Cycling on Railway Tracks ?
Mark R. Mcclenaghan
their bikes to ride on abandoned railway tracks? These bikes have
adapters to actually set the wheels on the rails.
Thanks,
Mark
SchnkrBob
Maybe Cyclist?
Jeffrey R. Broido
I'd like to know about this, too. The only problem, of course, is that
the particular track in question might not be quite as abandoned as one
supposes.
_____________________________________________________________
Jeffrey R. Broido "No Statements Flagged
Morristown, NJ in this Assembly."
Chuck Anderson
>
In "Off The Map," by Mark Jenkins (?) he describes how a Russian friend
of his cut birch branches and tied them along the forks so that they
could continue riding through Siberia. It was too muddy and there were
no other roads. The tracks were still used so they had to stay aware.
--
*********************************************************************
Chuck Anderson Boulder, CO cand...@nyx10.cs.du.edu
************************** Just Say Go! *****************************
Thomas H. Kunich
>the particular track in question might not be quite as abandoned as one
>supposes.
PLEASE REMEMBER -- you cannot hear a train coming from behind you. No
matter how much you think you can. Why do you suppose so many people
have been killed by trains?
Mr R M Mantel
Mark> Does anyone have info or source of info for people who have
Mark> adapted their bikes to ride on abandoned railway tracks?
Mark> These bikes have adapters to actually set the wheels on the
Mark> rails.
In one of the last CT&C magazines, there was a report of a couple who
had cycled on a tandem to some place in Canada which only had a
freight rail line going there and no road.
Rolf
--
Rolf Mantel, * ma...@csv.warwick.ac.uk @ ) _ _
Dept. of Mathematics, * r...@maths.warwick.ac.uk /\ * | |_| |
University of Warwick, * _`\ `_(== | |
Coventry CV4 7AL, England * ________________________(_)/_(_)______ | |
danh...@millcomm.com
>the particular track in question might not be quite as abandoned as one
>supposes.
Yes, and remember that even clearly abandoned tracks are owned by
someone, and that someone may consider your riding on them to be
trespassing. Some of the railroads get very testy about this sort of thing.
Dan Hicks
Lisa Mighton
bikes to ride on rails ...
an article on rail bikes was in the July '93 issue of BikeReport, published
by Bike Centennial (406-721-8719) - 2 sources mentioned are Richard Smart,
3502 Buckskin Rd., Coeur d'Alene, ID 83814 (says to send SASE for info
about plans) and Paul Morningstar (707-778-6580, CA). Paul faxed me some
pretty specific info about make-your-own.
W5, the TV documentary show, did a story on this sometime back. They
talked to three people - 2 in the U.S., who I didn't get contacts for, plus
a guy called Florian Grenier in Sullivan Quebec ... I don't believe he
manufactures them himself.
I should probably mention I had a lot of negative response - concern about
promoting use of potentially still-used railways, where people might now
get smooshed by trains. An organization called Operation Lifesaver
(promoting safety on railways) is particularly concerned. So I think it
sounds kinda fun, but I say that with all kinds of corporate and
non-associating disclaimers!
Gary E. Madine, ATGemT Bell Labs, Allentown, PA.
Lisa Mighton <Lisa_M...@mindlink.bc.ca> wrote:
>I did some looking into this a bit ago - so for those looking to adapt
>bikes to ride on rails ...
>
>an article on rail bikes was in the July '93 issue of BikeReport, published
Thanks for the article date. I suggest those interested get the article
and read it themselves. The description in the article was of
a horribly dangerous machine. And that part of the description didn't
mention locomotive-overtaking-pedaler accidents. In ideal use, it was
a horribly dangerous machine.
Gary E. Madine
g...@aloft.att.com
deem
: and read it themselves. The description in the article was of
: a horribly dangerous machine. And that part of the description didn't
: mention locomotive-overtaking-pedaler accidents. In ideal use, it was
: a horribly dangerous machine.
: Gary E. Madine
: g...@aloft.att.com
Dear Gary, Lisa and other participants of this discussion, telling
us in a truly kniee-jerk liberal fashion what a dander are we being
exposed to while riding on abandoned raiload tracks!
Please rest assured that:
a). We are really talking about cycling on ABANDONED railroad tracks,
b). even the simple minded people (which means simpletons like me)
CAN discern
between a truly abandoned railroad track and one, which is still in use.
