This is cool - Riding the rails

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I'm posting a link to a thread on another board I'm on discussing the growing trend to use old abandoned railroads to get into back country you could never reach except by hiking the roadbed.  Interesting idea.





https://americanadventurist.com/forum/threads/riding-the-rails.4525/

 

[johnny b]

I think I posted on that a while back...here's a link to a guy making the wheels:
http://www.railriders.net/railriders.html

(disabled Vet...one man garage business...Made in America)

 

[Ballenxj]

That would certainly be an interesting hobby. LOL about the bike with outriggers. You'd want to make damn sure that line was not live.

 

[RVTravel]

www.railstotrails.org

 

[mnpaul]

JB I think the rails to trails are usable bike/hiking trails with the rails removed already.
Does anyone have examples of cool areas with unused rails that one could use something like this.
Thanks.

 

[TrainChaser]

If the railroads REALLY have no intention of using those rails again, they usually take them out and either sell the land or donate it to something like RailsToTrails, because they're taxed on them, whether they use them or not.

But sometimes, the rails just look like they're no longer in use, but some RR still uses them occasionally for storage.  If you're going to use a section of track and actually walk/bike on the rails, be very, VERY careful.  If there are a lot of old deadfalls lying across the rails, there is a reasonable chance that the rails aren't in use, or won't be until they clean them up.  Look closely at the tops of the rails themselves, and see if they show signs of recent wear (they don't need to be shiny like mainline tracks to be in use).  Are many of the ties rotted or broken?  If the rails are still in use, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) usually makes the owner take care of the tracks, even on old restored steam trains like this one in WA that offers rides http://steamtrainride.com/about/  in the summer season.

Also, a few tips about mainline trains:
* Don't tease trains - even when they go into emergency, a train simply can't stop on a dime.  Lots of people die from doing this -- stupidity has its rewards.
* Don't assume that one track goes north and the other goes south (or east-west).  Whichever railroad owns the rails they operate from one central dispatch, nationally, and they send the trains along the rails according to need:  if most of the traffic is going north, they will park the southbound trains on a siding and run the next several trains north ON BOTH TRACKS as long as necessary.
* The tracks are owned and operated by one railroad, and other railroads pay to use them.  Around here (W. WA), the BNSF owns most of the tracks, and the UP and Amtrak use them; Amtrak has priority, and can hit speeds up to 80 mph -- they're also much quieter than freight trains, and they hit a lot of dummies who don't think they're going as fast as they are.  Smaller railroads use the secondary rails, and speeds are often slower.

NEVER ASSUME ANYTHING ABOUT TRAINS... except that they can kill you if you're not careful.  Not getting hit by a train is the easiest thing in the world, but you do have to have a functioning brain, and pay attention.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

If the railroads REALLY have no intention of using those rails again, they usually take them out and either sell the land or donate it to something like RailsToTrails, because they're taxed on them, whether they use them or not.

The thread on the other board talked about abandoned mining and logging lines.  I doubt that they paid to take the old rails out when they shut down, and I'm pretty sure they stopped paying taxes the same time.

You are, of course, right about REAL railroads.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

JB I think the rails to trails are usable bike/hiking trails with the rails removed already.
Does anyone have examples of cool areas with unused rails that one could use something like this.
Thanks.

Idaho was mentioned as having lots of abandoned mining and logging lines.

 

[Weight]

I lived in a small town with sidings to the rail line. We left air out of the tires on 50's chevys and they perfectly matched the rail span. drove along the tracks for 6 miles to a crossing to get back to safety.

 

[TrainChaser]

Weight: I have heard of that from my brother. I asked him if anyone had tried just taking the tires off the wheels and running the wheels directly on the rails, but he said he had never seen anyone do that.

OP: Do you mean that all of the metal scavengers let those rails just sit on the ground???

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

I'm just going from what I read.

Here in NY, there's a group of volunteers running the Catskill Mountain Railroad on old tracks.  No one touched them.

I would guess that some of these old mining and logging tracks were so far off the beaten path that ripping them up would be more trouble than they were worth.

 

[closeanuf]

Seems like I heard you can get in BIG trouble trying to sell railroad iron.  Call your local scrap yard and ask how much they pay for it.  I'd be interested to hear the answer.  PS I ain't callin.

 

[highdesertranger]

the only one that can sell railroad iron for scrap is the company that owns it. you can't even turn in a spike with your other scrap. back in 06 when scrap was almost 360 bucks a ton a lot of rails got scraped. at the scrap yard I use rail cars and engines are also scraped. highdesertranger

 

[Vagabound]

It seems like a cool idea. Now I'm mostly wondering how they get off of the track if they need to, and how they turn around to go back the other way?

Tom