by Josephine Nielsen

Wally and his long-time hiking friend, Ralph Colt, were thinking of taking a 50 mile hike which was popular at the time due to President Kennedy's deep interest in physical fitness. They tried to figure out where you could take a 50 mile hike in New York State in one day. They came up with the ideas that abandoned railroad right-of-ways would be ideal for the hike. They chose the New York, Ontario, and Westem Railway (O.&W.) which went 260 miles from Fulton to Cornwall-on-the-Hudson. It runs through some of the most scenic countryside in the state without hitting any of the large towns or cities. They started in Fulton at 5 :00 am and hiked for 20 hours. This hike is written up in its entirety in his book. They realized that these roadbeds were ideal for hiking and other recreational purposes.

Wally wrote, "I then decided to compile a listing of all the abandoned railroads in New York State and indicate their location on a map. This would serve a twofold purpose. It could be used by state planning and recreation officials in more thoroughly investigating the potential trail use of these roadbeds, and it would have impact value in attempting to sell the idea. To the best of my knowledge, this was the first time such a listing had ever been attempted." This list and map were sent to public officials and interested organizations to help promote the idea and serve as a planning aid. Not much interest was shown at that time. Wally was always ahead of the times, the pioneer with vision.

Wally and Ralph Colt were good photographers and both took pictures on their hikes on abandoned railroads. Wally used his slides to put together a slide show on these trails. He showed these to many different club groups and officials.

On June 2 - 4, 1971, Wally was one of the key speakers at the "National Symposium of Trails" in Washingtoln D.C. His topic was "On Compiling an Inventory of Abandoned Railroad Rights-of-Way for Use in Recreational Planning''. He gave this talk with slides. He said at the end, "It is to be hoped that other states will compile their own statewide inventories and then proceed to acquire some of these rights-of-way for trails. They are there waiting to be used."

Ken Asher who published "Old Bottle Magazine" in Bend, Oregon heard about Wally's talk in Washington, D.C. and that he had done the listing for N.Y.S. He knew Wally had said no list existed for other states with the exception of Pennsylvania and that such a listing was needed for all of the states. He called Wally and offered if he would compile the listing and maps for the other states, he would publish it without any cost to Wally. He also believed a real need existed for that book. Wally accepted the challenge, got all the resource material and maps together and went to work.

Many days, he did not stop working until 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning. He used a drawing board and tables in our basement and his den upstairs to work. "RIGHT-OF-WAY a guide to Abandoned Railroads" was published in 1972. The pictures of the trails in the East were provided by Wally. Other pictures were provided by Ken Asher.

Ken Asher printed up a one page flyer using the book cover which features six of Wally's slides and the reverse side with a description of the book and where it could be obtained. Wally mailed out these flyers to the Recreational Directors of every state and also to all the bicycle and walking magazines which gave it good write ups.

In 1974 the second edition came out. This book cover featured only Wally's picture where he is taking out date nails on an abandoned railbed. Additional abandonments between 1937 and 1945 were included involving an additional 14,000 miles of right-of-way between the end of 1971 and mid-year 1973.

In 1992 the third edition with a memorial section to Wally was published by Maverick publications. Wally wrote, "This third edition, adding abandonments from 1973 to 1987, and some major abandonments between 1928 and 1937, has added another 49,196 miles to the 34,502 miles mapped and listed in the second edition, for a total of 83,698 miles in this edition." Wally completed this 3rd edition and it was at the publishers not yet published when he passed away.

I first worked on getting Wally's memorial bridge named and dedicated which took place on July 22,1990 the day after my daughter Myrna married Chris Owens. I had to get a state law passed to do this as it was owned bv the N.Y.S. Department of Transportation. One side of the bridge is on city property and the other side is county property. You can read more about it in the book.

I then decided to check into the book as I wanted it published to complete Wally's work. Ken Asher is now in charge of distribution of Maverick Publication and his son Gary is the publisher. We made a new deal and I paid to have this book published. I added the memorial section at the end.

I found out they had sold the "Old Bottle Magazine" they had published a number of years ago and became Maverick Publishers. Wally's book was the first book they had ever published. It started them into a new field.

In 1985, the Rails-to-Trails Conservancy was created in Washington, D.C. "A small, dedicated staff; working in Washington, D.C. carries out R.T.C.'s program of technical assistance, public education, advocacy, negotiation, legislation and regulatory action." David Burwell is President. Wally gave a slide show talk at its first Rails-to-Trails conference. David thanked him for his pioneer work. In 1996, "more than 7,500 miles of trails are on the ground and more than 8,000 miles of trail projects are in development." Wally's seeds have taken root and sprouted.

We have been talking about right-of-way, but Wally was interested in linear space. "Linear space is a relatively narrow strip of land extending for some distance. It can be man-made or natural. Examples of man-made linear space are the abandoned railroad rights-of-way, transmission lines, canal towpaths, aqueduct or sewer casements and pipelines. Natural linear spaces include river banks, dry creek beds and canyons."

Long before Wally took his 50 mile hike, he had the vision of what the N.Y.S. Barge Canal and towpaths could become. Wally wrote, "The N.Y.S. Barge Canal, stretching 363 miles across N.Y.S. seems like a natural for a cross-state recreational facility. What about a cross-state linear park? A walkway across the state connecting small mini parks along the way."

Some private citizens did lead their towns in creating these mini-parks. Mary K. Dischaw of Ogden, N.Y. was one of the first to sow the seed. Mary had a greater dream - "Why not do this for the entire length of the canal? This was in 1968. The state of New York has built larger parks at some of the locks including an observation platform for viewing the locking through of boats. Sections of the service road have been converted into smooth bicycle paths and there are plans to eventually have a continuous canal trail across the state - truly a cross-state linear park." Written in 1979.

I cannot give a date as I cannot locate any of the copies of the plan Wally had for the N.Y.S. barge canal and towpaths. Being a hiker, bicyclist and occasional boater, he knew what people needed to use it. He drew up a lengthy plan outlining what was needed and where the facilities should be built including stores, bicycle shops for parts and repairs, hostels, history of certain sections, etc. He sent it to every state Senator and Assemblyman at that time. He found some interest, but no funds were available. Again he was ahead of his time.

Now the canal has been taken over by the N.Y.S. Thruway Authority. There are now big master plans for the entire canal. This is a major tourist attraction in our state and should be developed carefully. It is our history.

Wally served on the Board of Directors of the N.Y.S. Canal Society. Tom Grasso is the President. He helped organize and lead the Spring 1989 meeting at Seneca Falls. They traced the route of the old Cayuga and Seneca Canal from Geneva to Montezuma along the Seneca River. The three leaders made up a brochure of the history with pictures.

In 1986, Wally wrote up the following proposal: "I propose that the State Highway Law be amended to designate portions of state highways as the Erie Canal Heritage Trail. The N.Y.S. Department of Transportation could provide adequate signing of such a trail. Provisions should also be made to indicate the locations of remaining old Erie Canal structures, such as locks, aquaducts, culverts, waste wiers, and other canal related structures. The Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation could provide a guide book and/or map set, showing the route of the trail and the location of the many remaining canal structures. A trail such as this would not only be a permanent celebration of the Erie Canal but could become an outstanding tourist attraction in New York." Tom Grasso was going to make it one of his priorities, but now I believe it will be up to the Thruway Authority.