Soon there will be a new way for tourists to experience the beauty of central Iowa’s Des Moines River Valley.
Beginning in July, thrill-seekers and nature lovers can pedal down the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad’s tracks on four-wheeled, open-air, motorized carriages, also known as railbikes. Rail Explorers USA opens its 12.4-mile round-trip trip on July 21, which meanders along the Des Moines River and includes a crossing of the 156-foot Bass Point Creek High Bridge.
Rail Explorers is the brainchild of Australian-born entrepreneurs Mary Joy Lu and Alex Catchpoole, a couple who launched their first fleet of rail bikes in the Adirondack Mountains of New York in 2015.
The Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad’s location in Boone County, approximately 45 minutes northwest of Des Moines, will be the company’s first location in the Midwest and fifth in the United States.
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A K-Drama inspiration
Lu and Catchpoole never envisioned a career in the rail industry. The couple lived a fast-paced life in New York City for 12 years and owned a post production company on Fifth Avenue.
The demands of the job became tiring, according to Lu, who said she was inspired to create Rail Explorers after watching a Korean soap opera in 2012.
Though she can’t remember the show’s name, Lu described it as a typical “boy-meets-girl” soap opera, with the characters meeting on a track bike in the final scene.
“The scene is of them peddling some contraption into the sunset and I was like, ‘Whoa, what the hell is that? I love it!’” Lu said. “I ran upstairs to my husband and said, ‘Let’s do that next.'”
Lu said railways conjure up memories of when she and Catchpoole were together back home in Australia. When traveling to visit Catchpoole’s parents in Byron Bay, the couple had to cross railroad tracks to reach the house.
“(Alex) would look out a window and say, ‘No trains on my side’ and I would look out mine and say, ‘No trains on my side’ and we’d cross the rail,” Lu said. “It was this really loving thing.”
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Within 10 days of watching the K-Drama, Lu was on a plane to South Korea to meet with the track bike designer and maker.
It’s not a new concept, Lu said. Rail bikes date back at least 150 years to allow train mechanics to ride up and down tracks to perform rail inspections and repairs. However, commercial-type rail bikes like those used in the soap opera – and now by Rail Explorers – had never been seen outside of South Korea.
The designer Lu met was one of the first to develop the bicycles for public use, an effort that began when the artist was asked to revitalize the railways of a small mining town about three hours outside of Seoul, Korea.
“It literally changed the whole city. Instead of dying, the city breathes and prospers,” said Lu. “That fired my imagination.”
While maintenance bikes look like bikes on wheels, commercial bikes look more like go-karts on tracks, Lu says.
“That’s why we liked them,” she said. “They were tough, they were strong, and they have a proven safety record, which we knew was really important to come to America.”
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With some financial help from the family, Lu and Catchpoole opened six-bike Rail Explorers in July 2015 in Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks.
The answer?
“It sold out from the moment we opened,” she said. “It was ridiculous.”
Even more surprising was that the pair were expecting customers from a specific demographic — athletic hikers and bikers and fitness junkies — “but what we got was people of all ages and fitness levels, which blew us away,” said Lu.
The pair counted about 15,000 riders in the first year and another 25,000 in the second year. Rail Explorers now has four US locations: Las Vegas, Cooperstown and the Catskills in New York, and Newport, Rhode Island.
Boone’s Railroad is for the adventurous
The Boone and & Scenic Valley Railroad, a division of the nonprofit Iowa Railroad Historical Society, was founded in 1983, according to Travis Stevenson, the railroad’s general manager. The line was about to be abandoned and a group of residents got together and bought it and eventually a tourist railway was born.
Today, the railroad attracts about 50,000 visitors each year, Stevenson said.
The railroad organization hosts several rides throughout the year, including picnic, lunch, and dinner rides, as well as events like A Day Out with Thomas (the Tank Engine), pumpkin rides, and Christmas rides. The majority of the operation will be carried out by a team of 150 volunteers, Stevenson said.
Some trains depart from Boone and pass through the old coal mining town of Fraser. Others, like the Dinner Train, run past Fraser to the site of the former junction with the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railway in Wolf.
The organization also has a museum dedicated to Iowa’s railroad history. Thousands of state railroad artifacts and memorabilia are on display, including rail equipment, toy trains, dining car china, timetables, photographs, lanterns and telegraph equipment.
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Catchpoole passed the railroad network returning from a train show in New Mexico.
Lu said she got a phone call from her husband, streaming across the river valley’s lush, green fields and chirping birds.
When choosing a location for the bikes, Lu said she and Catchpoole consider how close the railway is to a major city and whether the operators and owners are willing to work together. But above all, the site must have “unique scenic value,” she said. “It can’t just be an average track – and there are a lot of average tracks out there.”
The route begins on flat land and passes residential neighborhoods and farm fields before winding through the rolling hills of Boone County. The track crosses the Des Moines River Bridge and the stunning Bass Point Creek High Bridge, the state’s tallest trestle bridge available for public rail travel.
“If you don’t like heights, this ride might not be for you,” said Lu. “It’s exciting because it’s going to be a thrill ride. People will come from all over to ride – not just locals.”
The biggest challenge will be sharing the route with a sturdy tourist train that is used almost every day. Both Lu and Stevenson said the solution will come down to good planning and communication.
Stevenson hopes Rail Explorers will spread the word about the historic railroad and allow the organization to serve an untapped market.
“It’s amazing the people I talk to about this. They’re from Des Moines, but they didn’t know we existed,” he said. “It looks like cycling is definitely an important part of Iowa, so we see this as a way to offer a different experience on our routes.”
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How does it work?
The ride begins at the Rail Explorers depot at 123 10th Street in Boone and is 12.4 miles round trip. The drivers choose between tandems or quads, which offer space for two or four people. The bikes have four steel wheels, hydraulic disc brakes and the REX Propulsion System, a custom-built electric motor that helps riders negotiate steep hills.
Riders have to pedal, but they don’t have to steer, leaving their hands free to take pictures.
The tours will have around 30 to 40 people and the bikes will be around 300 to 400 feet apart. On each tour, two guides lead the pack and two follow.
The quads are $160 and the tandems are $90. Lu recommends booking tickets online in advance. Drivers are required to sign a waiver and each tour receives a safety briefing at the start of the ride.
The tour is 6.2 miles away with a half hour stop for the guides to flip the bikes and 6.2 miles back. There will be multiple tours throughout the day, including a sunset ride, Lu said.
According to Lu, the turning area with picnic chairs and umbrellas is a good place for drivers to catch their breath and enjoy a snack and refreshments they’ve brought with them. It’s also a good vantage point for spotting families of bald eagles and deer.
The tours will be seasonal, and while it’s unclear how long their full season will last, Lu hopes this first year will run through early November.
Interested in working for Rail Explorers?
The team is also looking for at least 35 new seasonal employees, including tour guides and depot employees.
Job seekers are encouraged to send their CVs to jobs@railexplorers.net. A position as chief mechanic and as a tour guide at Rail Explorers are listed on Indeed.
Virginia Barreda is a trends and general assignments reporter for the Des Moines Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.