"It's going to be successful and is right on the future site of the rail trail," Landrum Mayor Bob Briggs said soon after Stubborn Mule Restaurant & Brewery opened on North Howard. The brewery opened in June 2025. More than a year later, the Saluda Grade Trail is still a future site. The project's own September 2026 update lists construction as "not started."
That doesn't mean nothing is happening. The next change downtown is the removal of the old line, and it will come well before any paving. For a stretch of months, the corridor through the middle of Landrum is likely to be a cleared strip of ballast. It won't be a railroad anymore, and it won't be a trail yet.
The Order Things Happen In
The sequence is laid out in the documents from PAL and Conserving Carolina, the two nonprofits leading the project. Several dates fall in the next few months:
- August 18, 2026. About 300 people came to the Landrum Farmers Market to see the 60 percent design plans for the first five miles, from the North Carolina line south to Hulon Howard Road.
- August 31, 2026. Proposals were due from contractors bidding to remove and salvage the track materials.
- October 2026. The request for proposals schedules contractor selection and an expected notice to proceed for this month. The trail group's most recent update, from September 4, still listed contractor selection as underway.
- April 30, 2027. All salvage work in South Carolina has to be finished by this date.
- Spring 2027. If funding comes through, organizers plan to start looking for construction contractors for the section from the state line to Landrum.
- 2028. Organizers say they hope people will be "enjoying at least part of the trail" by then.
Steps four and five are what matter for daily life downtown. If salvage runs to its deadline and construction bids don't go out until spring, there's a real stretch where the tracks are gone and the trail hasn't started. The salvage contract covers vegetation clearing, removal of rails, ties and other track materials, and grading. It calls for a cleared corridor at least 12 feet wide, and the ballast stays on the ground. So the first new version of the line through town will be a graded gravel path, not asphalt.
The contract also counts the track as money. The trail group says proceeds from selling the track materials will help pay for construction. The steel coming out of downtown Landrum this winter is part of what's meant to pay for the trail.
Why East Rutherford Street Keeps Its Rails
Anyone who drives across the tracks on East Rutherford will still bump over rails after the salvage crews are done. The contract says rails and other materials inside road intersections and crosswalks stay in place and remain the property of the trail entities.
The 60 percent design shows nine proposed road crossings on the first five miles: Ridge Road; Greenwood Road, which will be an underpass rather than an at-grade crossing; East Durham Street; East Coleman Street; East Rutherford Street; East Tucker Street; S.C. Elastic Road; Landrum Mill Road; and Hulon Howard Road. The materials released so far don't say what any of those crossings will look like when finished, and they don't mention traffic closures. The plans describe themselves as conceptual and subject to change. For now, the crossings are where the old railroad will stay visible the longest.
What the Design Shows Through Downtown
The design puts Landrum in its own category. Most of the first five miles is drawn as a 12-foot trail, narrowing to 10 feet where it crosses wetlands. The downtown section is 16 feet wide, with a one-foot concrete ribbon curb on each side. The whole route is two inches of asphalt over a gravel base, with compacted aggregate shoulders and grass beyond the edges. Downtown gets the widest and most finished version of the trail on the entire first phase.
The design boards show three proposed trailheads and parking areas. The trail opportunities map marks access near the state line, a connection to the Landrum Depot, and access at Boyd Cycling. The same map says locations, layouts and amenities are "still undecided."
Boyd Cycling may be the least expected name on that list. The company makes bicycle wheels and moved its headquarters to 19810 Asheville Hwy. in 2024. It does carbon-fiber manufacturing and wheel building there. Organizers have also heard local interest in Boyd as a place for extra parking, given concerns about parking downtown.
The Line Already Has Neighbors
Businesses aren't waiting for the paving. Tom and Kelly Quantrille bought the old truck repair shop at 501 N. Howard in 2021. They looked at more than 15 other locations in North and South Carolina, then retrofitted the building with a full kitchen and a pizza oven. Stubborn Mule opened June 1 across from a section of the future trail. Its back patio looks out at Hogback Mountain, and one of its beers is the Hogback Haze. It's named after Rosie, a rescue mule the family kept, and 10 percent of sales from Rosie's Red Ale goes to local charities.
A few blocks away, the Landrum Rail & History Museum keeps the railroad's own history inside the Pacolet River, a Pullman rail car built in 1949. The car sits at 211 North Trade Avenue, the same address the city uses for the Historic Landrum Depot. This season's exhibits include the depot's original message fork and the station's old telegraph equipment, plus a Morse code activity where visitors can tap out a message and print it. Volunteers run it. The city set up a Rail and History Museum Board to manage operations and said it would look after the rail car. Its 2026 season runs Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., through October 31. If salvage stays on schedule, this is likely the museum's last season with working-line track still in the ground outside.
The Landrum Farmers Market is also tied to the depot. It started in 2000 in the depot parking lot. Groundwork for the current pavilion at 221 W. Rutherford St. began in 2019, and the first market under that roof was May 14, 2022. The pavilion hosted the August trail meeting, but the design doesn't show it as a trailhead.
Two newer restaurants on East Rutherford round out a walk along the corridor. CARO-Mi Dining Room moved from Tryon to 909 E. Rutherford St. after Hurricane Helene destroyed its old site, and opened in Landrum on April 23, 2025. Its website lists Wednesday through Friday 5 to 8 p.m. and Saturday 4 to 8 p.m., and recommends reservations. Rhema Soul Cuisine, run by Ron and Via Childs at 212 E. Rutherford St., serves a menu that mixes Southern, Caribbean, barbecue and soul food. Hours change, so check the restaurant's website before you go.
The Calendar Between Now and the Deadline
This fall's downtown calendar falls in the months before the April 30 salvage deadline:
- October 8 and 22, 9 to 11 a.m.: Coffee with the City.
- October 17, 8 a.m. to noon: Craft Fair at the Farmers Market.
- October 24, 9 a.m. to noon: Ag & FFA Day at the market.
- October 31: The museum's last Saturday of the season, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. That evening, the city's Halloween Stroll runs from 5 to 7 p.m. on North Trade Avenue and East Rutherford Street, with a costume contest near Hare & Hound at 6.
- November 7, 14 and 21, 8 a.m. to noon: Winter Market and Holiday Craft Fair.
- November 28: No market.
- December 12: Last Saturday market of the 2026 season.
October 31 puts two corridor stops on one Saturday. The museum's season ends a few hours before the Halloween Stroll starts on the same streets, close to the depot.
What Hasn't Been Decided
Some big pieces are still open. The trail group's latest update doesn't name a salvage contractor. There's no published removal date for the Landrum section specifically. Construction money for the stretch from the state line to Landrum depends on the HUD grant and a pending application for an Appalachian Regional Commission ARISE implementation grant. The money spent so far helps explain why organizers are moving one step at a time. South Carolina's share of the corridor purchase was $15.75 million, and design and engineering on the South Carolina side is running on a $6 million HUD grant. Organizers say they can't price construction until each section is designed, because something like a 16-foot trail costs more to build than a 12-foot one.
The design update also notes that permitting for the first five miles is ahead of schedule. Further south, the full 31.5-mile corridor runs through Campobello and Inman, so the same process will eventually reach those towns too. Our posts on fall in Campobello and Inman cover what's along the line in those towns today.
If you own a home or land near the corridor and want to talk through what the design plans and salvage timeline could mean for your street, Tim Elder and our team are glad to go over the public documents with you. We can also give you an honest read on your property's value with a free home valuation.
