OK, so the three-wheeled velocipede may have appeared long before this north Idaho dentist created his contemporary contraption. But he left his mark. Strangely enough, I hadn't even heard of Smart or his railcycle when I was first living in north Idaho 1984-1988. It was only after I moved to New Jersey to join the staff at Railfan & Railroad that editor Jim Boyd brought it to my attention. And boy, did he. Smart had apparently tried to advertise and/or get editorial coverage of his railcycle in R&R, and Boyd not only refused, he more or less chewed the guy out for promoting what amounted to a more invasive and dangerous form of railroad trespass than railfans were even guilty of. Boise's PBS affiliate did a piece on Smart for their Outdoor Idaho program a decade or so ago, showing him railbiking on abandoned Northwest branch lines. At one point, he pedaled across a large washout on UP's Wallace Branch, slowly working his bike over a substantial sag where the rails and ties were hanging in mid air. I'm sure that did not impress any UP officials who may have watched. And it certainly was not the sort of act an inventor and TV station should have been presenting to the public. However, I'll bet most of us would enjoy exploring certain stretches of track on one of these things, given the chance, and with the blessing of that track's owner. Here's some recent and ancient reporting on Smart:

[cdapress.com]

[www.people.com]

[www.spokesman.com]

[www.forbes.com]

[sportsillustrated.cnn.com]