The path was once an active rail line that carried Pennsylvania coal, lumber, and ore to larger markets such as Philadelphia and New York and brought back finished goods, helping fuel the American Industrial Revolution by providing fast, dependable transportation after canals had filled that role in the first half of the nineteenth century. After the Civil War, railroads increasingly outcompeted canals and dominated transportation for the next century, until post-World War II long-distance trucking and cheap fuel reduced demand for trains and pushed hundreds of railroad companies into bankruptcy, sale, or abandonment of former lines. Congress responded with the 1980 Staggers Rail Act, which streamlined the transfer of abandoned rail lines and property, and in 1983 the National Trails System Act was amended to permit rail-banking, preserving rail corridors for possible future transportation use while making them available for hiking, walking, and biking. In Pennsylvania, only seven of nearly 100 rail trails are on rail-banked corridors; the rest are on land purchased from railroad companies or on old rail beds that reverted to private property and are publicly accessed through easements. The 165-mile D&L Trail follows dozens of miles of former rail beds when it is not on the canal towpath, including 26 miles in Lehigh Gorge State Park, and regional trails connect with it to form a network that restores links between communities and natural places. Converting former rail beds into trails is difficult because ballast, timber ties, and steel rails must often be removed or reworked, some sections may need paving, and long-term maintenance depends on continuing partnerships among volunteers, land managers, and local municipalities.