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BENTLEY RAILBIKE home page |
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CLICK any of these LINKS to explore the growing world of RAILBIKING on the web.
Then, use the 'BACK' button to return to the BENTLEY RAILBIKE page!!!
Railbike on Wikipedia: Draisine (another name for a pedel powered rail car) E-mail new LINKS to: bentley@northnet.org
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RAILBIKE INTERNATIONAL This site belongs to BOB MELLIN who publishes the "Railbike International Messenger" (RIM), a membership newsletter. "RAILBIKE" (144 pages) Cycling on Abandoned Railroads "RIGHT-OF-WAY" (238 pages) Guide to Abandoned Railroads "RAILRIDERS" A history & Design Overview "AMERICAN RAILBIKE" Association Handbook |
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RAILCYCLE
(This site is no longer active,
but Richard Smart is
still Railbiking. This site belongs to DICK SMART, a long time Railbiker who manufactures and sells a ready-built RAILCYCLE. He has already sold 10 of these to the world-famous London Underground Railway for use by London Underground engineers and track workers.
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RONS RIDERS RON FORSTER manufactures a light-weight, foot-pedaled, 4 wheeled railcar that can carry one, two, or four passengers, depending on model. With a low center of gravity, light-weight yet sturdy construction, recumbent seating, and safe, reliable operation, this vehicle is great for the blind and handicapped. He also sells a flanged plastic wheel to those who wish to build their own.
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Riding the Rails by Bike More information on Michael Rohde's tours, plus other RAILBIKING activities. |
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VELORAIL (This site appears to be gone, but the picture is still good.) This is a French site offering Railbike Tours.
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Railbiking in Belgium The title is nearly self-explainatory. The business behind this sitesite offers Railbike touring along railway line number 150 linking Tamines with Jemelle via Dinant in the Sambre-Meuse region of the Belgian Ardennes. |
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Vallée de la Molignée This Belgian site is written in French, but it is not too difficult to figure out what they mean by, "Découvrez les joies de la draisine." So, if you are about to head off to Belgium and wish to take a little railbike tour, you know where to go. |
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Forbes (5-31-99) Outdoors Railway to Heaven This page contains the FORBES magazine article on RAILBIKING by Alan Farnham that appeared in the spring of '99. |
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Desmond Schulemann's 'Railroad Bicycling' story Good reading, and an interesting RAILBIKE design, by Desmond Schulemann. (Link may not work so here is one of the photos.)
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Rail HPV for Sale This fellow wants to sell you a super streamlined enclosure for a railbike. Any takers? |
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RAILBIKING SITES IN EUROPE A European RAILBIKE LINK list. These appear to mostly be sites for railbike rentals, and most are not in English, but poke around and have fun! |
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Single Rail Railbike? Just thought you'd get a kick out of seeing this one. (Link may not work so here is what you are missing.)
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The following LINKS will lead you to the sites of the two excursion train operations in the Adirondack Mountains. Each is on a different rail line, and both use only a small portion of the lines upon which they operate. Currently, long stretches on both lines stand unused. |
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Adirondack Railroad The ADIRONDACK RAILROAD, now owned by the State of NY, starts just north of Utica, and ends in Lake Placid, passing by my home at Mount Arab along the way. The Adirondack Railroad Preservation Society (ARPS) now operates tours from Thendara Station as far north as Big Moose. ARPS plans to soon have a second section operating between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, NY, twice home to the Winter Olympic games. |
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Upper Hudson River Railroad The Upper Hudson River Railroad operates between North Creek and Riparius on a section of the old D&H Railroad, now owned by Warren County, NY. The train winds its way 8 miles along the scenic headwaters of the Hudson River. |
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The next LINK is a long way from the Adirondacks, in southern California. |
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San Diego Railroad Museum The San Diego and Arizona Railroad heads eastward from San Diego, running both north and south of the US-Mexican border as it works its way through the rugged, mountainous high desert country. Continuing on, this lonesome track winds its way through the starkly beautiful Carrizo Gorge. Passage through the gorge carries you over high trestles and through long, dark tunnels before finally emerging onto flat desert stretching away to Arizona. Along the way, you will want to stop in Campo, CA to visit the San Diego Railroad Museum. |
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ANNOUNCEMENT by the Recreational Railroad Coalition, Inc. (RRC) The LINDEN BRANCH, which runs from Stockton to Linden, CA, offers over 10 miles of historic, picturesque tracks wandering through the flatland orchards of San Joaquin County. For a low annual membership fee, members of RCC, including RAILBIKERS, (along with motor cars and other rail vehicles) will be able to access the corridor to enjoy a day on the rails. A Director of Railroad Operations (DRO) will schedule and direct all rail traffic and coordinate all activities on the railroad.
