Western Railroad Discussion > Railbikes!!

Hey folks!

I've been looking around ways to build my own railbike (a bicycle you can run on railroad tracks). I'm going to be on the San Diego, CA area by December to early January, and I'm really serious onto getting one ready!

I have a place to run it safely, I want a one person, easy-to-carry setup and to be able to be configured as a railbike and as a normal bike. TOUGH ON TOUGH tracks (no derailments). The easy part I guess is buying a bike and a helmet, that I can do... But what about the rest?

I think I'm going to spend about $300 more or less including a bike (I think I only need a basic bike for this, doesn't matter if it's used).

What about the hardware? What do I need to buy? It doesn't look very hard to get one railbike assembled (my cousin is a welder). It's my understanding that railroads used to use these...

Any tools, diagrams, experiences, or ideas to share please reply or PM me, I really need help!

Cheers!

Hector M. Gonzalez
Guadalajara, Jalisco, MX



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/29/09 18:04 by SBC_1344.

You may want to post your message on the Nostalgia & History Discussion because my great grandfather had a friend who had one of these many years ago. Aaron 21

There is a video in the Trainorders archives that shows a concept similar to what you want. The bike had an outrigger set of arms that went to the opposing rail. The bike wheels were just rims.... i think. There are other videos of home made motorized transporters.

Here is all you need to know about railbikes.

Well, I guess that I could post a couple photos that I took on the Flam line in Norway a few years ago and one of them had a little bike engine on it, but the follwing link should do it..

http://rrbike.freeservers.com/PgRBPIC.htm

Hector,

You might try these guys: http://www.railriders.net/railbike_wheels.htm. I intended to modify my bike per their original plans which I purchased way back when but just got too busy with work.

Bruce
Altadena, CA

Here is a more interesting link that included railbike tours and you can buy a bike.

http://www.railbike.com/default2.htm

Sorry, larail predated me by 5 minutes. HIS is more interesting.