Image: Lahminewski Lab, CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the Wikipedia page, which summarizes and links to all sources that are available online:

The chukudu is a two-wheeled handmade vehicle used in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is made of wood, and is used for transporting cargo. The chukudu generally has an angular frame, two small wheels (often of wood, sometimes wrapped with rubber), handlebars, and a pad for the operator to place their knee on while propelling the vehicle with their leg. On a descent, the rider stands on the deck like a kick scooter. On flat ground, the rider can put one knee on the deck and push the ground by the other foot like a knee scooter. Rubber mud flaps and shock absorber springs may be added.

In Goma, where chukudus form the “backbone of the local transportation system”, chukudus are made of hard mumba wood and eucalyptus wood, with scrap tires for wheel treads. These chukudus take one to three days to build, and last two to three years. The most commonly used size is about six and one half feet long, and carries a load of 1000 lbs. However, the largest chukudus can carry up to 800 kilograms of weight.

A small chukudu can be built in about three hours, using dimensional lumber and materials available in a hardware store. The chukudu is customizable to carry different types of cargo. To haul firewood some chukudus have a hole drilled in the middle of the sitting deck, and the operator can insert a stick to hold firewood in place. Others have a large basket to carry various loads.

Chukudus image colection.

DIY.

Thanks to Spencer Cappallo.

Shallow ponds and ditches are producers of greenhouse gases, especially methane, which is released by the breakdown or decay of organic material. Gijs Schalkx harvests this methane from ponds — by hand — and uses it to power his moped. Eight hours of hoeing in a ditch supplies him with enough fuel to ride his vehicle for 20 km. He calls it “a quest on keeping the combustion engine alive in a fossil free future”.

* * *

Gijs Schalkx graduated with the project from the ArtEZ University of the Arts in Arnhem, the Netherlands. In an interview with Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, Schalkx explains that he likes to work on old motorcycles but “dislikes oil companies like Shell who promise all kinds of things about a better world, but don’t deliver”.

In a book, he came across a story of a fisherman who hung a special tank behind his boat to harvest methane from the water. When the fisherman got home, he was able to fry the fish he caught on the methane gas that he also caught himself. “I found that totally awesome and I set out to develop that idea. Why depend on big corporations and their promises to save the world when you can do it yourself?”.

He calls his contraption the “slootmotor”, which translates into “Ditch motorcycle”.

Refueling from the ditch

Harvesting methane from ditches and ponds is hard work, explains Schalkx: “Methane can rise to the surface spontaneously, but it works better to give it a hand by agitating the bottom of the pond. With an upturned, floating mortar tub, I catch the gas by hoeing underneath. The gas is then led through a hose into the reservoir of the engine, on the back of the motorcycle. I then pressurize the methane with an inverted bicycle pump. A special small petrol tank for the engine is still needed to start the engine.”

It takes the young Dutchman roughly eight hours to collect enough fuel to fill the tank and ride his moped for about 20 km. This is not comparable to the convenience of filling up a gasoline tank or charging an electric battery, but that is exactly the point. “Eight hours of hoeing for a twenty kilometer drive will ensure that it will be the best twenty kilometers of your life.”

The moped achieves a top speed of 43 km/h. According to Schalkx, riding his vehicle also helps the environment. “Capturing methane and using it emits CO2, but that is less bad for the environment than when that methane gas bubbles up and ends up in the environment anyway.”

More images, data and a video (which shows the whole process) can be found at his website. All images courtesy of Gijs Schalkx.

Thanks to Tim Joye.

This timely new report analyses and ranks 69 European train companies and services according to six key indicators for combined bike-and-train travel, such as bicycle spaces in trains and the quality of bike ticket or reservation channels. The report’s rankings show that there is much room for improvement in Europe.

Only one train service, NS-DB (Intercity Berlin), which runs between Amsterdam and Berlin, scored in the “excellent” category. Operators that scored in the “good” category in facilitating bike-and-train travel include SNCB/NMBS, SBB, Deutsche Bahn and MÁV-START.

One fourth of the 69 operators and services scored in the “moderate” category, including České dráhy, SNCF and Trenitalia, while the rest perform either “poorly” or “very poorly” on most indicators, including Flixtrain, Greater Anglia, Renfe and Eurostar.

