Railbiking Adventure in Retirement (video)

Following an odd string of rail bike videos that have come across our desk over the past two weeks, a reader recommended this charming classic, which I hadn’t seen before and is definitely worth a watch. Early in 2009 four retired gentlemen—two Americans and two Swedes—set out an expedition to Patagonia to railbike on an abandoned stretch of narrow gauge railroad called “La Trochita”, made famous by Paul Theroux in his book, “The Old Patagonia Express.” A previous outing had failed when numerous mechanical problems derailed the project. This year the group was determined to ride the entire 400-kilometer line between Esquel and Ing. Jacobacci. The riders included Peter Hoffman, Arne Nilsson, Richard Smart, and Morgan Gustavsson. Watch it here and scroll down for more on the rail line and a link to Peter’s story…

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La Trochita was shut down in 1996, except for two short sections of the line which have been used for tourist train operations. Now, most of the line sits idle, the few stations were empty and deteriorating and the communities around them mostly abandoned. Read Peter Hoffman’s full account over at latrochita.homestead.com