Originally Posted by
Dan Burkhart
Yeah. To cross the Grand river requires a detour on line 86 or through West Montrose over the kissing bridge. Unfortunately, the CPR was so concerned with liability, they removed all the bridges on the line the day after they shut down the rail line.
Not only the bridge over the Grand, and the Wallenstein bridge, but they removed all the smaller ones over every creek and drainage ditch.
I grew up in Floradale, a little over a mile from where the trail crosses road 19. I'm old enough to remember when the CPR ran steam trains on that line, the last of which was in 1961. The water tower and station in Elmira stood into the 70s, so they weren't too concerned about liability back then.
I don't blame them. Those bridges would be nice to have, but the company doesn't deserve to get sued because some idiot dove into a creek and smashed his head open. And you know it would happen.
I really, really like the idea of having this trail complete, but there are definitely improvements to be made on what we've done so far. My biggest problem was the lack of crystal clear directions -- I had to keep checking a map to see what way the trail would go. Now that I think of it, I'll try talking to someone at Waterloo Parks & Recreation. Maybe something will come of it.