Belgian art collective Time Circus built their first prototype of a giant Land Ship that will travel through Europe. Like a modern-day galley, the land ship will be propelled by the muscle power of the participating travelers. The journey is understood as a 21st century pilgrimage and will take an estimated 10 years.

The Journey

Along the journey, people can board the land ship and travel along for as long as they want to. Longer stops will be made in Marseille (France), Novisad (Serbia), Timisoara (Romania) and Elefsina (Greece).

In 2018, land ship terminals will be built in these cities. Like bus stops, these will show how long it takes before the vehicle arrives. The start of the journey is planned for 2020.

The Ship

When we talked to one of the makers earlier this month in Antwerp, he said it was not yet clear whether the final vehicle would be a single monstrous land ship of 50 metres long, or a caravan of ‘small’ ones the size of the first prototype, which is 13 metres long.

He said they were also contemplating the use of draft animals or sails — reminiscent of the ancient Chinese wheelbarrow. The vehicle or vehicles will be equipped with sleeping accommodation for at least 50 people.

Confronting Bureaucracy

Either way, the trip will be challenging, not only because of the physical effort involved, but also because of many other obstacles, from bridges over telephone lines to rules and regulations. Time Circus wants to “obtain freedom of movement by gently opposing regulations with inventiveness and the use of the grey areas of the law, confronting the bureaucracy in a playful and witty way.”

The slowness of the journey gives ample space for meetings and interaction along the road. The main message of the project is to demonstrate that “unexpected forces can develop through cooperation”. It also wants to “encourage the imaginative forces in the world, introducing alternatives that lie dormant”.

More info: Time Circus. There’s also a video (in Dutch).

The Long Riders’ Guild is the world’s first international association of equestrian explorers and long distance travellers.

With members in forty-six countries, every major equestrian explorer alive today belongs to the Guild, including Hadji Shamsuddin of Afghanistan, who recently rode a thousand miles through that war-zone, Jean-Louis Gouraud of France, who rode 3,000 miles from Paris to Moscow, Tim Cope of Australia, who rode 6,000 miles from Mongolia to Hungary, Claudia Gottet of Switzerland, who rode 8,000 miles from Arabia to the Alps, Adnan Azzam of Syria, who rode 10,000 miles from Madrid to Mecca, and Vladimir Fissenko of Russia, who rode 19,000 miles from Patagonia to Alaska.

Additionally The Long Riders’ Guild Press is the world’s premier source of equestrian exploration wisdom. The Guild’s Academic Foundation provides an open-source forum where scientists, poets, authors, and equestrian experts share their wisdom with the public. Every type of horse related knowledge is being investigated and published at this website.

The three-volume Encyclopaedia of Equestrian Exploration is the most comprehensive study of equestrian exploration and travel ever undertaken, and contains the collective wisdom of more than 400 Long Riders. The Horse Travel Handbook contains the absolute essence of the Encyclopaedia, is small enough to fit into a saddlebag, and is designed to help a traveller resolve any problem or deal with any emergency in the field.

Written by CuChullaine O’Reilly.

Previously:

• Pack Goats
• Our Right to be Outside: Three Mules
• Camel Trains
• Sail the World’s Largest Viking Ship from Europe to America
• Why Trains are the Best Aid to Thought
• Canoe & Kayak Sailing

Students from Dalarna University, Sweden, have won a competition for creating efficient rail-based transport, claiming a world record in the process. Team Eximus 1 was competing in Delsbo Electric, where teams must design and build a battery-operated railway vehicle that uses as little energy as possible. Delsbo Electric is open to college and university students. It was inspired by the Shell Eco-marathon, with the concept translated for rail-based rather than road-based travel.

Vehicles must carry between one and six passengers weighing a minimum average of 50 kg (110 lb) each. Vehicle efficiency is measured on a per person basis, meaning vehicles carrying six passengers are not at a disadvantage. The Eximus 1 carries five passengers. The vehicle is estimated to weigh about 100 kg (220 lb) and to measure about 5,500-mm (217-in) long by 1,500-mm (59-in) wide. It was powered by four 12 V, 45 Wh batteries linked together in parallel and a 500 W motor.

