Awesome Railroads

There are tens of thousands of miles of abandoned railroad tracks in the U.S. Ryan Randomness explores these defunct rails using a gas-powered, two-seat go-kart that rolls on custom-made polyurethane wheels, and he shares videos of his journeys on his Instagram and YouTube channels, like this trip to the Goat Canyon Trestle.

Model railroad enthusiast Engineman takes us on a ride through his enormous H0 scale railway. As it winds from room to room, you’ll enjoy grassy hills dotted with tiny trees and detailed miniature buildings. The stark, unfinished sections where the tracks wind through tunnels remind us that it’s only a model.

Oregon’s Train Mountain is home to the longest model railroad in the world. It has a 1/8th-scale electric-powered train that rolls on 37 miles of track, including multiple pathways controlled by switches, tiny towns, railyards, bridges, and a turntable. DownieLive managed to score a ride on the miniature train to experience its many wonders.

After working from home for more than a decade, we love the idea of a standalone space to get away from distractions. Lou Maxon worked with architect Olson Kundig to create a home office on wheels that be rolled from the house into the woods of the Pacific Northwest. Nelsontreehouse, treehousepete, and dash.arc got up close with the steel structure.

“Riding the rails” usually refers to someone who travels by train. But in the case of Cam Engineering, he’s able to ride the rails on his bike. He built a collapsible rig that lets him ride normally, then expands to balance the bike on abandoned railroad tracks. It’s stable enough to stay upright even without a rider.

You might not know it, but depending on the location, trains might roll on different gauges of tracks. That normally means railroad engines and cars can only roll on compatible width tracks. But this ingenious rail car has an undercarriage that automatically adjusts its width to adapt between 1-meter-wide and 1.43-meter-wide tracks in Switzerland.

Hamburg, Germany’s Miniatur Wonderland is one of the most incredible places we’ve ever seen, with amazing scale models that go on for days. The attraction has now set a world’s record for the longest melody played by a model train. Sit back and enjoy a medley of classical tunes as a miniature train taps on water-filled glasses.

Jason Shron is so obsessed with railroads that he built a full-size train car inside his house. He’s also got a sweet HO-scale model train that he rigged a camera inside of to give us a passenger’s perspective. We honestly thought the view out of the window was from a real train.

Zach Peterson is a plumber by day, but he loves to build things in his spare time. His greatest creation to date is a steam-powered backyard railway. The train is big enough to carry people along the world’s longest ride-on train trestle – at over 680 feet long. Coolest Thing introduces us to Zach and his amazing railway.

Located in the Carpathian mountains in Romania, this narrow gauge track is host to a truly unusual traincar, an old Ford minivan which has been converted to run on rails. While it can run in reverse, the whole thing can be lifted and spun around for longer journeys.

Rails? We don’t need no stinkin’ rails! That’s what this little toy train is clearly thinking as it somehow manages to continue its journey even when the tracks come to a sudden end. Thanks for the nudge, Mr. Wall!

YouTuber Roadie fabricated a nifty motorized skateboarding rig that allows its rider to glide efforlessly (if not exactly quickly) along railroad tracks. Needless to say, don’t try this idea at home unless you’re 100% certain the rails are abandoned like the ones shown here.