Land Trust Continuing To Improve The Cheney Rail Trail

The Manchester Land Conservation Trust continues to make improvements to the 1-mile portion of the historic Cheney Rail Trail that it owns.

The most recent change came in November, when the group used a grant from the Manchester Road Race committee to buy 260 tons of stone dust to apply to the trail to make running, walking and biking it easier.

Built in 1869, the 2 1/4-mile Cheney Railroad was important to the success of the family's silk mills. Not only did the railroad transport raw materials into and finished goods out of town, it also served as a commuter train for workers living in the north end of Manchester.

The railroad ceased its passenger service in 1933 but continued a freight service into the 1980s.

"It's unique to Manchester," said Susan Barlow, a member of the Manchester Land Conservation Trust and the Manchester Historical Society.

On Jan. 31 at 1 p.m., Barlow will lead a free hike of the rail trail, which takes her imagination back to the time when workers would leave their north end homes and hop on the train to work at the silk mills.

"The fact that the Cheneys had their silk empire and needed this transportation and shelled out the money themselves, it's hard to imagine," Barlow said. "And it's right here in the center of town. It's really quite convenient. We know people use it."

The trail is now used by walkers, runners, hikers, parents with strollers, bikers and others, Barlow said. She even knows of a few people who use the trail to walk to work.

Doug MacGillvary, the land trust's stewardship chairman, managed the installation of the trail's stone dust. The trust acquired its portion of the trail in 2005 and immediately recognized its potential, MacGillvary said.

"When I first got on this board, we were looking at what potential there was for some of these pieces of property that we weren't [being realized]," MacGillvary said. "This was obviously one of them. It was two or three years of nothing happening. It didn't happen overnight. We've been working hard on this."

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Land Trust Continuing To Improve The Cheney Rail Trail