The team’s final efficiency score was 0.84 Wh/person-km (watt-hours for every kilometer traveled by each passenger). Delsbo Electric claims that is a new world record. “We have done research and not found any information about somebody or something traveling as efficient rail-based in the world. In fact, it seems like Eximus 1 achieved a lower energy consumption per person than the current Shell Eco Marathon record.”

See & read more at Gizmag: Silver machine rolls down the track to new efficiency record. Vehicles from other participants can be found here. Thanks to Frank Van Gieson.

Related:

• Handcarts on rails
• Pallets on rails
• Streetcar scooter

The German-made Carla Cargo is a three-wheeled cycle trailer with an electric assist motor. It can be pulled by any type of bicycle (including a cargo cycle or an electric bike), and it allows you to carry heavy (up to 150 kg) and bulky cargo (a loading platform of 60 x 160 cm). Uncoupled from the bicycle, the Carla Cargo works as a hand cart for large or heavy loads. The vehicle weighs 40 kg including the battery, and has a range of 40 to 60 km.

The electric motor is built into the front wheel and can produce 250 watts as a trailer (up to 23 km/h), and 500 watts as a handtruck (up to 6 km/h). The lithium-ion battery has a capacity of 11 or 15 Ah. The vehicle has two disk brakes and a parking brake, which are controlled via the handle or the bicycle handlebar.

The Carlo Cargo sells for about 4,000 euro. The construction manual is freely accessible online, but only in German for now. The trailer/handcart is present at the International Cargo Bike Festival, April 16-17, in Nijmegem, the Netherlands.

Previously: 8-wheeler cargo cycle.

Mike Merrell writes us:

“I’ve really enjoyed reading articles on your site since I found the article on the Chinese Wheelbarrow. I stumbled upon it when I was looking for information on the wheelbarrow, and I was immediately hooked. It turned out to be some of my inspiration for our new product we’re calling the Honey Badger Wheel. Our Kickstarter project began March 10th and will run until April 30th.”

“Because you provide awesome content for all of us interested in simple technologies with big benefits, would you be interested in running an article on your site about the modern interpretation of the Chinese Wheelbarrow? My hope is that it would add value to your audience, especially since it’s in line with with new and exciting info for us techies. On a more personal note, I appreciate the boosts of small inspiration from your site that lead to big ideas.”

In May next year she will set out on a voyage from Norway to Newfoundland via Iceland and Greenland, and the project organizers have just announced they are accepting applications for volunteer crew.

You need at least two months of free time to do it and presumably should have some sort of useful skill to boost your chances of being selected.

Conditions aboard look to be very Spartan by modern standards, with no shelter except for a tent on deck, but by traditional Viking standards it should be a veritable luxury cruise.”

Read more: Calling all Vikings. More sailboat news.

“Journeys are the midwives of thought. Few places are more conducive to internal conversations than a moving plane, ship or train. There is an almost quaint correlation between what is in front of our eyes and the thoughts that we are able to have in our heads: large thoughts at times requiring large views, new thoughts new places. Introspective reflections which are liable to stall are helped along by the flow of the landscape…

Of all modes of transport, the train is perhaps the best aid to thought: the views have none of the potential monotony of those on a ship or plane, they move fast enough for us not to get exasperated but slowly enough to allow us to identify objects…

Every time the mind goes blank, having hit on a difficult idea, the flow of consciousness is assisted by the possibility of looking out of the window, locking onto an object and following it for a few seconds, until a new coil of thought is ready to form and can unravel without pressure.

At the end of hours of train-dreaming, we may feel we have returned to ourselves — that is, brought back into contact with emotions and ideas of importance to us. It is not necessarily at home that we encounter our true selves. The furniture insists that we cannot change because it does not; the domestic setting keeps us tethered to the person we are in ordinary life, but who may not be who we essentially are.”

Quoted from: The Art of Travel, Alain de Botton, 2003. Picture: Compartment C, Car 293, Edward Hopper.

• Tunnels have a smaller height difference than bridges. Only need clearance for the height of a cyclist, not for trucks or trains plus electric lines.

