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Welcome to our website devoted to
Railway Velocipedes
and
other Hand Powered Rail Vehicles
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| NEW items: |
Build One:
Disc Wheel Track Bike click here |
| The machines that killed hand power on rails.
See our Download Page |
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Next Event:
Standard Gauge
Eden Valley Railway,
Fri 12th & Sat 13th July 2019.
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For all the latest Railway
Velocipede news see our newsletters
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Velocipede tour now available in Portugal !
Dear velocipede aficionados, Just to inform
you that since a couple of weeks is now possible to ride a
velocipede in Portugal! It's on the out of use railway connecting
Torre das Vargens to the Spanish border, between Castelo de
Vide and Marvão-Beirã. These two beautiful stations
have been well preserved and renovated, and both of them are
now hosting very nice B&Bs - what makes the logistics
quite easy. Moreover, both villages, despite they are some
miles far from the railway stations, are pretty beautiful,
quoted in all tourist guides on Portugal.
The website www.railbikemarvao.com
provides you the necessary contacts. I've tested it and really
recommend it. You should try not to miss it, if you go to
Portugal or Spain.
Best wishes, J. Gabriel
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Railbikes UK
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1975 Czech Film
"Gentlemen Boys"
Look at time: 37:44 to 38:00 and 39:13 to 39:48.
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"This is a Velocipede"
Photo by kind permission of Trevor Catterson
Patented by George Sheffield in 1879, this example
is probably the best preserved Sheffield machine in the world and
lives at The Buckinghamshire Railway Museum at Quainton Road Station.
To see the patents Google Patents and
put in the numbers
213254 & 9571 Reissue, 260903.
BUDA Pump Car
See our "downloads" page for
the many
BUDA Catalogues we have in our Library
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Very early advertisement with "wheelbarrow"
spokes before the traditional Sheffield "teardrop" wooden
spokes in the Quainton Road Station machine appeared. A "wheelbarrow"
machine survives in a Museum in the US see below.
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Can't
find that little gem of information you previously found on
our web site?
Don't panic - use our new search tool! Not
only does it search all the web site pages it searches all
the PDF files too....
SPIDERED (Updated) by FREEFIND on the 10th
of each month
Pages Read : 518
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A Railway Velocipede
is a simple 3 or 4 wheeled rail vehicle which the rider propels
along the track using his arms and legs. It was invented by George
Sheffield to get to work by unofficially riding on the tracks of
the Michigan Central Railway in the hours of darkness. One evening
he found a broken rail and by borrowing a lantern from a local farm,
he stopped an approaching train and prevented a derailment and loss
of life.
News of his nocturnal velocipeding was out but the railway company
was grateful for his prompt action and allowed his use of their
tracks, also asking him to build another velocipede for the Michigan
Central.
His patent was issued on 11 March 1879 and according to the Scientific
American of 3 November 1883, 4000 of these machines had been sold
in America and Europe in just 4 years, a worldwide hit.
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They were used as personal transport for track inspectors
and signal engineers and could carry two people if needed. Their
light weight meant they could easily be removed from the track when
required.
Although mainly used by US and Canadian railways, several were bought
by railways in Britain and it is examples of machines from the old
Great Western, LNE and Southern Railways that have been invited
to the 12 July rally. They are mainly products of the Sheffield
Car Company of Three Rivers, Michigan, but we also hope to see a
product of the rival BUDA company of Harvey, Illinois. One machine
definitely attending is a brand new Sheffield type built in Staffordshire.
The British company Wickham of Ware built at least three types of
velocipede, mainly for export, but none has surfaced yet.
Kevin Thomas
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For further information about Velocipedes please
contact:
Jacqui Thomas
e-mailinfo@velocipedes.co.uk
or phone 01785 816810 or post to: 48 Redwood Avenue, Stone, Staffs.
ST15 0DB.
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Velocipedes and other Hand Powered Rail Vehicles.
Hajtany (HU); Railbike
(US,GB); Dresinsykling (NO);
Handcar (US); Drezina (RU);
Resiina (FI); Drezyny (PL);
Skinneccykel (DK); Cykeldressin (SE);
Draisines (BE); Bicilinha (BR);
Dresin (NO); Biciclette Ferroviarie
(IT);
Spoorvegfiets (BE); Dressin (SE,NO);
Dresina (SP); Schienenvelo
(CH); Dreziny (CZ); Spoorfiets
(NL); Pump Car (US,GB);
Velorail (FR,GB);
Cyclo Draisine (FR); Irish Mail (USA):
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Site designed and
maintained by Blazerweb.co.uk
webmaster email: webmaster@velocipedes.co.uk
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