Silver Comet Trail October 2012

We were in Atalanta in the fall of 2012 and the Silver Comet Trail was close by, we had brought our bikes along to ride this path. It is a well maintained concrete oath, with lighted tunnels ansd frequent Trailheads with facilities.
 In 1947, the Silver Comet was introduced by the Seaboard Air Line Railroad during the height of passenger rail use. Due to declining ridership, the Silver Comet was downgraded in the mid-1950s, losing its sleeper-lounger cars. In 1969, the Silver Comet was downgraded again and finally discontinued in June of that year.

By 1990, several groups, including the Georgia Rails Into Trails Society, were interested in turning the abandoned rail line into a multi-use trail.

In January 1995, the East-West Connector agreement was signed, including a requirement for Cobb County to develop a plan for converting the rail into a trail.

By November 1998, the first section of the Silver Comet Trail opened from Nickajack Creek to Hicks Road.

In 2003, the Silver Comet Trail was recognized by the National Park Service as a National Recreation Trail.

On August 29, 2008 the rails to trails was completed.

The Silver Comet Trail is located 13 miles northwest of Atlanta, Georgia. It's free of charge, and travels west through Cobb, Paulding, and Polk counties. This quiet, non-motorized, paved trail is for walkers, hikers, bicyclists, Rollerblade  horses, dog walkers, and is wheelchair accessible.

The Silver Comet Trail is 61.5 miles long, and starts at the Mavell Road Trailhead in Smyrna, Georgia. It ends at the Georgia/Alabama state line, near Cedartown and The Esom Hill Trailhead.

At the Georgia/Alabama state line, the Silver Comet connects to the 33-mile long Chief Ladiga Trail. Plans are underway to extend the Chief Ladiga an additional 7 miles. Both the Silver Comet Trail and Chief Ladiga are fully paved rail-trails built on abandoned railroad lines. The combined Silver Comet and Chief Ladiga trail length is estimated to be 94.5 paved miles from Smyrna, Georgia to Anniston, Alabama.

The first day we accessed the path at the Hiram GA Trailhead. These picture are of that portion of the ride on October 27th.

Heading west from the Hiram trail head.

 Typical trail marker with mileage information

View of the path on a nice Fall day.

One of the rock cuts made for the rail line

First bridge west of Hiram Trail Head

Close up of rock cut

Another bridge

Typical road crossing