If you’re a train enthusiast and near Gambier, Ohio, there’s a neat site at a trail head for the Kokosing Gap Trail. This paved 14 mile trail follows the former Pennsylvania Railroad line from Mount Vernon to Danville.
There’s a trail head in Gambier where you’ll find a 1940 American Locomotive Company (Alco) locomotive and a 1924 Chesapeake and Ohio caboose. If you’re a train enthusiast, these pieces have a lot of history. You can read some fascinating facts about that here.
If you’re not a train enthusiast, they’re still cool to see. One thing that’s unusual about this place is that they encourage visitors to climb up in the locomotive and step up on the back of the caboose for photo ops. A lot of places frown on touching and climbing so this is a fun change of pace.
This site also includes a railroad switch and a crossing sign.
Here you’ll find restrooms in a building that resembles a train station. You can access all this from the bike path or by parking next to the tennis courts in the town park. If you follow this trail into Mount Vernon, be sure to hop on the HOOT trail and head over to Ariel Foundation Park which I wrote about this week. Click here for that story.
If you’re into geocaching, there’s a trail of eleven caches associated with this rail trail. You can get the scoop here!
Make the Journey Fun 