Hanover trolley bed work seen as ‘springboard to accelerate future phases of the trail’
Met-Ed lines follow the old trolley bed between Spring Grove and York. Evidence of such poles and bridge supports are evident today along the line that follows few roads through rural southeastern York County. The proposed Hanover rail trail, which recently moved ahead, would follow this grade. Background posts: York, Pa.’s trolley kiosk, called “Teapot Dome,” popular little building, No light at the end of this abandoned (Pa. Turnpike) tunnel, Little school house in Hanover.
Some in Hanover, Pa., believe York, Pa., is in a different county – or country.
And vice versa.
So when the York Daily Record/Sunday News runs a story showing work has begun on the first rail trail link, that’s news indeed… .
Old York trolley car No. 163 car served as a summer home along the Conewago Creek near Strinestown from 1939 until the Tropical Storm Agnes flood of 1972. Huntingdon County’s Rockhill Trolley Museum restored it over the course of about two decades during a 17-year period.
The York/Hanover chasm might stem from differences in religious backgrounds of pioneers settling in the communities to begin with. (Early on, the Hanover area was home to relatively more Catholic settlers than York.)
It could have to do with Hanover’s Baltimore orientation and York’s Baltimore/Philadelphia bent. It could relate to the distance between the towns and the historical – and present-day – difficulty moving east/west in York County. And the natural rivalry between the two largest towns in a county could provide some of the explanation for why there is a lack of closeness.
On that east/west point, trolley service helped bind the towns for roughly 40 years in the early part of the 20th century. When the rail trail is finished, riders and runners will again be able traverse the 15 or so miles regularly.
Of course, many using the trail from the south will bypass York and head from the Indian Rock Dam area to the Hanover Trail. That’s why the northern rail trail extension to Rudy Park, north of York, is so important – to give trail users an incentive to ride into and through York, south to north.
The York Daily Record/Sunday News story (6/6/08) follows:
A York company should start building the first phase of the Hanover Trolley Trail this month.
The York County Rail Trail Authority awarded the project to Stewart & Tate Inc., which submitted the lowest bid of $265,822.
Authority chairman Carl Knoch said he hopes the work will be a “springboard to accelerate future phases of the trail.” The work is to be done within 60 days.
The trail will be a walking, bicycling and equestrian pathway within the Met-Ed corridor known as the York Hanover Trolley Line. The trail route goes from Hanover through Spring Grove and will eventually connect to the Heritage Rail Trail County Park.
Phase one is about 1 mile between Hershey Road in Jackson Township and Hosiery Alley in Spring Grove. It includes parking facilities at both ends.
Hanover and Penn Township are working on a 1.5-mile section of the trail from Moul Field in Hanover to the Penn Township-Heidelberg Township line.