The first sign is rust on the rail head.
The second sign is a visible neglect of the rails - parts covered with
debris, mud, missing ties, overgrown with vegetation, some portions used as
storage area by locals, etc.
The third one, MOST IMPORTANT - higway crossings with the track in
question are clearly signed as "EXEMPT".
Now, back to the subject.
I have a photograph, approx. 5 x 6", titled " Cycling on the Pittsburgh and
Western Railway in the 1920s".
It shows 8 cyclists in their Sunday bests, including hats and ties,
cycling leisurely on a single track in a hilly area. The first cyclist
has a small child as a passenger, sitting on the rail attchement of his bike.
The interesting part is that this picture shows very clearly the
technical details of the bike attachement to run on tracks.
It appears to be very simple - 3 bars, attached to the front axle, the
rear axle and the top of the frame, joined together at a small cast(?)
wheel, double flanged, running on the opposite ( right) rail. Bicycles are
placed over the left rail.
Anybody interested in obtaining this picture shall mail SASE
(self-stamped, addressed envelope) to:
DEEM RAILROAD SAFETY SYSTEMS INC, div. of DEEM Controls Inc,
3006 Osler St, London, ONT. Canada, N5V 1V3
Attn: Josef R. Mankowski
I will copy my picture and mail it back to you. If you live in US, your
SASE envelope shall be stamped with regular US stamps - we will mail it
out of Port Huron, MI.
Of course, this is a free service.
There is no use to try faxing this picture - contarst is rather low and
details quite small.
PS: After reading your postings, something very clear emerged in my mind:
The vehicle you drive (ride) determins your political orientation!
You enter a pickup truck with a gun rack, you are an instant redneck.
You sit on a bicycle, you become an instant liberal, worrying about
everything - mostly about legal consequences of any fun activity.
Your brain turns into a mushy pink substance.
Is this my destination , too?
Oh, God, I love bicycling, but I don't want to be turned into a LIBERAL!!!!
For hate mail and flamming - here is my e-mail address:
de...@suspects.com.
Regards, Josef R. Mankowski.
Schubley
I wrote the July 1993 BikeReport (now "Adventure Cycling") article.
Some comments:
The rail riders I spoke with were all extreeeeemely careful to make sure
they rode only on abandoned tracks. That is your only assurance of
personal safety.
Also, I need to make the following distinction, regarding Gary Madine's
posting:
I expect Richard Smart's rail bikes are pretty safe. But I didn't get
to ride one for my July 1993 article, so I stop shy of categorically
saying they're safe.
Tom Walz's design is the only one I got to ride, and that's the one I
crashed.
Tom has since redesigned his railbike -- but I doubt he'll ever get
around to producing it commercially. So I think Tom's design is a moot
point.
If I wanted to get into rail riding, I'd get a Smart design kit. It's
gone 10s of thousands of miles without the kind of crash I had, so I
consider it *very* highly likely that it's a safe design.
Why bother? Because rails go into some mighty rural places. The
scenery is sumptin' else.
John Schubert (Schu...@aol.com)
danh...@millcomm.com
So what do you do when you're tooling along this abandoned track at
30 mph or so and suddenly notice there's a tree growing up between the
rails? Or that the rails have been removed at a grade crossing?
Dan Hicks
nimb...@gmail.com
Just about every conceivable design has been tried out, perhaps the simplest and cheapest to construct are made with off-the-shelf components from sources like Harbor Freight tools, pneumatic wheels and frames which have been modified to have rims fitting rails.
Framing has been everything used from Steel weldments, EMT tubing to PVC schedule 40 plastic tubing. For the DIYer there's plenty of YouTube videos to watch on rail bikes and designs. I find myself in DIY category, preferring building and avoiding expense purchasing something ready-made off-the-shelf.
The advantage if you custom design your own product, you get more of what you want, like the capability of folding attachment and riding your bike when there are no rails.
You cannot legislate morality nor common sense, so I really don't know what will keep people legal and safe with a rail bike.
Outlawing murder hasn't kept people from killing each other and anyone who gains access to a rail bike can misuse it, just like we have drunk drivers, nobody is going to give up their car because some people are irresponsible, so I feel that most people would feel the same about rail bikes. That is why we have the justice system, to let people enjoy life and prosecute the guilty.