Silver Comet Trail | |
---|---|
Length | 61.5 mi (99.0 km) |
Location | Northwest Georgia - Northeast Alabama |
Designation | USBR 21 – Cedartown, Atlanta |
Trailheads | Smyrna/Chief Ladiga Trail |
Use | Bicycling, running, hiking, dogs on leash, horseback riding, roller/inline skating, and skateboarding |
Elevation gain/loss | 3,200 ft (East to West on Silver Comet) and 4,000 ft Silver Comet and Chief Ladega |
Lowest point | 628 ft |
Difficulty | Easy to Medium |
Season | Year round |
Sights | Brushy Mt. Tunnel |
Surface | paved |
Right of way | Seaboard System rail line |
Maintained by | Local counties and municipalities |
Website | https://www.pathfoundation.org |
The Silver Comet Trail is a rail trail in west-northwestern Georgia, United States.
Map Trail's Path Map Trail's Path
The Silver Comet Trail is named for the Silver Comet passenger train that traversed the same route from 1947 to 1969. [1] It begins in Smyrna, Georgia, runs west through Cobb, Paulding and Polk counties, and continues as Alabama's Chief Ladiga Trail at the state line.
The Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga trails join to form one continuous 94-mile (151 km) trail from Smyrna, Georgia to Anniston, Alabama, which together form the second-longest paved rail trail in the U.S. [2] [3]
U.S. Bicycle Route 21 follows a 52-mile (84 km) portion of Silver Comet Trail from Cedartown to the east end of the trail. [4] The trail is locally known as an ideal destination for bikers and runners to train or relax. Google map here. Path Foundation's map here.
In 1947, the Silver Comet was introduced by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad (SAL) during the height of passenger rail use. Due to declining ridership, the Silver Comet was downgraded in the 1960s, losing its sleeper-lounger cars. In 1969, the Silver Comet was downgraded again and finally discontinued in June of that year, by SAL successor Seaboard Coast Line (SCL).
By 1986 SCL had gradually merged with several nearby railroads, forming the Seaboard System, which had become CSX Transportation by July 1987. CSX abandoned 36 miles (58 km) of the former Silver Comet route from Cobb County through Paulding and Polk counties in 1989. In 1992, the Georgia Department of Transportation initially purchased the former roadbed for future use as a high-speed transit route, but later that year, Ron Griffith, Director of Cobb County Parks, requested a lease agreement between the county and the Georgia DOT to use the rail line as a multi-use trail. The Cobb County Board of Commissioners approved the multi-use trail plan in November.
Construction began in July 1998, with the initial section between Nickajack Creek and Hicks Road opening by that November.
The former SAL/SCL right of way is rail banked. This means at any time in the future, if rail traffic increases to the point where an old line exists, it could be purchased and track put back down. The right of way would thus become a Class 1 railroad again. The former SAL/SCL line is 78 miles shorter than the line CSXT now uses, the former ACL, and Atlanta & West Point lines, which run well south of the former SAL/SCL line.
In September 2019 the James M. Cox Foundation gave $6 million to the PATH Foundation, which will connect the Silver Comet Trail to the Atlanta Beltline. This project has been split into two parts. The PATH Foundation is responsible for the section from the current Silver Comet Trail terminus at the Mavell Road trailhead and then following the abandoned railroad right of way to Plant Atkinson Road. The Cobb DOT is responsible for the section from Plant Atkinson road to the Atlanta Road/Marietta Boulevard bridge over the Chattahoochee river, following an easement along Atlanta Road. Cobb expects to let its section for bid in Spring 2023. PATH's section is in flux due to legal challenges from railroad right of way easement holders. [5]
In 2013, a detailed study was done on the trail to determine the economic impact of the trail. It was estimated that the trail had 1.9 million uses in 2013. 400,000 of those uses were from out of state. The direct spending of residents and tourists was $57 million. The $118 million economic impact was found to support 1,310 jobs. [6]
The tax revenue generated by the trail was estimated to be about $3.5 million in income tax, sales tax, and business taxes. The study suggested an 4 to 7 increase in property taxes for homes within a quarter mile of the trail, resulting in an increase of $0.5 million in revenue for municipalities and school districts. [6]
In Paulding County, the Silver Comet Trail crosses over the Allatoona Fault; where the trail intersects the fault in the vicinity of Willow Springs Road, the fault serves to divide the distinctive Eastern Blue Ridge rocks from those that most characterize the Western Blue Ridge Province. One rock formation of particular note in Paulding County is the Ordovician-age Pumpkinvine Creek Formation (PCF), primarily composed of metamorphosed volcanic rocks thought to have originated out in the now-vanished, ancient ocean that geologists generally refer to as Iapetus. [7]
The meta-volcanic rocks of the PCF are believed to be remnants of the sort of so-called "accreted terranes" described above, and exposures of PCF rocks can be found on the Silver Comet Trail near the Allatoona Fault.
Paulding County is a county in the Northwest region of the U.S. state of Georgia. Part of Metro Atlanta, it had an estimated population of 168,661 in 2020. The county seat is Dallas.
Braswell is a city in Polk and Paulding counties in the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 355.
Dallas is a city in, and the county seat of, Paulding County, Georgia, United States. The estimated population, as of 2020, was 14,042. Dallas is a northwestern exurb of Atlanta, located approximately 38 miles (61 km) from the downtown area. It was named for George M. Dallas, Vice President of the United States, under James K. Polk.
Cedartown is a city and the county seat of Polk County, Georgia, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 10,190. Cedartown is the principal city of the Cedartown micropolitan area, which is included in the Atlanta–Athens-Clarke–Sandy Springs combined statistical area.
Rockmart is a town in Polk County, Georgia, United States. Its population was 4,732 at the 2020 census. It developed as a railroad depot town when the Southern Railway built a station in the area. The community was incorporated in 1872, and was named from abundant deposits of slate in the area. The Rockmart Downtown Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was a Class I railroad company operating in the Southeastern United States beginning in 1967. Its passenger operations were taken over by Amtrak in 1971. Eventually, the railroad was merged with its affiliate lines to create the Seaboard System in 1983.
The Seaboard Air Line Railroad, which styled itself as "The Route of Courteous Service", was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime rival, to form the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad. Predecessor railroads dated from the 1830s and reorganized extensively to rebuild after the American Civil War. The company was headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia, until 1958, when its main offices were relocated to Richmond, Virginia. The Seaboard Air Line Railway Building in Norfolk's historic Freemason District still stands and has been converted into apartments.
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The Atlanta and West Point Rail Road was a railroad in the U.S. state of Georgia, forming the east portion of the Atlanta-Selma West Point Route. The company was chartered in 1847 as the Atlanta and LaGrange Rail Road and renamed in 1857; construction of the 5 ft gauge line was begun in 1849–50 and completed in May 1854. A large minority interest owned by the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company eventually passed under the control of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad (ACL), which later acquired a majority of the stock.
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The Silver Comet was a streamlined passenger train inaugurated on May 18, 1947, by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad. Before its inaugural run, the new train was christened by actress Jean Parker at Pennsylvania Station in New York City. The train succeeded the SAL's Cotton States Special, which took the same route and which like the Silver Comet left the northeast at midday and arrived at Birmingham in the late morning.
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