The Orange Heritage Trailway is a 12.4-mile (20.0 km) rail trail in Orange County, New York, that runs along the former Erie Railroad Main Line from Harriman to Middletown, New York.
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The planning for the Metro-North Port Jervis Line intended to use the former Erie Main Line through Monroe and Goshen and Middletown on the way to Port Jervis as a commuter railroad.
Local opposition to the plan caused Metro North to instead use the Erie's newer freight bypass line over the Moodna Viaduct in order to avoid these towns. This new route, being a bypass, naturally added six extra miles to the length and removed access to the commuter railroad from these towns.
The abandoned right-of-way from Harriman to Middletown was converted into the Orange Heritage Trailway rail trail.
The trail earned the designation of "National Recreation Trail" in June 2007. The designation was handed down by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne.[1]
In 1999, Paul Harnisch, an assistant district attorney for Orange County, was charged with murder for striking two skaters, killing one of them, driving illegally on the Heritage Trail in the Chester, NY area. Harnish drove for a half-mile with the dead skater on the hood of his vehicle.[2] He was found not guilty for reason of insanity and remanded to the custody of a psychiatric hospital for a period of years.[3][4][5][6]
The ex-Erie Main Line turns northwest at a junction and tracks terminate abruptly at the defunct Nepera Chemical plant in the village of Harriman. The mostly overgrown and inaccessible road bed continues approximately two more miles through Harriman and Monroe and feature several abandoned bridges. The publically-accessible portion of the Orange Heritage Trailway rail trail begins in the vicinity of Airplane Park in Monroe, NY.
Erie built a freight bypass that continues north at the junction and is now the active Port Jervis Line, also used by Norfolk Southern. This active freight bypass line continues north to Moodna Viaduct and Middletown by way of Salisbury Mills. This line, with six extra miles, was chosen as the route for active rail traffic when local opposition to Metro North caused the historically important Erie Main Line to be abandoned from Harriman to Middletown.
Orange Heritage Trailway also junctions an abandoned Erie branch line that runs through Washingtonville and rejoins the active Port Jervis Line at Vails Gate Junction in Vails Gate.
The Orange Heritage Trailway itself also rejoins the active Main Line at its terminus in Middletown.