Belfast's railroad corridor works as a single route for the first time in years. South of Oak Hill Road, the Belfast Rail Trail follows the Passagassawakeag River for a little over two miles to the Armistice Footbridge downtown. North of Oak Hill Road, Revolution Rail Co. has carried electric-assist rail bikes 4 miles inland since July 24, on track that sat unused for nearly a decade. The historic City Point Station grounds sit where the two halves meet. From the footbridge to the rail-bike turnaround is roughly six miles of old railroad bed.
In practical terms, the trail you already walk now leads to working rails, and the downtown end of that line has a bike shop that just bought its building.
The split was drawn in 2013
This arrangement isn't new thinking. In May 2013, PenBay Pilot reported on plans for the city-owned corridor south of Oak Hill Road to become a trail while rail operations stayed north of it. That reporting also floated shared amenities like parking and restrooms at the crossing. The trail half was built. The rail half had gone quiet by this summer, and the track Revolution Rail now uses hadn't seen regular traffic in close to ten years.
So what opened in July finishes a split the city sketched thirteen years ago. With the north side back in use, City Point is a junction again and no longer the far end of a walk.
South of Oak Hill Road: the trail half
Coastal Mountains Land Trust lists the Belfast Rail Trail at 2.3 miles one way, rated easy, from the Armistice Footbridge on the waterfront to the City Point Railroad Museum. Maine Trail Finder measures it at 2.20 miles. Its trail assessment is dated July 29, 2026, and notes a short paved stretch at the south end. The rest is gravel and crushed stone. The surface is level packed granite, and the land trust describes it as suitable for walking, skiing, biking and wheelchairs.
You can get on at three places, listed here south to north:
- Downtown, from Water Street and the Armistice Footbridge. This is the end closest to Main Street and the harbor.
- The Stephenson Preserve lot on City Park Road, near the midpoint. It's the shortest way to the middle of the river stretch.
- City Point, at the railroad museum and station on Oak Hill Road. This is the north end, and the rail bikes leave from here.
These entry points matter more now than they used to. Before July, parking at City Point meant starting at the quiet end of the trail. Now it's also where you check in for a rail-bike departure. The trail runs south from City Point toward town, and the rail-bike route runs the other way, inland.
The trail listings mention bicycles but don't post a specific e-bike rule, and nothing in the material reviewed for this piece settles that question. If you ride with a motor, check with the city or the land trust before assuming either way.
North of Oak Hill Road: four miles of track back in use
Revolution Rail's Belfast Station is at 13 Oak Hill Road, on the grounds of the historic City Point Station. It's the company's ninth rail-bike location in the country and its second in Maine, after Dedham. Founder and CEO Robert Harte described the ride to WABI. It goes four miles out, riders get off for a history talk about the area and the railroad, the bikes are turned around, and everyone pedals back. According to the Bangor Daily News, the route runs through forest, over several bridges, and across streams and brooks, and the whole tour takes about 90 minutes. The published route material doesn't name the turnaround point.
Rail bikes come in two-seat and four-seat versions. Tandems start at $110 and quads at $200, so the larger bike costs less per seat if you fill it. All of them have electric assist, which makes four miles of steady pedaling much easier for mixed-age groups.
The schedule has already shifted once. At the July opening, tours ran Friday through Sunday with departures at 9:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. In mid-August, WABI reported four tours a day, Thursday through Sunday. Visit Maine has listed Revolution Rail among its fall-foliage outings, but no source reviewed here gives an October calendar or a 2026 closing date. Before planning a peak-color weekend around it, check revrail.com for days and times. The company says reservations are strongly encouraged.
Why the railroad wants riders on its rails
The rail side of the corridor is run with the Belfast & Moosehead Lake Railroad, a division of the nonprofit Brooks Preservation Society. Railroad spokesperson Finn Kelly presented the rail bikes as a working arrangement more than a tourist add-on. He told WABI, "These rail bikes here are helping us facilitate railroad operations and to have this be a center of community while we work to maintain those railroad tracks."
That helps explain the fit. Regular traffic on the line is part of how the railroad maintains it, and the station supports both. No 2026 reporting reviewed here lays out lease terms between Revolution Rail and the railroad, and no source located for this piece reports a local dispute over the arrangement.
Michael Hurley, mayor from 2002 to 2008 and a past member of the city council and the parks and recreation committee, connected the two halves of the corridor directly:
"The railroad's always been incredibly important to the people of Belfast, supported it with tax dollars, built the rail trail, which comes right here. So it's a natural feeder for people to come out here and ride these."
Amanda Cunningham, executive director of Our Town Belfast, which represents the city's Chamber of Commerce, called the new station "a huge opportunity for our downtown." Her comment and Hurley's describe the same line from opposite ends. Downtown sends people up the trail, and the station brings them back.
The downtown end has a bike shop that now owns its building
The southern end of the corridor got its own anchor in August. CG Bikes, which BDN calls Belfast's only full-service bike shop, sells new and used bikes and handles rentals and repairs. Owner Chris Gardner and his wife bought the shop's building at 34 Northport Avenue for $375,000 that month, according to public documents BDN reviewed.
The shop has moved twice to get here. It opened in June 2019 in the basement of the United Farmers Market, then shared space with Downshift Coffee, and moved to Northport Avenue about two years ago. "Now our rent payments start going toward something we can build on," Gardner told BDN. Gardner says the location gives riders quiet streets nearby and is close enough to the rail trail for test rides.
He plans to add capacity for e-bike service and doesn't expect major changes to the building, which was an auto service station for decades. "We still hear it called Blood's Garage, but hopefully one day it'll become CG Bikes," he said. Gardner has watched e-bike use climb over the past five or so years and says most of Belfast's riders are "really casual," using bikes to get around town.
Where the corridor ends and the street grid begins
The railroad bed gives Belfast one long stretch with no cars on it. Getting to that stretch from most neighborhoods is still a street ride, and the city's plans to improve those streets are at an early stage. Just over a year before BDN's August report, Belfast adopted an active transportation plan calling for more sidewalks, bike lanes and safer routes to schools. As of late August, the next steps were these:
- A request for proposals for engineering services on a roughly $2 million bike and pedestrian project on parts of Congress and Salmond streets
- A grant application to fund design work for a project on Swan Lake Avenue
- An application to a technical assistance program to help carry out the plan
All three are planning and design steps, and none is under construction. Gardner told BDN the city is "headed in the right direction" but needs to do more in places like East Belfast and Back Belmont Road. "We'd really like to have safe passageways from all parts of the city," he said.
For now, the corridor is the finished piece. Start from the footbridge, the City Park Road lot or City Point. The crushed stone runs north to Oak Hill Road, and from there the rails continue inland for anyone who has booked a seat.
I've spent most of my life on Maine land that used to be something else: old farm roads, logging grades, rail beds that turned into trails. Belfast's corridor is a good example of how those lines keep finding new uses. If you're weighing a property where trail access or a quiet route into town matters to how you'll actually live, Joseph Saltalamachia can walk the ground with you and tell you plainly what it offers. Let's Connect.
