Some may remember the '40's song about a young fellow taking his girl for a ride on "A bicycle built for two". Well now, in parts of the world, insulator collectors can and do take rail bikes to go insulator hunting.

There are many places in the world where old railroad tracks are no longer used, but have been left in place. This enables insulator collectors to collect lots of insulators in the wild, and bring them back without having to bust a gut carrying them back out.

The collectors shown here are Friedmar Kerbe and Marco Schmitz - Lehanne of Germany, and as you can see, they have found some insulators for their collections.

Rail bikes do come in many styles. I have heard there is even an old Desoto style rail bike available to meet the needs of the most discerning collector[s]

Germany and many other countries have set up rail bike rental depots which allow tourists and outdoors enthusiasts to "hit the rails" for a day of sightseeing and possibly, insulator collecting.

In North America, It could be somewhat disconcerting to meet a moose hunter cruising down the tracks with his rifle "at the ready", but rail bikes are a definitely a safe means of travel so long as you have determined the tracks are no longer being used. I can think of several areas in northern Alberta, and even in the Red Deer area where there are non used and seldom used [ twice a week ] tracks still in place.

Anyone want to go for a ride??? Hold on, I'll go get my spurs.