Trains are really frickin cool.

As of Monday I've started taking a short midday escape from my office, I think some people call it a lunch break(?) Regardless, up until now I had just sat at my desk and worked an uninterrupted shift while I nibbled at dry goods from my drawer of nutritionless crap. My ass is starting to look like my chair. So now I'm taking advantage of this lunch break thing... but rather than driving somewhere to blow money I shouldn't spend on fodder that I don't need, I've been taking walks around the neighborhood. There's a railway that runs through the back edge of the industrial park, connecting to the backyards of most of the local plants. I've walked about a kilometer out and back in both directions along the tracks now. It's a nice quiet walk with no traffic and lots of neat stuff to check out. There's some old loading docks, the overhead chip bins at the sawmill, a grain transfer station, and all kinds of switches and track changers along the way. Not to mention the railcars themselves. Hoppers, tankers, boxcars, you name it.
That's the beautiful thing about walking, you see all kinds of stuff that you'd never notice from the window of a car. And you get to stop whenever you want and just look at things. It reminds me of when I was a kid, walking everywhere and finding something interesting about everything I come across.
Railway tracks have so much potential, they're smooth, evenly spaced, free of obstruction, and for the most part level-graded. I'd love to build some kind vehicle that would take advantage of them. Like the special crew trucks that drive onto them at a crossing and lower down some hydraulic guides from under the bumpers, then just hit the cruise control and take off. I tried that once with my truck, but without the guides I only managed to stay balanced on top of the rails for about 100 feet, then slipped off to the side. It was a long, slow, bumpy ride back to the crossing. I need something simpler, like a 4 wheeled bicycle. It'd be really low slung, maybe a foot off the ground at the seat, supported by a horizontal hourglass frame of metal tubing. Hard rubber or even smooth treaded pneumatics for the top of the rails, and small spring-loaded guide wheels for the inner edges. A 10 speed chain and pedal assembly mounted in front of a nice cushy seat with a high backrest, and maybe a cupholder. Once I got the bugs worked out of the basic design, I could add a small electric assist motor. One that doubles as a generator when being driven, so under normal cruising (pedaling) conditions, the motor would charge an onboard battery... then when I hit a hill I just flip over to the reserve and let it help to push me up. And who knows, find me a long stretch with no crossings, and maybe a small rocket engine..?....
Now for the big problem, knowing when and where the real trains are. The railcrews obviously have a radio frequency that they use to keep abreast of local traffic, just like on logging roads. I could get that frequency and listen to it with a police scanner while I pedaled my way to work. But just to be safe, I'd better wear a helmet. And some hockey pads. And maybe install a sideways-firing ejection seat.