Railbike

[KH111]

Did a test run using only one bike on my railcart and it worked just fine. Plenty of weight and rigidity to the cart structure. Still surprised how well the rear wheel tracks the rail. Only problem was when I tried to run over a large amount of vegetation on the tracks it raised the right wheel up enough to cause a derailment towards that side. The fix for that was to just push the railcart thru the brushy area and manually keep it tracking. Made a lot of progress to my ultimate goal of reaching and crossing a trestle over a lake, about another half mile to go.

 

[Ishikawa]

I have been clearing the track for a month now. Mostly blackberry, scotch broom and other small trees. Don't need a chainsaw yet, a clipper do a good job so far.


I was getting tired of pushing the bike/cart to cross the roads, so I decided to clean the gaps between the rail and pavement. I made a scoop to dig out the dirt.


But the job is a little harder than I thought. The dirt mixed with gravel and rocks been packed for years by passing cars and trucks. Sometime a fist size rocks wedged in that I needed a pry bar to dislodge the rocks. Up to now I cleaned 3 intersections.


While I was doing the job, a guy (total stranger) stopped by and gave me a yellow vest. He was concerned about my safety. Nice guy. Now I start to look like a city road crew.


Few more intersections to clean to go to first destination, Green Lake.

 

[KH111]

You and I are kindred spirits. I have spent weeks clearing thorns and other bushes off the tracks just so I can make it to a trestle over a lake, maybe a mile in total. Last week I sprayed herbicide to try and keep the overgrowth under control till the next time I can make it back. The local residents are nice and wondering what I am doing as I stop and cut back the bushes. No one has offered me a vest yet though.

 

[Ishikawa]

You and I are kindred spirits. I have spent weeks clearing thorns and other bushes off the tracks just so I can make it to a trestle over a lake, maybe a mile in total. Last week I sprayed herbicide to try and keep the overgrowth under control till the next time I can make it back. The local residents are nice and wondering what I am doing as I stop and cut back the bushes. No one has offered me a vest yet though.

A lot of cutting and clearing but your good work will be answered soon enough, I am sure. Specially when you get to the destination, you will feel pretty good about it. That is priceless.

Over here, I made it to the lake. That is my first destination. I will post the pictures in few days.