Jason Owens remembers trains rattling between Richmond and Muncie. He watched them while his parents drove along Route 35. “Good childhood memories,” he says.
Today he can see that rail line from his house in Economy, but the trains are gone and the rails have been pulled up. That’s a good thing, he says, because now bicycles zip through on the Cardinal Greenway.
“I’m glad there is a greenway and not a train, which would be noisy,” said Owens, who sometimes pedals the 18 miles along the paved trail to his job in Richmond.
“I use it all the time. I value it. I feel I should give back,” he said.
And he does; Owens has cared for the Cardinal Greenway trailhead in Economy since early 2020.
“I mow the grass, empty the trash and cleanup,” he said, adding, “if there is anything big that needs taken care of I call the greenway organization in Muncie.”
The trail organization was founded in 1993 with the first section opening in 1998. It starts getting busy in March with peak use in the summer months, then traffic slowly dwindles into October. But even in winter there are some runners and the occasional rider.
The Cardinal Greenway headquarters are housed in the Muncie train depot, which was built in 1901 but fell into disrepair when the trains vacated the route in the mid-1980s. For many years it sat vacant, and was restored in 2004.
The greenway is a nonprofit that survives on donations, grants and contributions from volunteers, including trailhead adopters like Owens. Others include people who take care of segments of the trail, event organizers, and staff who work in the headquarters at the Muncie Depot. The 62-mile-trail passes through five counties between Richmond and Marion and is the longest dedicated bicycle route in Indiana.
“It’s a lot of work and volunteers are vital,” director of maintenance and facilities Steve Abshire said.
National network expands
The Cardinal Greenway cooperates with the Washington D.C.-based Rails to Trails Conservancy that works with trails totaling more than 23,000 miles nationwide.
RTC is stitching together the Great American Rail-Trail from the steps of the U.S. Capital in Washington D.C. through 12 states over more than 3,700 miles, all the way to the Pacific Ocean coast at La Push, Washington. The Cardinal Greenway is one of the more than 125 existing trails that are part of that route.
The bicycle trail network has grown following the demise of American railways. The train route from Richmond to Chicago was abandoned in 1985, and the Cardinal mostly follows it.
Like many train routes in the midwest it passed through back yards and rural areas with fields in various states of cultivation. Rocking through small towns like Blountsville, Economy, and Webster, a passenger saw the backyards of rural America with their vegetable gardens, sheds and various toys scattered about mowed lawns. People mowing, playing or relaxing in their yards often stopped what they were doing and waved.
Pedaling that route today, you might still be able to talk with the people living on either side.
Since the first section opened in 1998 the Cardinal Greenway has seen millions pedal and run the trail. Kay Conklin, the Cardinal Greenway office manger, said that in 2024 the number using it topped 300,000.
Conklin added, “You can see people running and bicycling out there everyday. It’s healthy living.”
A version of this article appeared in the April 29 2026 print edition of the Western Wayne News.