nimblebee
Member
When there were so many railroads abandoning rail lines and selling off their "Maintenance of Way" (MOW) vehicles, this provided opportunity for people taking their own private "speeders" & rail bikes down abandoned trackways.
For those whom rail bikes might be unknown, railroad bicycles are not a new phenomenon: they were in use for MOW alongside steam trains for track maintenance.
There being salvageable material in railroads, it didn't take long for "entre-manure" types to start scavenging abandoned rail lines for salvage materials & selling to the highest bidder.
Some of this was illegal, but there were probably palms greased & pockets filled, where nefarious money mongering evildoers were being protected by political corruption, greed, kickbacks, backroom deals and legal chicanery, such that most abandoned rail lines were subsequently recycled.
Various plans and kits were once available for those who wanted a quick, easy and inexpensive conversion kit to ride their bicycles down abandoned trackways.
The reason why you can't easily find plans nor buy kits for rail bike conversion today, is because there's nowhere so much left to ride rails any longer.
Happily, I know of one abandoned surviving rail line close by, which was legally abandoned, but is preserved due to museum society's efforts.
Got to be an interesting story, how they managed to keep scavengers at bay, when so many other RRs were gobbled up for salvage material's resale value?
Search on video hosting sites provide plenty documentation of people with their own DIY conversions for rail bikes.
Traveling by rail would make quite an excellent adventure on motorized bicycle.
Some of the best of these homebrewed DIY rail bike designs were easily engaged/disengaged, so you could quickly/easily fold up RR kit out of way, & take motorized bicycle on road or rails or trails, at your pleasure.
Linked video, one can enjoy electric motorized bicycle 120 mile rail tour.
Second video link goes over some design aspects of foldable, portable, DIY self-built RR kit for bicycle.
For those whom rail bikes might be unknown, railroad bicycles are not a new phenomenon: they were in use for MOW alongside steam trains for track maintenance.
There being salvageable material in railroads, it didn't take long for "entre-manure" types to start scavenging abandoned rail lines for salvage materials & selling to the highest bidder.
Some of this was illegal, but there were probably palms greased & pockets filled, where nefarious money mongering evildoers were being protected by political corruption, greed, kickbacks, backroom deals and legal chicanery, such that most abandoned rail lines were subsequently recycled.
Various plans and kits were once available for those who wanted a quick, easy and inexpensive conversion kit to ride their bicycles down abandoned trackways.
The reason why you can't easily find plans nor buy kits for rail bike conversion today, is because there's nowhere so much left to ride rails any longer.
Happily, I know of one abandoned surviving rail line close by, which was legally abandoned, but is preserved due to museum society's efforts.
Got to be an interesting story, how they managed to keep scavengers at bay, when so many other RRs were gobbled up for salvage material's resale value?
Search on video hosting sites provide plenty documentation of people with their own DIY conversions for rail bikes.
Traveling by rail would make quite an excellent adventure on motorized bicycle.
Some of the best of these homebrewed DIY rail bike designs were easily engaged/disengaged, so you could quickly/easily fold up RR kit out of way, & take motorized bicycle on road or rails or trails, at your pleasure.
Linked video, one can enjoy electric motorized bicycle 120 mile rail tour.
Second video link goes over some design aspects of foldable, portable, DIY self-built RR kit for bicycle.
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