I've seen photos of four-wheeled rail bikes and wonder if any survive. They had a regular bicycle frame and handlebars, with four spoked wheels about 22 inches in diameter. They were apparently used a lot for quick trips up and down the line. I recall a photo of a doctor riding one somewhere in western North Carolina. Anyone ever see one of these things or plans for one?



K4s1361@hotmail.com

If I am not mistaken, your discription matches perfectly the "rail bike" used by the company doctor and others at Cass. It was light and could be lifted on to flat cars for the ride to the log camps. The down hill part was some what easier....
This bike (or one like it) exists today in the historical museum at Cass. In my second summer working at Cass, I very frequently had visitors tell me that they saw something just like it in a museum in the Elkins area. I never got any good details on where it's at so I haven't seen it for my self yet.

btrue@vt.edu

Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont has one on display. Sorry, don't have a photo.

ryarger@rypn.org

Gentlemen,

I am pleased to inform you that a "rail bike" exists at the Railroad Museum of Long Island's Greenport Museum site.

It is a bicycle frame converted for rail operations and was used by a LIRR signal maintainer until his retirement in the mid 1990's The man constructed the vehicle by removing the front wheel of a 1960's "banana" bike, locking the front forks forward and afixing a steel frame that supports two flanged wheels. A 4' 8 1/2" bar with a flanged wheel on one end is inserted perpendicular into the steel foreframe and spans the rails. The rider leans into the bar a bit to maintain stability. The rubber rear wheel of the bicycle provides the "traction" to move down the tracks. The owner placed a milk carton on the foreframe to carry his tools and spare parts in.

I had the opportunity to meet the gentleman once a few years ago. He donated the rail bike to the Museum because no one else in his division was interested in using it. He stated that he could get up a good speed on flat runs and only had to work at it to go up hills. He used it extensively to run a mile or so up the tracks from grade crossings where there was rough or no road to get his truck to the signal points where he had to work.

I'll try to get a photo of the bike posted here.

de Don, n2qhvRMLI

n2qhv@arrl.net

> I've seen photos of four-wheeled rail bikes
> and wonder if any survive. They had a
> regular bicycle frame and handlebars, with
> four spoked wheels about 22 inches in
> diameter. They were apparently used a lot
> for quick trips up and down the line. I
> recall a photo of a doctor riding one
> somewhere in western North Carolina. Anyone
> ever see one of these things or plans for
> one?
Believe it or not, there was one for sale on eBay about 6 weeks ago. Sorry I did not save it but at $1500.00 the auction expired and it had not reached it's reserve.



shadowtransit@yahoo.com

> Believe it or not, there was one for sale on
> eBay about 6 weeks ago. Sorry I did not save
> it but at $1500.00 the auction expired and
> it had not reached it's reserve. dont know if they still have them but at one time crrm had 2 one was standard gauge and one was 18 inch gauge maybe someone at the museum knows

In going to FRA Regional Meetings in Mt Shasta, CA a few years ago, we stopped at a number of museums. It seems to me that I saw a custom (one-of-a-kind) railbike built for a crew of 4 or 6 at the Portola museum.

There are some historic photos and patent drawings in the book Railbike by Bob Mellin (published by Balboa Publishing, 1996) of the type of railbike you describe, along with sources for various plans. The plans are mostly for the design that involves an outrigger on a conventional bicycle to provide balance.

Finally, you may want to look at the website below for Rons Riders (read standard disclaimer--i have no vested interest in, blah, blah, blah).

sc 'doc' lewis


Rons Riders
utweyesguy@aol.com

If crrm is the California Railroad Museum, I believe you are referring to the two velocipedes on display--the wooden (Sheffield? Kalamazoo?) standard guage was sitting behind the huge cab forward in the main hall and the (homemade) metal narrow guage was upstairs with the little narrow gauge train on display.

Note that these are velocipedes -- typically three-wheeled, using an outrigger wheel for balance. There were some heavier models that had dual outrigger wheels and some of these were eventually motorized, leading to an evolution to the more modern Fairmont type motorcars.

The original poster is asking about railbikes with a standard bicycle frame and four spoked 22" wheels. The bike and rider are centered between the rails with the weight evenly distributed to all four wheels (no balancing outrigger) Velocipedes do not meet the criteria.

sc 'doc' lewis

Heber Valley Railroad
utweyesguy@aol.com

> If crrm is the California Railroad Museum, I
> believe you are referring to the two
> velocipedes on display--the wooden
> (Sheffield? Kalamazoo?) standard guage was
> sitting behind the huge cab forward in the
> main hall and the (homemade) metal narrow
> guage was upstairs with the little narrow
> gauge train on display.

> Note that these are velocipedes -- typically
> three-wheeled, using an outrigger wheel for
> balance. There were some heavier models that
> had dual outrigger wheels and some of these
> were eventually motorized, leading to an
> evolution to the more modern Fairmont type
> motorcars.

> The original poster is asking about
> railbikes with a standard bicycle frame and
> four spoked 22" wheels. The bike and
> rider are centered between the rails with
> the weight evenly distributed to all four
> wheels (no balancing outrigger) Velocipedes
> do not meet the criteria.

> sc 'doc' lewis
I am not for certain but I beleive that one of these railbikes was used on the Ohio and Kentucky Railway by a doctor. The Kentucky Railway Museum has something like it on display.

JD

mnfrailhist@hotmail.com

I know of two of these bikes, built originally as rail bikes, rahter than as shop conversions. One belongs to a private collector in Illinois, and the other is in storage at the Mid-Continent Rialway museum.

Keep 'em between the rails!!!

Ken Breher
I've seen photos of four-wheeled rail bikes
> and wonder if any survive. They had a
> regular bicycle frame and handlebars, with
> four spoked wheels about 22 inches in
> diameter. They were apparently used a lot
> for quick trips up and down the line. I
> recall a photo of a doctor riding one
> somewhere in western North Carolina. Anyone
> ever see one of these things or plans for
> one?


Breher1257@aol.com

Example at the Colorado RR Museum. Not sure if this is the ex-Great Western bike or not.

http://www.hopetunnel.org/subway/crrm/cycle.jpg
ryarger@rypn.org

California State RR Museum has at least one that has two frames side by side. The camp Six logging museum in Tacoma, WA has one that came from Polson Logging Co./Rayonier Inc.

Richard

> I've seen photos of four-wheeled rail bikes
> and wonder if any survive. They had a
> regular bicycle frame and handlebars, with
> four spoked wheels about 22 inches in
> diameter. They were apparently used a lot
> for quick trips up and down the line. I
> recall a photo of a doctor riding one
> somewhere in western North Carolina. Anyone
> ever see one of these things or plans for
> one?

Thanks for all the responses. I was trying to find out if my aging, faulty memory was correct in recalling that somewhere in the midwest a shop or a school has the capability to manufacture one of these things.

Thanks to all.

K4s1361@hotmail.com

If you go to the link at the bottom of the page that doc linked to, you will find an illustration of almost what was being asked about when this topic started.

Take care,

Rich

________________________________________

> There are some historic photos and patent
> drawings in the book Railbike by Bob Mellin
> (published by Balboa Publishing, 1996) of
> the type of railbike you describe, along
> with sources for various plans. The plans
> are mostly for the design that involves an
> outrigger on a conventional bicycle to
> provide balance.

> Finally, you may want to look at the website
> below for Rons Riders (read standard
> disclaimer--i have no vested interest in,
> blah, blah, blah).

> sc 'doc' lewis


Railbike wheels
rcizik5519@earthlink.net