photo credit: Charlie Brumbaugh
Railbiking in New York state.

You know how in old westerns, the down-on-his-luck hero is pumping a hand-powered railway car?

Modernized versions, working more like a bicycle, may join zip-lining and hot-air ballooning as a local amusement.

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) board recently gave unanimous approval to explore having the Golden Gate Railway Museum run a railbike excursion operation on abandoned tracks running north of Cloverdale.

Cloverdale City Manager David Kelly said the council and much of the public are behind the idea. He praises efforts by the museum to explain and pitch it to the community in recent months.

“There's some real benefits to the proposed project, including promoting rail in Cloverdale, activating the train station or train depot, supporting the city's economic development efforts and also providing a connection to the Great Redwood Trail, in addition, our Cloverdale River Park,” Kelly said at the September SMART board meeting.

The proposal would re-open tracks as far as a damaged tunnel to the north, allowing for a round trip of just more than five miles.

SMART general manager Eddy Cumins said the museum intends to charge $45 to ride the line and would share some of the revenue. 

Golden Gate Railway Museum’s Timothy Dulin told the SMART board this could just be the beginning:

"Our hope is these next steps will plant the seeds for something great to grow,” Dulin said.

Perhaps not as much a phenomenon as pickleball, railbikes are becoming 'a thing.' A similar operation in Iowa was brought up, along with one less far-flung: railbike trips on Mendocino County's Skunk Train line. 

Seeing that made SMART board vice chair and Cloverdale councilmember Melanie Bagby a believer.

"I was particularly excited by this because the last time I was in Ft. Bragg, I saw the railcars zooming through downtown and the arm went down and then all of a sudden, the people on these really fun little railcars went by and I was like, 'the next time we're in Ft. Bragg, we're doing that,’” Bagby said.