revrnd Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Saw this on the Timberline club's Faceplant page last week: Me: "Are they grooming the old CPR railbed into Pembroke now? When I was touring the area last winter it wasn't open as a trail." (Don't worry that's as far as I rode on the railbed, even though you could see others had ridden further) TSC: "yes correct. Just partially this year to supples landing. We didn’t get the bridges decked and railed in time. Hopefully next year it will be right thru town" The railbed in question is marked in black. The 2 photos were taken where the CN railbed passes over the CPR railbed just east of Fibreboard Rd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 Opens up some trailside possibilities - good work revrnd! Posting map for a friend. Blake. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spanky Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 (edited) The "new" trail has been opened up despite the antics and stalling of Pembroke city council, who listened to the blue hair brigade, forest fairies and adjacent landowners for the last couple years that were opposed to motorized use of that corridor. Pembroke is the town that fun forgot, if its not part of the Old Time Fiddling & Stepdancing competition on the Labour Day weekend, its not necessary. Fortunately, the abandoned rail line is owned by the County of Renfrew, who has stipulated that the municipalities that do not allow motorized use of the corridor have to provide a safe, approved reroute, in this case there is no possibility of any reroute. The County got tired of the constant delays of the City to "study" and otherwise use delay tactics, so the County went ahead and pushed the trail through. This season the trail will allow access to motels that were previously difficult if not impossible to get to, as well as excellent restaurants such as Finnigan's and The Nelson Street Pub, and a Canadian Tire gas bar. A Benson's Auto Parts and UAP/NAPA are also accessible. A word of caution, the residents along this trail are not friendly, and regularly patrol the area, as well as having trail cams set up at road crossings. It also has a 20 km/h speed limit. Edited February 11, 2021 by Spanky 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted February 20, 2021 Author Share Posted February 20, 2021 @Spanky I wonder if the club could launch a PR campaign before next season? Let the 'other users' know who is maintaining the trail in the winter & looking after the bridges. The snowmobilers are & not the local municipality. 'If you walked on the trail, thank a snowmobiler' would make a good sign along the route. I'm sure some people (non-users) would be mad if their tax dollars were being used to groom the trail. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted February 20, 2021 Author Share Posted February 20, 2021 On 2/11/2021 at 5:12 PM, Spanky said: This season the trail will allow access to motels that were previously difficult if not impossible to get to, as well as excellent restaurants such as Finnigan's and The Nelson Street Pub, and a Canadian Tire gas bar. A Benson's Auto Parts and UAP/NAPA are also accessible. A word of caution, the residents along this trail are not friendly, and regularly patrol the area, as well as having trail cams set up at road crossings. It also has a 20 km/h speed limit. I see the Comfort Inn is adjacent to the CTC gas bar, we used to stay there in the 80s when going to the races in Eganville. I take it the motel would be accessible? The Travelodge might not be doable since it's across the street. Sounds like some people need to get a hobby... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slomo Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 (edited) 3 hours ago, revrnd said: @Spanky I wonder if the club could launch a PR campaign before next season? Let the 'other users' know who is maintaining the trail in the winter & looking after the bridges. The snowmobilers are & not the local municipality. 'If you walked on the trail, thank a snowmobiler' would make a good sign along the route. I'm sure some people (non-users) would be mad if their tax dollars were being used to groom the trail. Took a tour down that way last week - trail passes by quite a few nice homes who are enjoying being on the waterfront and probably couldn't care if the trail is groomed or not. The impression I got was that many of the streets there were labelled as private drives. In my opinion it is too bad they don't open up parts of the water front to the general public I kept an eye out for business signs and they were there, but in my opinion, access from the trail to them was sketchy or breaks from the trail to them did not correspond with the signs. The 20 kph speed limit was a disincentive as well and I am not using the name "slomo" for nothing. But at least the trail is open and thus has potential. The trail ends sort of downtown, but sadly had to pick up my Raspberry Berliners from McGuires donuts later by truck. You really don't expect a guy who orders 2 dozen jam filled donuts to walk the distance to the store do you? Edited February 20, 2021 by slomo 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revrnd Posted February 20, 2021 Author Share Posted February 20, 2021 Thanks for the update @slomo This should've been the Bonnechere Cup weekend. I had planned to take the sled up & do a couple of day trips out of Pembroke. Here's hoping for next season! My buddy w/ the new Rene' is a long time race fan (& will be retired before next winter), so I'm sure he might be up for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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