• Tunnels take up less space than a bridge because inclines are shorter.

• Tunnels are easier to fit into an existing landscape.

• Tunnels offer protection from wind and rain.

• A possible disadvantage is low social safety. It is important that cyclists can see out of a tunnel before they enter it. There should be no turns within the tunnel, no-where for a potential mugger to hide. Obviously tunnels should also be well lit.

Picture: All crossings in Assen [The Netherlands] can be used without slowing down. This is one of the many cycle and pedestrian crossings of a major road. Four metre wide cycle-path, separate pedestrian path, gentle inclines, well lit and we can see right through for good social safety. Built in the 1970s, well maintained: last resurfaced 2012.

Quoted from a blogpost at “A view from the cyclepath”, which discusses Dutch standards for cycling tunnels and bridges.

“The South Coast Air Quality Management District, which is the air pollution control agency for all of Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, has selected a company to install a catenary system.”

“This is essentially overhead electrical lines that supply trucks with electric power, similar to how modern day trolleys or streetcars are powered on many city streets.”

Read more: Truck Electrification System to be Tested at Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach. Thanks to Paul Best.

Previously:

• Siemens rediscovers the trolleytruck
• Get wired (again): trolleybuses and trolleytrucks
• Trolley canal boats

The cargo cycle was designed and built by Berliner Nico Jungel. Find more pictures and videos at his website. The vehicle was spotted at the International Cargo Bike Festival in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. See all pictures of the event (including more images of the 8-wheeler). Previously: Cargo cyclists replace truck drivers on European city streets.

Some people would rather have wings but we don’t, we have feet. We were born to walk. Scientists say that walking gave us our brain capacity, walking turned us into the human beings we are. Walking made it possible for us to have the desire to fly and to come up with ways to turn our dreams into reality.

Walking made us fly. We can go anywhere. Still the easier it becomes to move through this world, the more disconnected we seem to get from it. We have to land again. Get close to the things. Be part of the world. Walking teaches us where we are, who we are. A slow speed makes our brain work fast. Makes us see more. Be more. And best of all: walking makes time disappear.”

Read more: A Soft Armour by Monique Besten. Previously: Our Right to be Oustide.

“This is not a city to live in. It’s a theme park where there’s no local life left. It’s all decoration.”

“Tourism is not going to be forever, and it’s destroying other ways of life.”

“We cannot live with those floods of people day after day.”

These are some quotes from Bye Bye Barcelona (59m, with English subtitles), a shocking documentary about tourism’s destructive effect on the culture of a city. Barcelona in Spain is the fourth most visited city in Europe after London, Paris and Rome, yet it is much smaller than those cities. The 1.5 million Barcelonians received more than 8 million tourists in 2013, most of them flown in by low-cost airlines. This compares to “only” 3.1 million tourists in 2000.

Bye Bye Barcelona, Eduardo Chibas, March 2014. Thanks to Adriana Parra.

A rail map is especially interesting if you want to avoid high speed trains (which are more expensive), if you make long-distance trips, or if you just love to marvel at spectacular scenery. While an online rail map sounds more modern, nothing beats the convenience of a printed map when you are planning a trip.

Image: a detail of the Thomas Cook Rail Map of Europe, 18th edition

Thomas Cook Rail Map of Europe

The most famous rail map is Thomas Cook’s Rail Map of Europe, which measures 100 x 70 cm and shows all of the main passenger railways of Europe; from Greece, Italy and Spain in the south, to lower Scandinavia, the Baltic States and part of Russia in the north. It depicts over 6,000 cities and towns, with colour-coding for high-speed lines (red) and scenic routes (green). The legend is in four languages.

The map also includes many ferry routes, which is especially handy if you are travelling around the Mediterranean or the Baltic Sea. On the reverse of the map is an enlargement of Central Europe, which focuses in more detail on the area from Paris in the west to Budapest in the east.

Published every two years, the latest is the 18th edition of the Rail Map of Europe, which was published in 2011. It was also the last. Thomas Cook abandoned its publishing business in July 2013. The publication of Thomas Cook’s rail timetable is continued by former members of the editorial team as the “European Rail Timetable”, but the rail map is not yet available.

