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These are pretty common in Sweden: they’re called dressin here, which, as is usual for a lot of Swedish words, comes from the French. In English it’s draisine:

These are pretty common in Sweden: they’re called dressin here, which, as is usual for a lot of Swedish words, comes from the French. In English it’s draisine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draisine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draisine If you’re in Skåne I can recommend Romeleåsens Dressincykling: https://www.dressincykling.se/english/ https://www.dressincykling.se/english/

viraptor 5y ago
The more permanent, tourist ones are also becoming more common in Poland. https://poland.pl/tourism/active-leisure/draisine-trips-through-bieszczady-mountains/ https://poland.pl/tourism/active-leisure/draisine-trips-thro... Similar name is used.
- nkingsy 5y ago
  Ha I rode something like this with 2 stroke motors involved in Colombia. Everyone just jumps off and removes the car when another is coming in the other direction.
zihotki 5y ago
I doubt it's coming from French since initial invention was made in Germany. It's Draisine in Engligh, French, German, and in many languages it's called similarly, sometimes with little spelling deviations.
- prennert 5y ago
  Correct. Wikipedia says it was named after the inventor Karl Drais who invented the dandy horse, the predecessor to the bicycle. Interestingly, he did not invent the Draisine on rails, though, just another mode of transport that in some ways is very similar.
- BeniBoy 5y ago
  I was a bit confused at first since in French, the word "Draisienne" is used for the dandy horse itself. But apparently Draisine is also in use in French (first time I heard about it, native speaker). You learn new things everyday !
nimbius 5y ago
I have to wonder, what is the scale of a train in Sweden? here in the states the vast majority of our locomotives are dedicated solely to freight. Speaking from experience having worked on locomotive engines in the past, the sheer magnitude of US rail is difficult to comprehend. a fully loaded freight train can weigh north of 20,000 tons (18.14 million kilos). They can often times be nearly 2 (3.2km) miles long. and heres the reason "rail bikes" are illegal in the US: they can take more than a mile (1.6km) to stop.
- BBC-vs-neolibs 5y ago
  Railbikes only go on tracks no longer used for regular traffic.
  - dang 5y ago
    Sorry for the offtopicness but we don't have your email. I just saw https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26721647 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26721647. Since your comments have mostly been fine since we banned you (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26649016 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26649016), I'd be happy to reinstate your account. However, I think the username is a bit too trollish. It's not extreme of course, but the audience here is large enough that even minor trollishness can cause major weirdness. If you want to pick a different username, we can change it for you and unban the account. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0&query=by:dang%20trollish%20username https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme... https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=troll%20effects%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...
    - BBC-vs-neolibs 5y ago
      Thank you. How do I pick a different username?
      - dang 5y ago

viraptor 5y ago

The more permanent, tourist ones are also becoming more common in Poland. https://poland.pl/tourism/active-leisure/draisine-trips-through-bieszczady-mountains/ https://poland.pl/tourism/active-leisure/draisine-trips-thro... Similar name is used.

nkingsy 5y ago
Ha I rode something like this with 2 stroke motors involved in Colombia. Everyone just jumps off and removes the car when another is coming in the other direction.

zihotki 5y ago

I doubt it's coming from French since initial invention was made in Germany. It's Draisine in Engligh, French, German, and in many languages it's called similarly, sometimes with little spelling deviations.

prennert 5y ago
Correct. Wikipedia says it was named after the inventor Karl Drais who invented the dandy horse, the predecessor to the bicycle. Interestingly, he did not invent the Draisine on rails, though, just another mode of transport that in some ways is very similar.
BeniBoy 5y ago
I was a bit confused at first since in French, the word "Draisienne" is used for the dandy horse itself. But apparently Draisine is also in use in French (first time I heard about it, native speaker). You learn new things everyday !

nimbius 5y ago

I have to wonder, what is the scale of a train in Sweden? here in the states the vast majority of our locomotives are dedicated solely to freight. Speaking from experience having worked on locomotive engines in the past, the sheer magnitude of US rail is difficult to comprehend. a fully loaded freight train can weigh north of 20,000 tons (18.14 million kilos). They can often times be nearly 2 (3.2km) miles long. and heres the reason "rail bikes" are illegal in the US: they can take more than a mile (1.6km) to stop.

BBC-vs-neolibs 5y ago
Railbikes only go on tracks no longer used for regular traffic.
- dang 5y ago
  Sorry for the offtopicness but we don't have your email. I just saw https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26721647 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26721647. Since your comments have mostly been fine since we banned you (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26649016 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26649016), I'd be happy to reinstate your account. However, I think the username is a bit too trollish. It's not extreme of course, but the audience here is large enough that even minor trollishness can cause major weirdness. If you want to pick a different username, we can change it for you and unban the account. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0&query=by:dang%20trollish%20username https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme... https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=troll%20effects%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...
  - BBC-vs-neolibs 5y ago
    Thank you. How do I pick a different username?
    - dang 5y ago