American Rail Bike Adventures — Attraction in Seven Valleys

We were extremely excited to do the rail bikes at Stewartstown, but this tour was nothing like we had hoped for.

First, we had received a message there were bees on this tour and we were offered another tour at their other location but the times and dates did not fit into our vacation timeframe, so we had to keep our reserved tour. They even asked if we were aware of the bees once we arrived. So, I am not saying we were not informed. However, half of the people on our tour got stung! 2 out of 4 on our bike were stung.

Second, our rail bike seems to have issues. The assisted motor was not functioning properly and the brake seems to keep getting held up. When the workers checked our bike, we were told nothing was wrong with it.

Third, the tour is states to take 1.5 - 2 hours. I asked some questions prior to starting, about if there are hills and how fast the rail bikes go. I was told it is a nice relaxing tour with a 4% grade. Our whole tour was done in 1 hour! Needless to say, not the relaxing, enjoy the scenery type of tour we expected. We felt very rushed and it didn’t help our bikes had issues and were told there was nothing wrong with it. So we had to peddle our butts off! When first going there was a worker at each road crossing and since our bike was lagging behind we kept getting asked if the bike was working right. This was our first time, hard to tell of something is working as it should or not. Also, on our way back, there was NOT a worker at any of the road crossings. Thankfully there were not cars as most of these are at a blind spot. This rushed hour long tour also included each rail bike being turned manually in front of a blind spot as another reviewer stated and I front of someone’s home. There was a brake malfunction on someone’s bike so that was moved out of the way and thankfully a worker rode that one back, through the bees we go again!

Once we got back to the starting point, the one worker said the other tour is much better! Also note, some of the rail bikes have handles you can hold on to while peddling, I wish our bike has these and they did not! Some had nice big baskets for your belongings and some had very small ones. Ours did not have a big basket.

So the question is, will we do it again? Not at the Stewartstown location! We’d be willing to try the Howard Tunnel excursion or look at a different company in...

We took the seven-mile rail bike tour that went through the Howard Tunnel. We parked at their lot on Church St in Seven Valleys almost a half hour before departure. There's a very frightening disclaimer you have to sign that claims that the ride might test your mental and physical limits, and contains otherwise standard language. I am in my mid-60's and my two 20-something kids were with me. It wasn't very taxing, but it was still a bit of a workout.

Our guide was great, providing a quick orientation and helping everyone mount the bikes and adjust their seats. He also took a picture of everyone with their cameras. Throughout the ride, he went back and forth checking the tracks ahead and making sure everyone was doing well.

The scenery was very nice and the bike itself did not require too much effort to move down the track. We had three of the four stations manned and hit about 7-8MPH. My only complaint is that I wish the gearing were a little different, as we did have to maintain a pretty high RPM. The ride is almost entirely level with a very small incline for a short distance. The tunnel was fun to go through and not very deep.

When it was time to turn around, the guide had a turntable on the track that allowed him to rotate the bikes, which we all thought was pretty cool. We arrived back at the parking lot about one hour and 45 minutes after we left. I have already recommended this activity to my...

My sister-in-law and I had a wonderful day riding the rail trail along the Howard Tunnel path. We had a Wednesday afternoon reservation and were worried the unpredictable weather may be a problem. But the passing shower as we gathered, didn’t hinder the equipment, rails or us. There was a basket to hold our water bottles and small pack, which was helpful. Along our ride we saw a young deer, chipmunks, a winding stream and beautiful countryside scenery. Our guide provided useful information before departing and checked in with us along the way . He rode an electronic bike, along the parallel pathway, where he could go faster than the rail bikes. This allowed him to check in with each group. The afternoon reservation had only a few bikes. We thought some folks were deterred by the heat (88). But, it was shaded 80% of the ride and there was a light breeze. It was hot but not unbearable - we are both in our 50’s and semi-active. Once we reached our destination, our guide was quick and efficient at turning the bikes around. He even switched our bike with a young family in front of us - they were faster and we didn’t want to slow them down on the way back. Definitely a fun experience. We will be back in the Fall to see this beautiful countryside covered in...