Rail Explorers crew members are preparing the railbikes for a trip along the historic Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad in Clay County on Friday, June 7, 2024. These custom-built railbikes are pedal-powered but also feature an electric motor that is charged by pedaling, providing riders with a break on the 12-mile journey.
Railbikes are lined up before an opening day event for Rail Explorers' newest location opening in Clay County on June 7, 2024. The national railbike operator opened its seventh location along a 12-mile roundtrip journey on the historic Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad.
Rail Explorers crew members are preparing the railbikes for a trip along the historic Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad in Clay County on Friday, June 7, 2024. These custom-built railbikes are pedal-powered but also feature an electric motor that is charged by pedaling, providing riders with a break on the 12-mile journey.
Railbikes are lined up before an opening day event for Rail Explorers' newest location opening in Clay County on June 7, 2024. The national railbike operator opened its seventh location along a 12-mile roundtrip journey on the historic Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad.
CLAY, W.Va. Ƶ A new railbike attraction that could put Clay County on track to developing a thriving tourism industry has begun operating on a stretch of rail line formerly operated by the Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad.
Rail Explorers, the nationƵs largest railbike operator, is now offering 12-mile roundtrip railbike excursions on the historic rail line that began hauling coal and timber from the Buffalo Creek Valley between Dundon, on the outskirts of Clay, and Widen, 20 miles to the east, 120 years ago. The railroad was the last commercial line in the nation to operate exclusively with steam locomotives. It is now a branch of Elk River Trail.
ƵWe are so proud to re-activate this historic rail line that has been a lifeline in this community for more than a century,Ƶ Mary Joy Lu, co-founder and CEO of Rail Explorers, said during a dedication ceremony on Friday.
Instead of steam engines and gondola cars, the Rail Explorers fleet of rolling stock consists of custom-built, pedal-powered, electric motor-assisted railbikes with hydraulic disc brakes. Ten of the 20 railbikes now operating at Clay are quad bikes, holding up to four riders, and the other 10 are two-person tandems.
In addition to people, pets weighing 40 pounds or less are welcome to ride the railbikes with their owners for free.
The new battery-assisted propulsion system used by the railbikes makes possible a nearly effortless ride, enabling riders of all ages and abilities to travel deep into the otherwise inaccessible streamside forests along the route. There, riders pedal past the pools and riffles of Buffalo Creek, several sheer cliff faces and DevilƵs Sawmill Waterfall, which was added to the West Virginia Waterfall Trail last week.
ƵThis is the first big push for tourism in the county and IƵm excited to be part of it,Ƶ said Trey Corwell, the new division manager for Rail ExplorerƵs Clay operation. Corwell, a former Clay County High School teacher, is one of 12 area residents Rail Explorer has hired so far run its day-to-day operations at Clay.
ƵSeveral years ago, when the last of the mines shut down and things started to go downhill, it was hard to see what the future would be for the county,Ƶ Corwell said. ƵOne thing thatƵs always been a constant here is the countyƵs natural beauty, and this development taps into that. WeƵve already sold out our first two weeks [and] part of a third, booking more than 1,000 people. That tells me the draw is here. This is going to be the forefront of tourism in Clay County.Ƶ
Tours are accompanied by guides at the front and rear of each of two daily excursion groups. At the excursionƵs halfway point, the guides turn the railbikes around for the return trip, while guests relax at a streamside picnic area. The open-air railbikes typically travel at speeds of about 15 mph.
During the Clay DivisionƵs opening months, the railbikes will be available Thursdays through Sundays. Cost is $160 for four-rider quad railbikes and $80 for two-person tandems, bringing the per-rider cost to $40.
The Clay Division is the seventh Rail Explorers operation to open in the United States. The others are located:
Near Amador, California, in the foothills of the Sierras
Cooperstown, New York, along the Susquehanna River
Phoenicia, New York, in the Catskill Mountains
Versailles, Kentucky, in thoroughbred horse country
Boone, Iowa, along the Des Moines River
and Portsmouth, Rhode Island, along Narragansett Bay
More than 650,000 people have ridden on Rail Explorers railbike excursions since the company began operating in 2015, according to Lu. She said the idea for co-founding the company with her husband, Alex Catchpoole, came about after watching a South Korean soap opera episode in 2012 in which its characters pedaled their way along railroad tracks in a Ƶstrange contraption.Ƶ
Intrigued, Lu traveled to Korea 10 days later to look into the railbike operation and met with the designer and manufacturer of the railbikes. Later, she returned to Korea with her husband and brought a fleet of the vehicles back to the U.S.
ƵI think this is one of our most beautiful locations, and will become one of our most popular,Ƶ Lu said.
At FridayƵs dedication, State Tourism Commissioner Chelsea Ruby predicted the Clay Division would soon push Rail ExplorersƵ total ridership past the one million mark. ƵThis is such a unique attraction and IƵm looking forward to folks coming to try it for themselves,Ƶ she said.
In 2019, the Clay County Business Development Authority began offering railbike excursions along the same section of track on a much smaller scale, using less up-to-date equipment. To increase ridership, ƵWe asked Rail Explorers to bid on taking over the operations,Ƶ said Authority member Mitch DeBoard. ƵIƵm glad theyƵre here. They have the expertise, the equipment and the marketing ability to make this idea really work.Ƶ
Rick Steelhammer is a features reporter. He can be reached at 304-348-5169 or rsteelhammer@hdmediallc.com. Follow
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism
that is degrading to another person. Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness
accounts, the history behind an article.