For details contact Larry Bowler, RRC President at: |
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Railbikers near YOU! There are many RAILBIKERS throughout the United States, and in fact, throughout the world. The list below represents a scattering of individuals who have expressed an interest in this rare sport of long history. |
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Dick Bentley Mount Arab, Box 786 Tupper Lake, NY 12986 USA (518-359-9300) bentley@northnet.org mtarab.freeservers.com rrbike.freeservers.com Sudjai Bentley Mount Arab, Box 786 Tupper Lake, NY 12986 USA (518-359-9300) bentley@northnet.org Mark Cohen 134 Winterstein Drive Folsom, CA 95630 USA (916-983-6206 phone/fax) macohen@pacbell.net Michael Conley North Division Bicycle Shop 10503 N. Division Spokane WA 99218 USA (509-747-3778) bikeaudi@aol.com Steve Crise Los Angeles, CA USA (310-202-8443) scrise@aol.com www.scrise.com Jeff Debes 60 Castlebar Road Rochester, NY 14610 USA (716-473-9637) kurbach@rochester.rr.com Ernie Erickson Railcycle Inc. 4352 Webster St. Coeur d'Alene, ID 83815 USA (208-676-8470) Ron Forster Rons Riders 99 Memorial Street Franklin, NH 03235 USA (603-934-1938) railriders@metrocast.net www.railriders.net Morgan Gustavsson Kvarnholmsvägen 14 B 441 35 Alingsås SWEDEN (+ 46(0)322-19211) morgan.gustavsson@eniac.se Bear Kamoroff Willits, CA 95490 USA (707-459-6372) Ted Katauskas Freelance Writer (see OUTSIDE magazine - OCT 2000) 618 NE Shaver St. Portland, OR 97212 USA (503-284-7987) Ray Marnoch 82 Sunset Drive North Whitehorse, Yukon Y1A 3G5 CANADA Bob Mellin Editor/Publisher Railbike International Messenger (RIM) Balboa Publishing Corporation 1323 San Anselmo Avenue San Anselmo, CA 94960 USA (415-453-8886) RAILBIKES@aol.com RAILBIKE INTERNATIONAL Michael Rohde RAILBIKE TOURS, INC. 818 Eastside St NE Olympia WA 98506 USA (360-791-8353) railbike@railbike.com www.railbike.com Tom Walz PO Box 21550 Lehigh Valley, PA 18002 USA (610-867-6868) tomwalz@hotmail.com www.tomwalz.com (see FUN STUFF) |
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Email received 10 March 2009
Hi Richard, Arne Nilson took this photo last February in Patagonia. What I am riding, I call the James Bond suitcase bike. This fold up aluminum Railcycle fits into a standard 31" Samsonite suitcase. The suitcase itself converts into a camper trailer with its own outrigger that attaches inside the suitcase. It can be pulled on either roads or rails. Fifteen minutes before this photo was shot our party ran into a herd of approximately 200 Guanacos (wild llamas). They crossed the tracks in front of us. It was probably the greatest wildlife spectacle that I have ever witnessed from the rails. I thought that crossing that bridge and all the other bridges on the La Trochita were scary experiences. It was dry season and the the water was very low. Large numbers of young brown trout had accumulated in the remaining deeper pools. The La Trochita, 291/2" gauge railroad in southern Argentina runs between Esquel in the south to Jacobacci in the north. It was originally constructed to deliver sheep and wool products to the main line at Jacobucci and then on to Buenos Aires to be shipped over seas. The railroad is 300 miles long and most of it is abandoned. It is the longest narrow guage railroad left in the world. Most of the station were like minature ghost towns. There is also plenty of old equipment (from the twenties) along the line including old rusting locomotives in El Maiten. Dick Smart |
