Draisine A draisine is a light auxiliary rail vehicle , driven by service personnel , equipped to transport crew and material necessary for the maintenance of railway infrastructure . The eponymous term is derived from German Baron Karl Christian Ludwig Drais von Sauerbronn , who invented his Laufmaschine ( German for " running machine " ) in 1817 , that was called " Draisine " ( German ) or " Draisienne " ( French ) by the press . It is the first reliable claim for a practically used bicycle , basically the first commercially successful two - wheeled , steerable , human - propelled machine commonly called a velocipede , nicknamed hobby - horse or dandy horse . Later , the name draisine came to be applied only to versions used on rails and was extended to similar vehicles , even when not human - powered . Because of their low weight and small size , they can be put on and taken off the rails at any place , allowing trains to pass . In the United States , motor - powered draisines are known as speeder s while human - powered ones are referred as handcar s . Vehicles that can be driven on both the highway and the rail line are called hy - rails , or more properly , road - rail vehicle s . Dressin , velorail or railbike . Draisine is spelled dressin in Sweden and dresin in Norway and dræsine in Denmark . In Finland the word is " resiina " . Usually , " dressin " refers to pedal - powered rail - cycles which were used by railroad maintenance workers in Finland , Sweden and Norway until about 1950 , as handcar s were elsewhere . Now draisines are used for recreation on several unused railway lines in Germany , Sweden , Norway , Poland and some other European countries . There are several companies renting draisines in Sweden . In Finland there has been annual competition " Resiina - ralli " ( translates " Draisine Rally " ) , which involves several draisine teams travelling many days on the railways from one corner of the country to another . The rally is televised and is popular with TV - viewers . Military usage . The military usage of draisines concerned , first of all , armoured draisines . They were light armoured rail motor vehicles , intended for reconnaissance , scouting , track patrolling and other auxiliary combat tasks , usually belonging to armoured train s . Early vehicles of this kind were built in Russia during World War I . Later , often armoured car s were used as armoured draisines , after exchanging their wheels to railroad ones , or fitting them with additional retractable railroad rollers . Some countries however manufactured purposely built armoured draisines between the wars , like the USSR and Czechoslovakia . Peculiar vehicles were Polish armoured draisines - they were tank s or tankette s fitted with special rail chassis , able to be used on rails or on the ground , leaving the rail chassis on the rails . Some countries developed rail - cum - track armoured draisines , with retractable tracks railroad wheels - they were not widely used , however . Different armoured draisines were used during the Second World War , starting from the invasion of Poland carried out by Nazi Germany . Prior to WW2 the Japanese Empire had already made extensive use of draisines such as the Sumida M . 2593 in Manchuria and the Sino - Japanese war . Construction . People have been putting bicycles on railroad tracks ever since there have been both bicycles and railroads . From time to time , factory - built models have been available , beginning with a device marketed in 1908 through the Sears catalogue for just $ 5 . 45 . With the conversion of regular bicycles into railbikes a great project for do - it - yourselfers , there are many designs available , though no one design can lay claim to absolute superiority ; as with cars and airplanes , each design has its advantages and disadvantages . However , certain fundamentals of railbike design must be adhered to , foremost among them the reconciliation of a bicycle ’ s stability with adaptation to riding on a track : bicycles are kept upright by the rider steering in the direction of an impending fall , but this ability is sacrificed when the bicycle is constrained by rails . Simply adding flanged wheels to a conventional bicycle would result in the rider performing a circus act on a tightrope , so the typical approach to stabilization is to add an outrigger , with roller ( s ) , across to the second rail from near the bicycle ’ s rear wheel . Even such an outrigger system is not without its complications , as tracks that are no longer perfectly parallel — common on sections of abandoned track — can result in derailment . Additional guide rollers can help alleviate this problem at the expense of greater weight . Aside from this outrigger , necessary modifications include flanged guide rollers on both the front and rear wheels , with the front guide needing to carry a large part of the rider ’ s weight in order to prevent derailment at encountering irregularities on the track . Practicality also commonly demands that the bicycle continue to be able to be ridden off rails , for the rider to travel ( for instance ) between his home and the tracks , and that the conversion process between bicycle and railbike be fast and straightforward even as it meets the demands of stability and dependability .