Railriding on Abandoned Rails in and Around New England

Stick to the routes that aren't in use anymore, such as the ones suggested on the manufacturer's web site. And get permission from the owner, just as the manufacturer recommends. Abandoned doesn't mean that nobody owns it. The abandoned portion of the Mountain Division in Maine is owned by MaineDOT, for instance, and you need to get their permission to ride on the line. Same would apply to the Calais Branch -- at least until the tracks are torn up.

Steamer wrote:I recently picked a human (pedal) powered version of a speeder (trackcar), called a railrider.
Check e'm, out at http://www.railriders.net
I am currently looking for any friends (guinea pigs) to take for a ride.
Any takers?

Holy crap. Thats awesome. Looks like that pic was taken in Hampton on the old Eastern Route.

The Central Mass. line I mentioned earlier is definitely not in use, and is commonly walked (and probably mountain-biked) as a trail. So you should be fine there, provided that the remaining rail can support your device at all.

So where can you buy them? (like the one in the picture)

b&m 1566 wrote:So where can you buy them? (like the one in the picture)

From the web site he listed in his original post: http://www.railriders.net/

The railrider looks like a fun toy, the drawbacks are that they are expensive and the places that you can ride it are limited.

The Wolfeboro branch is of course a recommended route because it is set aside for recreational rail use. You just have to be on guard for someone blasting along in a speeder from the opposite direction. The railrider doesn't look like it would come out the winner in a cornfield meet.

For the more daring I still suggest that the seldom used industrial spur has interesting possibilities.

An early spring day or even night, no flies, cool weather. A group of people in contact with phones. Setup your block system so that you know if any one else is using the tracks. One person watching the beginning of the spur, another at the other end. Two on the rider. The spotters listening to the scanner.

Anything comes up, call the people on the railrider. The 11 mile Hampton Industrial, perfect, straight, used maybe a couple times a week. Trains only go at walking speed, to the point that you could out pedal one. Of course the goal would be stealthiness. Ride the line undetected.

The most you're likely to run into is someone out walking their dog. Give them a quick ride. When you're done, setoff, take off, and no one is any the wiser.

The risk from trains is nill. The risk from mow equip is 0 because Pan Am doesn't believe in such luxuries.

Riding on the high iron would require a similar block system and ride time may be very short. Quite frankly, it might not be worth the effort. While it could be done safely by setting up a block system and monitoring of traffic, the constant worry of getting off the iron in 30 seconds would probably take all the fun out of it.

The key is insuring safety and having enough people on your team to handle the job.

Well, this is really crazy, you are going to run that thing on an in service
industrial spur or an inactive rail line. I am glad I am no longer in your
area because if I was and saw you, I would make two calls, one to the
railroad that owns the trackage and the next to the nearest police
department.
You and your kind are a BLACK MARK to railroad enthusiasts everywhere.
People like you will ruin it for people who just want to go somewhere
along the tracks and take pictures.
If you get caught, you should do jail time.
Noel Weaver

Well said, Jay. Those things are fine to use A. if you have your own private track, or B. if you are part of a club that actually knows what the hell they are doing.
NHN-- If you go on active mainlines with that velocipede from hell, you'll get your points all right.. in the form of a HEAVY fine and or jail time.
So do us all a favor here.. dont post anymore of that BS about deliberately violating rules. the rules are in place to keep people like yourself from causing problems-- I.E. derailments, near misses and even death. It's the same reason why you can't ride a bike on the Mass pike-- its dangerous and stupid.
Only a complete Jackass would ride that thing on high-traffic rail lines.

Hey, did anyone notice that I used the word "ABANDONED” in the topic of my thread? What’s all this talk about use on active rails? Here is an example of how I use my device. Check out the video clip from my 16 mile run on the Wolfeboro Branch! The Cotton Valley Club, and the State of New Hampshire graciously allows Railriders on the Wolfeboro line as well as the Ossipee line. Again, check out http://www.railriders.net for more info, including proper use!

The link the my video clip is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-VmRMv5hDI

my last post was in no respects pointed at you,Steam.
It sounds like you are using it properly, and thruogh the right channels.
It was directed at the gentleman from NH who seems to think it would be a hoot to go toe-to-toe with the downeaster using one.
On a lighter note, Have you concidered taking your railrider up to Clark's trading post for railroad days? there is a 2 mile private railroad there and the cotton valley boys have been there several times.. Might be fun to take a spin through the covered bridge on the railrider

DutchRailnut wrote:There are infact very few abandoned railroads around, once abandoned it reverts back to state or original property owners and thus your still tresspassing.

You are glossing over much of a complicated topic. Some railroads purchased their ROWs in fee simple. The railbanking law that Congress passed during the peak of the abandonment craze basically stopped the automatic reversion. If a ROW has the potential for being put back into use, it can still have the rails removed and turned into a rail-trail without jeopardizing its status as a railroad. Technically, once a railroad is "abandoned", reversion may kick in, however these days few railroads are abandoned; they are railbanked instead.

I've suggested and suggested again on the Catskill Mountain Rail Road topic over in New York forum that they ought to purchase and rent these rail-riders to tourists.

Ya, riding it on an abandoned part of a line is one thing. But suggesting riding it along the active part of the Hampton branch up into Portsmouth? Thats silly man. If Gillfid saw someone ridin' that thing up into Portsmouth, they would be all over that.

There is a new poster calling him/herself "Steamer". Please don't confuse them with ME, as someone already has in the above comments. I'm STEAM....period.

As for this thread...count me in the column which thinks riding these things on any active line is just plain nuts. They only should be used on rail specifically set aside for such use.

"STEAM"

Everybody needs to take a deep breath and cut SteamER some slack. He never said anything about using his Railrider on an active railroad. That was suggested by other members of the site, not him.