I had the railbike bungeed down to the roof of the trusty Subaru with intentions of a short ride after doing some construction/deconstruction work at a friend's house in Lambertville, NJ. I arrived at the location of the job only to find the key wasn't where it was supposed to be. Looks like I'm not going to work today. Guess I'll just have to take a long ride.

Riding the

Black River & Western

Lambertville to Flemington, New Jersey

Dedicated to Florian

"I'll miss your sense of adventure"

by Tom Walz

    I had been eyeballing a particular rail line that culminates in Lambertville, NJ for a quite a few years. In the past year I had noticed vegetation accumulating to the point of possibly making the rail impassable by railbike. This Spring I knew it had to be now or never.

    I hadn't ridden any railbike since my 2001 Adirondack ride from Big Moose, NY to Dick and Sudjai Bentley's. I was long overdue. I hadn't touched the bike either. I didn't even oil the chain. I just threw the bike on the rails and went.

    I couldn't have ridden more than fifty yards and I was picking deadfall off the rails. There were branches and twigs laying on the rail all along the route. Sometimes I'd get a break and be able to ride a few hundred yards

without having to dismount. Briars were encroaching on these rails at an alarming rate but only once did I have to carry the bike around them.

At one time this was route known as The Black River & Western

going between Lambertville and Flemington. Near my starting point there are the quaint sister towns of New Hope, PA and, 

across the Delaware River, Lambertville, in NJ. Both of these towns, especially the former, cater to

day tourists with small high-end restaurants, gift shops and a good peppering of trendy bars. At one time they were both major ports on The Pennsylvania and The Delaware and Raritan Canals, respectively. The main product being carried on these canals

was Pennsylvania Anthracite coal. These canals were active until the late 1930's when railroads proved to be able to carry more, faster. The D&R canal towpath eventually became a rail bed. The only portion of this rail still intact is the Black River & Western that culminated at the Lambertville Station. The town of Flemington at the other end has a huge shopping outlet complex. It seemed like a good idea to create a tourist line but obviously, the venture didn't succeed.

    The rails went along a creek that zigzagged under the railroad the entire length of my ride. I made very slow progress, rarely using more than my lower three speeds due to the brush, briars, sticks and twigs. It was slow going but I knew that the ride back would be pretty easy because of all the clearing I was doing. It took about two and a half hours to ride about five miles.

    I got to a tree fallen across the tracks that could only be cleared with a chainsaw. It was time to turn around. As expected, the ride back was a glorious downhill cruise that took only an hour.  It feels good to be back on the rails, weeds and all.