BENTLEY RAILBIKE home page
LINKS to other GREAT RAILBIKE SITES
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

  AND PLEASE..., IF YOU DISCOVER ANY OF THESE LINKS  
NO LONGER WORK, SEND AN E-MAIL AND TELL ME!
THANK YOU.


YouTube VIDEO

(20 DEC 2007)
Bill Brown's version of a Bentley Railbike:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqzAv0wc09o

(24 SEP 2011)
This from CORKY MORK, Bentley RAILBIKE builder/rider:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zp40A1rSJ6Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player


Looking for abandoned railroads? Try ABANDONED RAILS.com.



Logo - property of RAILBIKE INTERNATIONAL RAILBIKE INTERNATIONAL
This site belongs to BOB MELLIN who formerly published
the "Railbike International Messenger" (RIM),
a membership newsletter.
And currently publishes the following books:
  "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

Logo - property of RAILCYCLE RAILCYCLE (This site is no longer active, but Richard Smart is still Railbiking.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.

In use by the London Underground Railroad

Logo - property of RAILBIKE TOURS, INC. RAILBIKE TOURS, INC.
MICHAEL ROHDE is the man behind this site, and he offers
RAILBIKE TOURS through the scenic Ohop Valley and Lake
Kapowsin near Eatonville, WA. His railbikes are VERY stable,
promising a safe and pleasurable ride.

Side-by-side version of a 'Bicycle built for two'!

Logo - property of RONS RIDERS 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.

Two-place RONS RIDER

Riding the Rails by Bike
More information on Michael Rohde's tours, plus other
RAILBIKING activities.

Logo - property of Velocipede
VELOCIPEDES website
These machines are not exactly rail BIKES, but they are close and kind of old-timey, and they look like a lot of fun.

velocipede


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Here is something you will enjoy.
Take a look at Parallel Cases!
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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.

This is how they do 'it' in France.

Railbiking in Belgium
The title is nearly self-explainatory. The business behind this site offers Railbike touring along railway line number 150 linking Tamines with Jemelle via Dinant in the Sambre-Meuse region of the Belgian Ardennes.

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.

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.

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.)
Interesting Railbike build by Desmond Schulemann.


Shaun Slifer railbike page
This website belongs to an artist in the Pittsburgh, PA ares who apparently railbikes on the side.

Rail HPV for Sale
This fellow wants to sell you a super streamlined enclosure for a railbike.
Any takers?

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!
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.)
Think this thing would work?



'LA TROCHITA' Railroad adventure
through the eyes of avid Railbiker PETER HOFFMAN
http://www.latrochita.homestead.com/index.html


Email received 10 MAR 2009 from notable Railbiker RICHARD SMART

Hi Richard,
(don't get confused here; Dick Smart is addressing me, Dick Bentley)

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

Bridge on 'La Trochita' railroad.


PROLOGUE

There is a tiny break away group (Railbikers) who are members of the genus and specie (Homo sapiens) that is rapidly becoming extinct. What is most troubling is their dwindling numbers are made up of graying males and only a few females who are recorded in the field. Both the males and females are elusive and almost impossible to track. When moving about, they follow precisely along the same tracks as the iron horse, (Ferrous caballus) without leaving a trace of evidence of their passage. They are thinly spread around the globe, and the sightings that have occurred are mentioned in the discussion that follows. In the United States members of the clan have been spotted resting in a grassy meadow in the redwoods of northern California, a rare female was reported in the Adirondacks of upstate New York, a remnant group was spotted by air moving slowly across the Goshute desert in Nevada, and on one occasion a sizable group of older males was seen migrating into the high country of northern Idaho, later reappearing on the plains of central Montana. In South America they have been seen in the Andes of Ecuador and Chile, and four of the subspecies were seen deep inside the Patagonian steppe country of Argentina. Europe has posted more sightings than any of the other continents. There is a report from Sweden of several graying males who are seen frequently in Scandinavia and even as far away as France. One particular graying male is especially noteworthy! There is certainty that this individual has had a major impact on the entire herd and its migratory patterns. There is documentary proof that two years ago this individual led a group of eight railbikers through downtown Stockholm in the wee hours of the morning!

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





Interesting YouTube videos of old locomotives

Trevithick's 1802 Coalbrookdale locomotive
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9Bb931f1bw

Trains - The Steam Pioneers
Britain's Greatest Machines With Chris Barrie
One you must watch, it is very, very good. (For SCI-FI fans, Chris Barrie was “Rimmer” in the “RED DWARF” TV series.)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOGYZC-IJPQ

The Jupiter and 119 rebuilds for the 1869 joining of the first Transcontinental line in the USA.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oM2A2NEaRqg




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.

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

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
20 Willow Avenue
Fairfax, CA 94930       USA
      (415-453-8886)
      bobmellin@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)



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.


Adirondack Railroad
The ADIRONDACK RAILROAD, 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.
You may be interested to know that the washouts along this line, shown in pictures on this site, have since been completely repaired.
The Adirondack Railroad Preservation Society (ARPS) operates tours from Thendara Station to Big Moose, and at the north end of the line from Memorial Day through Columbus Day, between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, NY, twice home to the Winter Olympic games.

Saratoga & North Creek Railway
The Upper Hudson River Railroad, which used to offer excursion runs between North Creek and Riparius on a section of the old D&H Railroad owned by Warren County, is curently being operated by The Saratoga & North Creek Railway. The Saratoga & North Creek makes a commuter run between North Creek and Saratoga, where it links to AMTRACK for travel to NYC and points south, each morning and late afternoon. In the middle of the day it makes an excursion run from North Creek to Thurman and back, winding its way along the scenic headwaters of the Hudson River.


The next LINK is a long way from the Adirondacks, in southern California.


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.


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:
LAMBOWLER@SOFTCOM.NET




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