Improvised Transport on Abandoned Infrastructure: Colombia's Ingenious Motorcycle-Railroad Adapters

Colombia started building railroads in the mid-19th century, and they boomed up until the mid-20th. But by the 1990s, as roads and cars proliferated, the national rail company was liquidated. Rural communities lost service.

The tracks, however, remained. So rural communities improvised these ingenious motobalineras, improvised wooden platforms for motorcycles or even bicycles. The bikes ride on a single rail and provide the propulsion, while the platform can be adapted to haul passengers or cargo.

Here's one in action, shot by Jorge Eliecer Zuleta Anduquia. Note that the platforms are light enough that they can be moved off of the tracks, when there are two-way traffic issues: