(FANTASY)Could there be Rail Bikes in the UK?

[PrincesWinsdor]

Rail bikes are popular in South Korea and Taiwan. The concept is that tourists can hire a rail bike to travel on abandoned railway lines. Examples include the Gyeongchun Line in South Korea and the Old Mountain Line in Taiwan. So I wonder, could this concept be introduced in the UK?

Below is the Old Mountain Line in Taiwan:

(Additional text added because of advice from @yorkie ) You can see a rail bike with not much safety measures travelling on an impressive steel bridge.A bit of history about the bridge: The arch like structures on the right side of my picture was formerly a railway bridge known as the Longteng Bridge, but was destroyed beyond repair in the 1935 Shinchiku-Taichū earthquake.The current steel bridge that the rail bike is travelling on was built to replace to broken brick arch bridge.

Source: https://romantichakka.com/attraction/Spot?a=928&id=674

 

[Bletchleyite]

These things will rarely make enough money (if ever) to reinstate a line - they are quite good for the scenario more common in Europe where a line is mothballed but not lifted and also where it doesn't have any major hazards where if someone got out of the "bike" they'd fall off a bridge. Are there any UK examples where this would be the case?

I suppose it might be an option to do it on short sections of preserved line without those hazards out of season, perhaps.

The scenery isn't amazing, but one place that springs to mind where it might work is the Northampton and Lamport line, as this has a footpath running alongside it for all of its length, so there isn't much of a potential safety issue of falling off bridges etc, and getting people off the bikes if necessary would be reasonably easy as it's just a wire fence between the two.

 

[PrincesWinsdor]

These things will rarely make enough money (if ever) to reinstate a line - they are quite good for the scenario more common in Europe where a line is mothballed but not lifted and also where it doesn't have any major hazards where if someone got out of the "bike" they'd fall off a bridge. Are there any UK examples where this would be the case?

I suppose it might be an option to do it on short sections of preserved line without those hazards out of season, perhaps.

As the picture indicates, rail bikes can still be deemed safe where there are tall and fence less bridges along the line.

 

[Bletchleyite]

As the picture indicates, rail bikes can still be deemed safe where there are tall and fence less bridges along the line.

I don't think that would be seen as acceptable in the UK even if it is in other countries, given that we have one of the strictest approaches to health and safety in the world. It poses far more risk than sticking your head out of the window does, unless you make it a guided thing with the doors properly locked etc and a member of staff on board each bike, but I don't think that would likely be viable.

Certainly I don't think the pictured setup would be allowed in the UK. It wasn't that long ago when old roller coasters existed with no doors or safety bars, but I'm fairly sure even Blackpool's oldest one which was like that now has modern safety features. (Was it the Grand National, I forget?)

 

[frankmoh]

Most of the time when a line in the UK closes, the tracks are lifted quite soon after. Most of the time it's only the general route that remains.

An example in London is the Woodside & South Croydon line, which had the tracks, railway bridges and embankments demolished quite soon after 1983, but the route was safeguarded by British Rail. This route would be used for the Croydon Trams in 2000. Nearby Addiscombe station was not so lucky, as the trams were not going that way so the station was promptly obliterated. One wall remains inside a housing development.

 

[bluenoxid]

I understand that the original plans and a successful bid for funding on the Gwendraeth Valley Railway involved a much lighter rail bike/velorail approach. It appears that plan has not progressed.

 

[PrincesWinsdor]

I understand that the original plans and a successful bid for funding on the Gwendraeth Valley Railway involved a much lighter rail bike/velorail approach. It appears that plan has not progressed.

I feel that heritage railways could run rail bikes on weekdays, when there are few tourists thus making running trains unprofitable.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I feel that heritage railways could run rail bikes on weekdays, when there are few tourists thus making running trains unprofitable.

As the main market for rail bikes would be tourists, this doesn't sound like a particularly economically viable approach.

Of course what the UK also offers is riding your normal bike on former rail routes...and that's free. Not every country has done that - we have Sustrans to thank for it.

 

[PrincesWinsdor]

As the main market for rail bikes would be tourists, this doesn't sound like a particularly economically viable approach.

Of course what the UK also offers is riding your normal bike on former rail routes...and that's free. Not every country has done that - we have Sustrans to thank for it.

Perhaps rail bikes could be trialed on the Sheffield to Stockbridge line, this disused but intact line could be an ideal testbed.

 

[D6130]

Unfortunately most mothballed lines in the UK receive no maintenance or vegetation control, which allows rampant growth of trees and bushes on and between the tracks. Examples of lines which could be suitable with a bit of undergrowth control would be Stoke-on-Trent to Leek Brook Junction (could be a lucrative sideline for the Churnet Valley Railway?); Gwendraeth Valley (Kidwelly-Cwmmawr) as already mentioned; Newton Abbot-Heathfield and some of the nuclear flask branches once the relevant power stations have been completely decommissioned.

