Passenger Trains > Let's Go for a Bike, er, Train Ride

The Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad in Northeast Ohio has a program known as Bike Aboard that allows bicyclists to ride their bikes one way in the Cuyhahoga Valley National Park and ride the train back to where they started, or vice versa. A baggage car fitted with bike racks holds the bikes and a dedicated coach holds the bikers. The program is seasonal, operating in late spring, summer and a good part of the fall. Bikers pay a greatly reduced fare.

Last Saturday a large crowd of bikers was waiting in Peninsula for the first run of the day of the National Park Scenic. Many of them were Boy Scouts on an outing. During the fall foliage season, the number of bicyclists aboard the train reaches into the hundreds.

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That's really impressive. Both the number of bikers and the length of the train.

Reminded me of when I was a kid. I used to chase the trains on my bicycle when I was a kid. The tracks were about a block and a half from my home. I would ride from one street to the next and watch them switch. I remember one place where they had to back in around a building and it took about 3 men to relay signals to the engineer. Yep, well before radios were common on trains.

That looks like an interesting program. Creative minds can come up with stuff like that.

John

wa4umr Wrote:
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> Reminded me of when I was a kid. I used to chase
> the trains on my bicycle when I was a kid. The
> tracks were about a block and a half from my home.
> I would ride from one street to the next and
> watch them switch. I remember one place where
> they had to back in around a building and it took
> about 3 men to relay signals to the engineer.
> Yep, well before radios were common on trains.
>
> That looks like an interesting program. Creative
> minds can come up with stuff like that.
>
> John
I remember also riding my bike with friends down to the B&O to watch them switch cars. Those were fun times as the railroaders were so very friendly towards us.
Today, the Western Maryland Scenic Railroad also hauls bicycles and riders up to Frostburg for the most part and then the riders can coast back down the mountains to Cumberland. A lot of riders take advantage of the train in this fashion.
John in White Marsh, Maryland

Also done on the Lehigh Gorge Scenic which transports you up the Lehigh River to White Haven, Pa. and allows you to bike the incredibly scenic 22 miles back to Jim Thorpe passing rafters, kayakers, and canoers along the way, in many cases right along the Reading and Northern right of way.

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Absolutely fabulous combination of two of mankind's greatest inventions!

Interesting. Does each bicyclist get a tag
with a number on it so the RR bike handler
can easily give the right bike back to the
right person? I am always curious about
logistics like this.

Yup -- ride a train uphill, and then --
wheeeeee downhill on your bike!!