Route: Hoodlebug Trail (PA)

The Hoodlebug Trail is a little over 10 mile recreation and commuter trail running from Black Lick to Indiana. The Hoodlebug Trail is open year-round for non-motorized activities, including bicycling, hiking, and cross-country skiing. It is also part of a large network of trails in western Pennsylvania known as the Trans Allegheny Trails network. It goes through multiple little town and the scenery is mixed. At times you will be in the woods other along a major road or just your typical rail trail scenery. The sirface of the trail is your normal rail trail type. You do have  couple intersections you have to cross but they are not major roads. You can is ambitious enough run the ghosttown trail which this connects to in Blacklick Pa. Its part of a trail system that one day the area hopes to all connect together making on huge connect trail. There is alot of history along the trail.

The trail follows the abandoned Indiana Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad between the Homer City area and Indiana. Built in the 1850's, the Indiana Branch was the first railroad to be constructed in Indiana County. 'Hoodlebug' was the local nickname for the self-propelled passenger coach that ran on the line until 1940. Check out the Wikipedia Article on Hoodlebugs for more information. The corridor also was part of the Catawba Path, a Native American trail that extended from the Carolinas to upstate New York.

In March of 2007 the FMC plant, which was adjacent to the Hoodlebug Trail in Homer City, closed its doors for good. The FMC site was the former home to one of the Prairie State Incubator Company's plants. The site involves some very interesting local history.

The Prairie State Incubator Company was founded in 1887. Incubators produced at the factory were used for raising chicks from eggs. By 1913 the incubator factory was reported to be the largest in the world. The railroad (now the Hoodlebug Trail) was used to ship the incubators to market. Beginning in 1937 the site was the home of the Syntron Company and later the FMC Corporation.

More info on the trail can be found at

https://www.indianacountyparks.org/trails/hoodlebug_trail.aspx

http://www.transalleghenytrails.com/trails/hoodlebug-trail.aspx