 

[renegademaster]

East lancs on days Heywood is shut?
Have fun going up and down the ski jump

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

IIRC correctly there was an idea to introduce cycle trains on the Blaenau Ffestiniog - Trawsfynydd line a few years back. I don't think anything ever came of it.

 

[PrincesWinsdor]

Interestingly, the arch like structures on the right side of my picture was formerly a railway bridge known as the Longteng Bridge, but was destroyed beyond repair in the 1935 Shinchiku-Taichū earthquake.
The current steel bridge was built to replace to broken brick arch bridge.

 

[Bletchleyite]

IIRC correctly there was an idea to introduce cycle trains on the Blaenau Ffestiniog - Trawsfynydd line a few years back. I don't think anything ever came of it.

Were the Conwy Valley line ever to close, be that entirely or south of Betws, I could see it working based in Betws. I think that sort of thing is more of a spur of the moment "that looks cool" thing than something people will specifically travel to do.

 

[30907]

As the picture indicates, rail bikes can still be deemed safe where there are tall and fence less bridges along the line.

I can see 3-wire fencing and fence posts in that picture. Admittedly UK practice would require tubular steel handrails.

 

[PrincesWinsdor]

I can see 3-wire fencing and fence posts in that picture. Admittedly UK practice would require tubular steel handrails.

You're right, but before the line had rail bikes that steel bridge had no fencing at all. And that line can still be used to run special trains.

 

[30907]

You're right, but before the line had rail bikes that steel bridge had no fencing at all. And that line can still be used to run special trains.

So the fencing was added because of the rail bikes - which confirms my view.

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

Were the Conwy Valley line ever to close, be that entirely or south of Betws, I could see it working based in Betws. I think that sort of thing is more of a spur of the moment "that looks cool" thing than something people will specifically travel to do.

Agreed. it would be very weather dependent too which would be a problem in Eryri!

 

[OhNoAPacer]

A cheap option for Bransty tunnel perhaps

Personally I think to be a tourist attraction it would need to be scenic, but I reality I can't see it ever catching on. I think conversion to cycle/ hiking trails, as happens now, is the better option.

 

[edwin_m]

On a single line, if your rail bike meets one coming the other way, then one of you has to lift it off the rails into some safe lineside spot to let the other one pass. That's going to get quite tedious if it happens frequently, meaning that a rail bike line has a lot less capacity than a line converted to a trail with tracks lifted, and some of our popular trails would really struggle if the rails were still down (unless double track). It also needs specialist vehicles where a trail can be used with normal bikes or just on foot. So it's only really viable if the tracks need to stay down for some reason and the useage is light. Only a few unused lines in the UK had/have track still in place, and many of those have seen some of it stolen.

 

[zwk500]

On a single line, if your rail bike meets one coming the other way, then one of you has to lift it off the rails into some safe lineside spot to let the other one pass. That's going to get quite tedious if it happens frequently, meaning that a rail bike line has a lot less capacity than a line converted to a trail with tracks lifted, and some of our popular trails would really struggle if the rails were still down (unless double track). It also needs specialist vehicles where a trail can be used with normal bikes or just on foot. So it's only really viable if the tracks need to stay down for some reason and the useage is light. Only a few unused lines in the UK had/have track still in place, and many of those have seen some of it stolen.

Another point is that a lot of people cycle from their homes onto the cycle paths on abandoned railways, and often then will leave the path to pop into a town/pub/viewpoint/etc. Doing a velorail thing means either leaving the bike at one end and sticking to the tracks, having a trailer to stick your bike on, or having a rolling-road type set up for people to place their bikes on. All of these are poor replacements for the flexibility of it just being a cycle path.

 

[PrincesWinsdor]

On a single line, if your rail bike meets one coming the other way, then one of you has to lift it off the rails into some safe lineside spot to let the other one pass. That's going to get quite tedious if it happens frequently, meaning that a rail bike line has a lot less capacity than a line converted to a trail with tracks lifted, and some of our popular trails would really struggle if the rails were still down (unless double track). It also needs specialist vehicles where a trail can be used with normal bikes or just on foot. So it's only really viable if the tracks need to stay down for some reason and the useage is light. Only a few unused lines in the UK had/have track still in place, and many of those have seen some of it stolen.

The example given in my first post works in an alternating direction. In one session, all rail bikes only travel unidirectionally. There's a loop at each end for them to turn about so the next session they all travel towards the opposite direction.