December 2014

Santa Comes for a Ride on the ATT

AL Capehart and C.R. Townsend

Santa AL, aka Al Capehart was a long time advocate for securing the retired rail corridor and for the development of the ATT as a multi-use rail-trail. Many have referred to him as the father of the ATT. As a second career AL has appeared as Santa in the Raleigh-Durham area for many years and had a long ambition to have Santa take a spin on the I-40 bridge. On December 26th, his dream came true. Here is a picture of Santa with Carolyn Townsend, another champion of rail-trails and the Chair of NC Rail-Trails until 2009. For addional images of this happy event please see several on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/9986245@N05/sets/72157649530297889/

Third Year Impact Study of Swamp Rabbit Trail

Greenville County S.C. and Furman University have recently released an economic impact study of the third full year of the 18.7 mile Swamp Rabbit Rail Trail. Trail usage by both local citizens and visitors has grown substantially since the trail was opened in May 2010. A number of new small businesses catering to increased tourism have been spawned near the trail at the eastern end of the trail in Travelers Rest, SC. The County and others involved with the trail have produced a number of useful maps of the trail. For an interesting documentation of the long term role of this rail corridor please see https://greenvillerec.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Swamp-Rabbit-Trail-H...