How are Brillo pad makers involved in a nearly complete bike trail through Ohio?

LONDON, Ohio (WCMH) – Closing the gap in Madison County's trails has been a project more than two decades in the making, and a deal quietly in the works could finish the job.

For years, a scarcely-used rail spur cutting through downtown London has prevented Madison County’s network of more than 15 miles of paved trails from connecting. The spur ends at a plant now owned by house cleaning product brand Armaly and has, by the plant manager’s estimate, been used maybe once in the past five years.

The spur doesn’t sever the trail; it doesn’t even block the trail’s route. But because it’s not officially abandoned, Norfolk Southern, which operates the rail line, won’t allow a trail to run alongside it unless Armaly agrees to give it up. 

The Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails, a volunteer group that developed and, with the help of the county engineer, maintains the paved bike trails, has worked for years to get Armaly’s owners – and the owners of Brillo before Armaly bought the brand – to agree. The mayor, chamber of commerce, local developers and other community leaders even wrote letters to Armaly, emphasizing the sentimental and economic value of finishing the trail.

But Armaly’s owners didn’t respond, even when the Friends offered to construct a Brillo box archway – à la Andy Warhol’s famous Brillo Boxes sculpture – over the trail connector in Armaly’s honor.

That is, until last week.

Nothing’s set in stone – rail abandonment is a long process – but Gregg Alexander, president of the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails, said the Armaly family has orally agreed to forfeit the spur. 

“We can actually get this done now,” Alexander said. “We can move ahead on something we’ve been working on for 23 years.”

Armaly did not respond to a request for comment. Norfolk Southern declined to comment other than to confirm that the rail spur is active and operated by the company. 

But Alexander is hopeful. That oral agreement brings the real possibility that the 1.1-mile gap separating Madison County’s trails will finally be closed – and central Ohio’s portion of the Great American Rail-Trail will be complete.

A cross-country bike trail through the heart of Ohio

The Great American Rail-Trail is a proposed bike route spanning more than 3,700 miles and connecting Washington state to Washington, DC along historic rail lines. The preferred route – of which more than 2,000 miles are already complete – takes cyclists from Indiana into Ohio via Preble County, through Columbus, up to Clinton before traveling down to Steubenville and east to the Pennsylvania border.

Like in other states, the preferred route through Ohio uses many existing trails – including the Ohio to Erie Trail, which local groups have led the effort to complete for decades. The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s 2023 analysis of the Ohio trail network showed the network was 70% complete, with 100 miles of gaps remaining. Melinda Vonstein, coordinator of Central Ohio Greenways within the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission, said communities in central Ohio, including in Sunbury and Westerville, have chipped away at gaps since then. 

At the same time, Vonstein said Central Ohio Greenways has worked with local trail groups and municipalities to integrate the trails into their communities – and by doing so, to cater to lively local bicyclists and out-of-town adventure tourists alike. Central Ohio Greenways and the Rails to Trails Conservancy are developing a Trail Town designation for towns along the trail to highlight lodging, tourist attractions and trail cyclist-friendly small businesses.

Started in 1999, the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails became the unofficial blueprint for developing and maintaining bike trails across central Ohio, Alexander said. He noted how crucial the group’s strong relationship with the county engineer and local businesses has been in trail upkeep. 

Alexander and Alan Knowles, a Friends board member and longtime trail user, said they’re encouraged by the development of a “Trail Town” program – but they’re not waiting for it. The trailheads in London already feature small green welcome signs with the words, “Proud to be a Trail Town.”

“Why are we waiting for someone to tell us we’re a trail town? We are a trail town,” Alexander said. 

People from more than half of U.S. states and nearly two dozen countries have signed visitor logs in London on their journeys along Ohio’s trails. One group even told Knowles that they specifically sought out London on the route – they heard about the town while researching from their home country, Australia.

Cyclists approaching London from the west are greeted at the Prairie Grass Trail Head by big letters spelling “London” and a bike made from red metal. Next to a pavilion is a campsite equipped with wooden platforms for tents, a bike repair station, bathroom access and free WiFi.

Until last June, those biking into London from the northeast were welcomed by an old factory and overgrown flora. But thanks to an agreement with the local company that owns the warehouse, the 16 bricked-up windows of the building have been transformed into murals. 

Designed by local artist Clay Hurley, the murals tell the history of the area, from the mastodons who roamed the land thousands of years ago to the U.S. presidents who stayed at the old hotel in town. Next to the building is a garden teeming with pollinator plants and plants native to the area, including Black-eyed Susan and dense blazing star.

The partially uncovered remnants of a railroad run parallel to the trail leading to the Roberts Pass trailhead. An old stone post next to the trail tells train engineers of a bygone era that they’re 163 miles from Cleveland.

This 7-mile stretch of trail is named for the founders of the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails, Wayne Roberts and Gene Pass. Pass used to own a plot of land just around the corner.

On that land, right next to a more recently completed section of the trail, Knowles has opened a small hotel, welcome to anyone but designed for cyclists. Pass knew for a long time that he wanted that plot of land to be used for the trail, and he agreed to sell the land to Knowles.

“By the time it got to be done, he had died already,” Knowles said. “But his family went through with it. There was no quibbling.”

It was nothing more than a handshake deal, an oral agreement.