brush Creek (MP 36.8) or Fries Junction (MP 37.3) would also be inexpensive. With more funding, other trailside sites such as Gambetta, Big Reed Trestle, Harrison, Chestnut Falls, Ivanhoe River Bridge, and Bridge #1505 would provide better options for bikepackers.

Overall, New River Trail is a nice place but would be fantastic bikepacking destination with a few upgrades.

More photos

Public acquisition of Pan Am Railways

In June, Pan Am Railways owner Tim Mellon put the company up for sale. Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire have a once in a lifetime opportunity to dramatically expand passenger and freight rail service by buying the company and upgrading the tracks.

Source

Public ownership of railways is not a new concept in all three states. Massachusetts (page 8-9) bought out the commuter railway lines from the Boston & Maine Railway (B&M), Pan Am's predecessor company, in 1976, and more recently, purchased the River Line from Springfield to the Vermont border. New Hampshire has acquired much of the former B&M and hired freight operators for lines with an economic future and converted the lines without one into trails or roads. Similarly, Maine owns part of the former Maine Central, another predecessor company to Pan Am. Acquiring the entire company would unite disjointed publicly owned lines, allowing for a seamless passenger rail network.

Service
In Massachusetts, I propose restoring 5 daily round trip passenger trains between Albany and Boston via 12 intermediate stops including North Adams, Greenfield and Fitchburg. With track upgrades to 79 mph, additional sidings, and new DMU rolling stock, the trip should take about 4h 10m. Most of the trains could connect in Greenfield, Schenectady and Albany to trains going to Montreal, Toronto, Niagara Falls, New York City, St. Albans, Washington, and Chicago. While Amtrak runs a 5h20m stub train from Boston to Albany via Springfield to provide a one-seat ride to Chicago, a 41 minute connection in Schenectady would be faster and not require a 37m-1h14m stop in Albany to connect or disconnect from the Chicago-New York City train. Local politicians are interested in passenger trains and this level of service would be highly popular.

Maine already funds 5 daily round trips, the Downeaster service. I propose expanding this service to 17 daily round trips. Instead of serving six stations in southern Maine, service would expand to nine other cities including Augusta, Rockland, Bangor and Auburn. Four daily round trips on the Northeast Regional and one daily NighTrain would connect Maine to New York City and Washington, DC. New Hampshire’s commuter rail service would connect to these trains as well. Like the Downeaster today, the new trainsets would include food service.

Given its proximity to Boston, New Hampshire is better served with commuter rail service instead of intercity service. I propose hourly service to Nashua, Manchester and Concord as well as hourly service to Portsmouth and Rochester. Some trains would connect to the Downeaster and other trains instead of running all the way to Boston.

Rolling stock
While locomotive-hauled trains are the default of many passenger operators includes MBTA and Amtrak’s Downeaster, the three states should buy Stadler FLIRT diesel multiple units (DMU) instead. Instead of only having powered wheels on the locomotive, DMUs distribute the locomotive’s power throughout the trainset, allowing for significantly faster acceleration. DMUs save about 1 minute per stop compared to locomotive-hauled sets. Stadler’s DMU’s also have lower floors (1.87’) than Amtrak’s Downeaster trains (4’), allowing for cheaper, level platforms, allowing passengers to board trains without climbing stairs, which improves accessibility and speeds up boarding, saving time at each stop. In addition to having faster acceleration, DMUs use less fuel than locomotive-hauled trainsets of similar length. Maine and Massachusetts should acquire 13 intercity versions of the FLIRT (199 seats with a small food service area) while New Hampshire should acquire 13 commuter rail versions (224 seats with no food service). For periods of high demand, the spare DMU trainsets can be coupled to the other trainsets to expand capacity.

Source

While DMUs are great for shorter routes with lots of stops, locomotive-hauled trains are still useful for busier, longer distance routes with fewer stops. I propose seven trainsets for service to New York City and two for overnight service to Washington, DC. The New York City trainsets would include either a Siemens Charger diesel locomotive equipped with a 3rd rail shoe or a Bombardier ALP-45DP which two large diesel and electric engines. For coaches, Amfleet coaches could be used or new coaches could be acquired such as the Siemens Venture coaches under construction for California and the Midwest. Cab cars would allow for quick turnarounds in Bangor and New York City. Amtrak is receiving new Viewliner II sleeping cars and reportedly bought too many to economically use so leasing 6-8 of them for NighTrain service from Bangor to Washington would be feasible.

Ridership and revenue

Using Amtrak's Downeaster pricing and a recent commuter rail study, I calculated a rough estimate of ridership and revenue.

	Ridership
Service	Daily	Annual	Average ticket price	Revenue (millions)
Downeaster	4,800	1,722,000	$22	$ 38
Minuteman	696	250,000	$24	$ 6
NH Commuter Rail	6,500	2,333,500	$12	$ 28
NighTrain	250	150,000	$75	$ 11
Northeast Regional	700	251,300	$60	$ 15

Track and infrastructure
Similar to many railroads in the 1960’s, the Boston & Maine Railroad and Maine Central Railroad fell upon hard times and lacked the money to maintain their track. By the time both lines were purchased by Tim Mellon, the track had years of deferred maintenance. Unfortunately, Mellon did little to improve the track and physical plant, instead further deferring maintenance to the point of removing signal systems, second tracks and sidings. The Pan Am employee timetable shows the low speeds of their track. Even today, Pan Am is known for its slow freight trains. Substantial upgrades are required to return lines to passenger service and improve the speed and reliability of freight service. New signal systems will need to be installed on lines lacking them. Double track and sidings will need to be restored. And new stations and platforms will need to be built. While it is possible to upgrade privately-owned freight tracks, the specifications and scope of such upgrades are at the whim and will of the private owner, often raising the cost of passenger rail projects.

Maine already owns the Rockland Branch and the line from Brunswick to Augusta. Both require rehabilitation to allow faster train speeds, especially as the state has allowed the line to completely disappear in Augusta. The state should acquire the line from New Hampshire to Brunswick and add a second track. The state should also acquire the branch to Auburn and the mainline from Waterville to Bangor, upgrading both to allow 80 mph passenger trains. In Portland, Maine will need to move its passenger station to its former site on Congress St to avoid the reserve move off of the mainline that the Downeaster makes today. In Boston, the Grand Trunk line through Cambridge would need to be grade-separated, likely on a double-track viaduct, and will need a new station at Kendall Square, allowing connections to the Red Line. Upgrading this line is essential for trains going from Maine to New York City.

Massachusetts should buy the line between Fitchburg and Schenectady, 154.8 miles. Most of the line is Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) Class 2 (25 mph freight trains and 30 mph for passenger trains) so upgrading the track speed to Class 4 (60 mph and 80 mph respectively) would make passenger service feasible and improve the quality of freight service. About 6-7 daily freight trains use the line so some passenger sidings may be needed. New stations and platforms in would need to be built in seven towns and Greenfield station would need another platform. One of Albany’s platforms would need an extension to create a low platform and Boston’s North Station would need a new low platform.

New Hampshire should buy the Nashua-Concord mainline. The line’s second track would need to restored and the existing track would need extensive rehabilitation to return to Class 4 as the track is only Class 1 (10 mph for freight, 15 mph for passenger trains) north of Manchester and Class 2 from Manchester to Lowell. New eight stations would need to be built throughout the line.

While there may be some private freight rail interest in Pan Am, reportedly the company has been on the block for years with no bites. Therefore, public ownership with private freight rail operator (s) is the way to build a transformative passenger rail system across northern New England.