The Rail Map of Europe includes the British Isles, but Thomas Cook also had a more detailed Rail Map of Britain and Ireland on offer. It, too, was published every two years, with the latest 7th edition being that of 2011. This map is for sale at the European Rail Timetable.

Kümmerly+Frey Railmap Europe

Although I find the Thomas Cook rail maps to be the most handy, the Railmap Europe from Swiss publisher Kümmerly+Frey (KuF) is a worthy alternative. It is almost twice as large as Thomas Cook’s Rail Map of Europe, but this extra space is not used to show more detail: the scale is 1 to 5 million, versus 1 to 4 million for Thomas Cook’s map. Rather, KuF’s Railmap Europe shows the railways in a wider geographical context.

Every single square kilometre of Europe is covered, including the upper parts of Scandinavia, which Thomas Cook doesn’t show. Furthermore, the map includes the railways of northern Africa, the Middle East, and Russia (as far east as Yekatarinburg). Curiously, about one-tenth of the whole map serves just to include Iceland, which has no railways.

An interesting feature is that Kümmerly+Frey’s Railmap Europe also shows the type of track (single or double, electrified or not, real or upgraded high speed line, cargo or passenger line, broad or narrow gauge). Thomas Cook distinghuises fewer types of track. On the other hand, KuF’s map does not show ferry routes, although it does depict train ferries (both for cargo and passengers trains). The map is sold folded or unfolded, and the legend is in 6 languages. KuF also publishes a national rail map of Germany.

Other Folded Rail Maps

There are more rail maps available, none of which I ever held in my hands. Quail Map Company publishes several rail maps of individual European countries: Portugal (3rd edition, 2010), Greece (2000), and Estonia (1997). American Publisher East View has a paper Rail Map of Europe, which is cheaper than most others but seems to be of lesser quality. It reportedly misses a large part of Eastern Europe.

Canadian publisher International Travel Maps sells a Europe Railways Map, which seems to be somewhere in between Thomas Cook’s and KuF’s products, although it also shows major roads and is printed on plastic paper. The Streetwise Europe Rail Map is printed on laminated paper, and has one half of Europe on each side. It is a very small map, the size of a sheet of paper, which shows very few details (the scale is 1 to 11.5 million). Lastly, there is also a Skirail map of the Alps.

Eisenbahnatlas EU

None of the rail maps described above show all train routes. Local railroads are only depicted in popular tourism areas, or not at all. The European network connects 30,000 cities, villages, and hamlets, while the Thomas Cook Rail Map of Europe only displays the rail links between one fifth of them.

There is one exception, however: the Eisenbahnatlas EU, published by Schweers+Wall in Germany in May 2013. As the name implies, this is not really a map but an atlas, which shows the European railway network in scale 1 to 2 million, twice the detail of the Thomas Cook map. It is a bit overkill for the average train traveller, who is problably not interested in the voltages and track width of every single rail line on the continent. The Eisenbahnatlas shows it all, including the location of marshalling yards and logistic stations.

Schweers+Wall also publishes the Eisenbahnatlas for individual countries. These have even more detailed maps, including subways, tramways, milestones, tunnels, crossovers, abandoned lines, and lots of technical information. The scale is 1 to 150.000 or 300,000 for general maps, and 1 to 50,000 or 100,000 for maps of railway hubs. The legend of the Eisenbahn atlases is in 4 languages. For now, half a dozen countries have their own Eisenbahnatlas: Germany (which is published since 1994), Austria, Switzerland, and Italy (which also includes Slovenia). The atlas for France is on its way.

European Railway Atlas

English publisher Ian Allan had a similar series called the “European Rail Atlas“, which was discontinued some years ago. They still publish a “Rail Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland” and a massive amount of other books on railroads.

M.G. Ball, the editor of the series, now publishes his own “European Railway Atlas“, as well as compact railway atlasses of individual European countries or regions (which are in fact all separate chapters from the European Railway Atlas). They are available both as A4 sized books and as Adobe Acrobat pdf files. All passenger, freight and proposed lines are shown, as are most heritage railways. Main lines are distinguished from secondary lines, and the same goes for single and multiple tracks. Electrification systems and track gauges are shown. Changes and corrections are listed on the website.