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It wasn’t until William Least Heatmoon, traveler of Blue Highways and lover of wild and quirky things, pursued and interviewed two individuals from the Idaho herd and discovered some of the details of these elusive beings. He caught up with them at a restaurant in Williston, North Dakota. He had been tracking them for some time!! “The two had an air about them that I will never forget,” said William!” They were smiling as if they were sharing a common secret. When the thin one spoke he was as enthusiastic as an evangelical preacher. The wrinkles in his lightly tanned forehead and the expression in his blue eyes broadcast years of life experiences. I could tell that he wanted me to feel what it was really like to be a railbiker. As the words rolled off his tongue the older and larger individual would most often agree with his friend and at times would add his own details and factual information to the story. I sat there absorbing their thoughts about tracking the iron horse, taking notes that I would later use to spur my memory. We began at breakfast and then lunch came and went. It was the middle of the afternoon when I finally finished the interview. From my notes of that memorable day: [the thin one speaks] Railbikers ride on glassy smooth pathways that stretch for thousands of miles across rural America. The trails have no automobile traffic, and they lead you to out of the way places where few people have ever visited. You will follow winding river canyons, pedal along the shore lines of glacier carved lakes, wind your way through rugged mountain ranges, and cross majestic plains where the pathway ahead seems to disappear into infinity. There are no steep hills, pedaling is easy, and you do not have to steer. Does this sound like a dream or just too good to believe? Your vehicle runs silently and at times you are able to coast to within a few feet of wild animals that look at you in disbelief as if they were betrayed by their senses. A gentle headwind hides your scent, and you surprise a badger (Taxidea taxus) that briefly stares into your eyes and then quickly disappears into its black hole. Moments later your serpentine trail leads you into your own enormous black hole. Unlike the badger who is seeking the safety of its burrow, a feeling of excitement and uncertainty sends a shiver down your spine. You pedal eerily along through the tube of chilled darkness wondering if this is what it must feel like to pedal in outer space or to experience drugs for the first time. When you finally emerge into the daylight, your senses seem keener, and you cherish the bright sunlight in the same way that human beings cherish their first sip of water after a long night’s sleep. At times your pathway is elevated on wooden stilts and sightseeing is superb! You hear the shrill whistle of a red tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and search the skyline for the elusive raptor only to discover that the graceful creature is soaring beneath your trestle-perch. At other times you may be so close to a small stream that you can spot tiny rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) hiding beneath a log and see brilliant blue damselflies (Coenagridae) hovering near to the water’s edge. The human history of the land unfolds as you keep pedaling along on your rail trail to adventure. An old farm wagon with a broken wheel sits forlornly near the edge of a grassy meadow, parked for eternity after its last mission of ferrying too heavy a load. You see an abandoned farm house with part of its roof collapsed and then notice nearby a swing board dangling from a remnant of rotting twine. The badly frayed rope, probably decades without use, somehow remains anchored to a dying limb of a gnarly locust tree. A gentle wind moves the board back and forth reminding all onlookers of the little people who once lived and grew up in this desolate setting. Where did these children go to school? Who were their playmates? How did their parents make a living tilling the soil in such a barren land? Where did they (Homo sapiens) go? Where did the railbikers go? We may never know? ~ by Dick Smart
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