Railbike Friendships
by Richard Smart
Most of us are finding that railbikers are talented and interesting individuals that are a lot of fun to be around. They include inventors, artists, photographers, machinists, fabricators, teachers and a variety of other trades and professions.
In August my friend Ken Wright and I decided to visit some of these folks in their own environments. We saw Ron Forster at his River Mill in Franklin, New Hampshire, Eric DeRivera near his home in Maine and the Bentleys in the Adirondacks of New York.
I completed my rail tours by spending a few days with Arne Nilsson in Sweden. Here are some of the photos from these trips so that all of you can share in the brotherhood of railbiking.
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I am in the process of trying out Ron Forster's famous Railrider. This machine has a wonderful track record for helping the handicaped. Ron and I have been promoting railbikes since 1976 and it was a real treat to finally ride the rails together. In the years past this Boston and Maine Railway branch line carried thousands of vacationers to the resorts at Wolfeboro on Lake Winnipesaukee. Wolfboro is advertised today as the oldest resort town in the U.S.
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Ken Wright (sunglasses) with Eric DeRivera (center) and friend aboard Eric's three-person high-tech four wheeler railbike. Eric, a mechanical engineer, bicycle racer, and railroad enthusiast knows where most of the abandoned lines are in New England. This Maine Central Railway line had recently been cleared of brush offering some nice views of the countryside.
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Ken and I joined Richard and Sudjai Bentley on this adverturous ride through a jungle of overgrowth on an abandoned branch line of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad. At one point we crossed the upper reaches of the Hudson River on a high bridge.
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Ken and the Bentleys pose for a photo along a beautiful marsh area near their home in Tupper Lake, New York. We are traveling on a former branch line of the New York Central Railroad that at one time carried thousands of tourists through the Adriondack wilderness on the way to Lake Placid's resorts.
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Arne Nilsson picked me up at a friend's factory in Copenhagen, Denmark, and drove me to his home in Goteborg, Sweden. I had the privilege to ride Arne's newest railbike. It was truly a wonderful experience. He had mounted his custom rail apparatus on a brand new 5-speed luxury bicycle that ran silently through the Swedish countryside. It's quiet running reminded me of Florian Grenier's railbike in Sullivan, Quebec. In 1993 Ken and I rode with Florian on two wilderness railbike trips.
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Arne Nilsson's unique Jeep railbike disassebles and folds up to fit into a standard suitcase shown resting on the outrigger. We rode 50 plus miles along granite lakes and through magnificent forests with an occasional farmhouse decorating the landscape. The railway, located several hours north and east of Goteborg, was one of Seden's many railbike rental sites.
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Along the way we picked yellow mushrooms that Arne could spot from the rails. We later cooked these up
for dinner and they were delicious!
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Arne called ahead to reserve us a room at a hostel to stay after our first day on the rails. The hostel was located a couple of miles from the track so we simply raised the front guides and rode to it on the road.
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Besides passing several rental railbikes campers, and some rusty railbikes sitting along the right-of-way, we happened to pass two full classrooms of school children who were using the railbikes
(also called driesens or trolleys) as their motive power for a tour through nature. The teachers rode in front of these caravans and seemed to have much more control of the children than if these kids had been riding conventional bicycles.
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One of the more intresting sights along the way was this "Tank Stopper". There was one of these monuted on either side of the track. Arne thought they were constructed to prevent W.W. II
era tanks from driving down the right-of-way. The railway wheels on top of the platform rolled along rails sliding the concrete barriers into place blocking the tracks.
For the coming New Year I would like to see more railbikers visit each other and share those unique experiences that we all discover when riding those rusty ribbons of steel!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS! - Richard
