A Brief History of Human Powered Transportation

Bike by Rail

At the start of the bicycle era the absence of good roads suggested the use of a railway for bikes. The picture shows an 1892 monorail for the Mount Holly and Smithville, New Jersey, bicycle railroad. The railroad linked the Mount Holly community to the H. B. Smith manufacturing company in Smithville, a distance of about 1.8 miles. Only one track was built for most of the route and lifting the "bike" off the rail was necessary when meeting another rider.

From: Herlihy, "The Bicycle Story," Inventions& Technology, Spring 1992.