Oxford Publishing Company’s “Rail Atlas of Great Britain and Ireland” was first published in 1977. The thirteenth edition appeared in 2013. Great Britain is also the subject of the most detailed rail atlas available: the TRACKatlas of Mainland Britain. The maps show track level detail in a schematic format set over geographic centre lines. All stations appear with most signal boxes, junctions and tunnels including their names and railway mileages; most level crossings are included together with information describing their type.

Online Rail Maps

You can obtain a free rail map of Europe if you buy an InterRail or EuRail Pass, which gives you unlimited train travel in Europe for a certain period. It is a rather small (52 x 30 cm) but useful map, which can also be consulted online. The European Rail Guide has rail maps online, both for Europe as a whole and individual countries separately, and so have Raildude and All Europe Rail. There is also a large collection of national train maps to be found on this amateur website. While an online rail map sounds more modern, nothing beats the convenience of a printed map when you are planning a trip.

Rail maps are of little use in the US, where you can be happy to find one single route between two cities. Sadly, this also seems to be the future of the European rail system.

Kris De Decker (edited by David Fox)

This strange and, to many, awe-inspiring sight has been experienced by thousands of people in small towns and large cities throughout the western United States. But who is he and what is he doing? Is he lost in the wrong century? Is he homeless? Is he on a mission?

The Mules (as he refers to himself and the animals collectively) have traveled for nearly three decades through 16 states. For the last ten years they have lived outdoors. Even though he may not talk much when one first meets him, if the time and place are right, Mule will share something that he feels we should all be thinking about.

Throughout their travels, the Mules have noticed an ever increasing urban sprawl. Open spaces where they once moved through freely, and sometimes spent the night in a secluded spot, were disappearing. More and more cars filled up the roadways, and the expanding urban infrastructure seemed to serve one purpose: accommodate more automobiles.

At the same time, space for other means of self- transportation, such as bicycling, horseback riding and simply walking, were shrinking. Those alternative means of self-travel have often been confined to designated “recreation” areas. Also, as the urban environment exploded, natural habitats have vanished, or been “preserved” in spaces a fraction of the size they once were.
Mule sums it all up: “The space needed by The Mules to travel this country freely in all four directions on the landscape is being taken over by the suburban model of automobile usage, exclusively, and leaving no space for alternative venues of moving and living. In our travels, we carry that awareness and bring it to others. We’re a working model for that awareness, one step at a time, all day, every day.””

Quoted from 3 mules, via LLoyd’s blog.

The ship sails throughout the year. The website now shows the schedules for the summer of 2013, the winter of 2013-2014, and the summer of 2014. On November 17, 2013, you can sail across the Atlantic from Portugal to Brazil, which takes an estimated 45 days. The trip costs 2700 euro. On February 10, 2014, you can sail back from the Dominican Republic to London via Bermuda and the Azores. This eastbound Atlantic crossing takes 81 days and costs 4455 euro. Shorter trips are also possible. For example, on May 4, 2014, you can sail from London to Amsterdam in 5 days, which costs 375 euro.

More info at Fairtransport. (Click “Tres Hombres” in the upper right corner, then switch to English language).

“Having tested wings on boats in place of sails (‘wingsails’) designers noticed another feature used on aircraft that would be useful to use in conjunction with wingsails – controlling the wingsail with another smaller surface mounted behind or in front of it (a ‘tail’). There are many examples of tails used to control the direction of bodies both in the water and in the air, and aircraft use them to adjust, to a precise degree, the lift or (angle of attack) of their wings.”

“If a tail is used attached to a boats’ wingsail, it can adjust the wing perfectly to every small change of wing direction, in this way relieving the sailor of this task, which is mostly guesswork and at best very approximate, and it can perform that job much better than any sailor can do. Such a wingsail/tail combination is referred to as a self-trimming wingsail.”

Read more: 1 / 2.

The Vintage Italian Racing Bicycle Pool on Flickr has more than 1,000 pictures. Above: De Rosa, 1973, by classic8tubes. Related: Cars, out of the way.