Bucks County residents and visitors now have a new way to take in the natural beauty this region has to offer along the historic New Hope Railroad.
The railroad’s new rail bike experience provides riders with an up close and personal trip through the woods, farms and rolling hills of the Bucks countryside on various routes along the railroad.
“This is an unobstructed view,” said Mike Donovan, New Hope Railroad general manager. “Usually our engineers are the only ones that get to see the full line or if you ride in our open air car, but this puts you down low — its kind of like a rail trail without the rail being removed.”
Each rail bike seats up to four people. Riders can either pedal their way along or sit back and let the motor assist do the work, ensuring a comfortable and relaxing ride for everyone, regardless of fitness level.
Starting May 22, the railroad is running 90-minute, 6-mile round trips from Lahaska to Buckingham on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays that start in the woods and eventually roll through the farmland of the Buckingham Valley before turning around.
A more challenging 2-hour, 8-mile round trip from New Hope to Lahaska is planned to start running Monday through Thursday in early July, Donovan said. The route offers a challenging climb up Solebury Mountain and across multiple bridges as you follow the flow of Aquetong Creek.
Even more routes are planned in the coming years as the railroad expands the bike rail experience, Donovan said.
The ride moves at a relaxed pace along the the historic New Hope and Ivyland right-of-way with an unobstructed view of the corridor that has served members of this community for more than 135 years.
Under a canopy of towering trees, the carts travel at rail-level for a 360-degree view of trees, ponds, rolling fields of grass and wildflowers, local farms and even some houses tucked in among the foliage.
If you’re lucky, you may even catch a glimpse of the turtles, deer, foxes or other wildlife that call the area home.
Chris Forest and Jennifer Hulmes live just through the trees from the rail bike route in the former Buckingham train depot and were determined to be some of the first riders to hop on the rail bike on opening day.
“We’re just fans of the train because we live here and we’re even seeing views that we’ve never seen before in different angles that we’ve never seen,” Hulmes said. “So that’s pretty neat.
“Even on the train, the train goes by a little faster so we’re able to see certain houses [from the rail bike] like, ‘Who is that neighbor?’”
The New Hope Railroad has carried passengers through Bucks County since 1966 on a line that originally opened in 1891. This railroad once carried passengers, freight, milk and mail across the region and into the historic Reading Terminal in downtown Philadelphia.
A lot of the rail line started to disappear by the mid-20th century as passengers began to utilize buses to move around the area, Donovan said, and a lot of the stations were eventually removed from the line.
“That’s when enthusiasts were interested in using lines like this to relive that Golden Age of railroading,” he said, and they eventually bought the line in 1966.
In addition to the new rail bike experience, the New Hope Railroad offers travelers various options to see the area with passenger trains along multiple routes, themed excursions and holiday and seasonal specials like Santa’s North Pole Express.
But the rail bike is the best way to feel part of the nature surrounding the railroad, Donovan said.
“This is a way of being able to give people the chance to experience the railroad and the history but on their unique personal vehicle and get down low and be able to enjoy the terrain and the history that we have here in Bucks County,” he said.
Visit the New Hope Railroad website for more information about trip times, ticket prices, requirements and more.
