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06/24/2020 09:00 AMWhen the Valley Railroad Company’s Essex Steam Train & Riverboat reopens on June 27, they’ll continue to offer customers a unique way to ride the rails, by rail bike.
Although the company started offering rail bike adventures last fall, before COVID-19, the timing for the purchase of additional equipment last winter could not have been better.
“We were lucky enough to get them [from the manufacturer] before everything started shutting down because of COVID,” said Maureen Quintin, director of communications. “We got them just in the nick of time and then when the outdoor activities started to open up, we had a perfect social[ly] distance[d], family friendly activity that we could offer to people.”
The four-wheel recumbent style bikes adapted to move on railroad tracks are propelled by passengers’ pedaling. Chief Mechanical Engineer Wayne Hebert says the rail bikes are a hybrid of sorts, resembling a go-cart.
“The drive components are made up of actual bicycle components, something you would find out of a bike shop,” he said. “The frames are fabricated, there’s not a store you can call to get those, they are custom built.”
An avid cyclist himself, Hebert recognizes the impact of COVID-19 on the popularity of cycling.
“Something that is really interesting in this crazy time period is that the things we took for granted as being available, like very common bicycle components, are not,” said Hebert. “With everybody being home together [due to the pandemic], bicycle shops have soared [in the number of bikes that] they service, and these common bicycle components are on back order sometimes weeks, months.”
A national survey conducted in mid-April by the bike manufacturer Trek and the research firm Engine Insights confirms a growing trend in cycling.
The survey indicates that 21 percent of Americans have been cycling more since the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States, with 63 percent of Americans doing so to help relieve stress and anxiety and 41 percent doing so for exercise and fitness.
The rail bike adventures offered by the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat help accomplish both, with four-mile, six-mile and 9.5-mile route options available, all along the Connecticut River. Prices range from $50 for a shorter, two-person excursion to $150 for a longer trip on the four-seater.
The 9.5-mile option, which is the organization’s newest route, will have people pedaling round-trip between Goodspeed Station in Haddam and Deep River Landing park.
“That one has river views, it goes through some beautiful green tunnels that are shaped by the train,” said Quintin. “It looks like a tunnel, but it’s made out of leaves. It’s really spectacular. It goes over some of the trestle bridges over the creek and then ends up at Deep River Landing, where you can take a break and turn around and head back.”
Hebert said the rail bikes, which seat groups of two or four, are a safe alternative for couples or groups that don’t have a safe place to ride their bicycles.
Unlike cycling on the road, “which not everybody is physically capable of doing, these don’t require any steering [or] balance,” said Hebert. “It just requires that you can put in some pedal action, so make sure that you bring a friend along so that if you get tired, make them do the work.”
“Nothing on the line is strenuous,” said Quintin. “Everyone who has gone has basically said, ‘It’s great, it’s relaxing.’ You can go at your own pace.”
Plans are underway for the Essex Steam Train & Riverboat to add to its fleet of rail bikes by building their own, with added comfort features and functionality to accommodate different height requirements, according to Hebert.
These modifications will increase the accessibility of rail bikes, making the activity available to a greater number of people.
“I’m excited that people have responded to them in the way they have because cycling, I thought, is something that everybody should do,” said Hebert.