I Built a Mini Truck for Abandoned Railroads

this is a Japanese mini truck and I'm going to get it to ride on abandoned railroads here's why I have this weird dream to build something that can ride across 100 year old train bridge over the past year I've tried and failed two separate times and my last attempt was so traumatic that I told myself I would only ever do this again if I could build a better vehicle and also find a better Bridge somehow I've managed to do both so here I am trying one more time deep in the canyons of Idaho is a

116-year-old forgotten giant known as the half moon Trestle bridge to drive across it will require a build far beyond my capability 2 days traveling on the railroad crossing rivers scaling mountains and of course comical Wheels this is a three-part story that begins with this video where I build and test the truck to find out if it's ready for the railroads of Idaho or not what you're about to watch is a culmination of the most grueling mentally taxing expensive months of my life and I'm oddly excited to share them with you so welcome to episode one

of the mini truck railroad series I'm about to see a mini truck for the first time ever wait what's a mini truck well technically they're called K trucks K comes from the Japanese word which means light and for good reason these things are about half the size of a normal truck and became super popular in the US when the 25-year-old models became legal to import and register under classic car exemptions that is when all the YouTubers started buying them and I was one of the millions of people watching thinking I didn't necessarily want this before

but now I need it so bad and somehow these YouTubers made the trucks even cooler adding snow tracks adding more Wheels whistling diesel put a jet engine on the back of his but from my knowledge I haven't seen any of them make the truck ride on the railroad found one on Facebook Marketplace last night she's a be which means I could avoid paying the $3,000 importing fee which is a big win for me but I still had a big question which was how wide is the truck everything on online is telling me all of these

different widths so I'm driving 2 hours to measure this thing for myself we know that if this car is actually going to fit on the rails it has to be6 oh my gosh I've never seen one in real life she's beautiful but will she fit on the tracks this is a 1995 Honda acti 4x4 owner asking for 7500 I'm trying to spend like 6500 this was the only one could find with the lift and off-road tires which would be a necessity for my Idaho trip but since I didn't show up with the trailer the first

thing the owner said when he saw me was so you're not going to buy it are you uh potentially I took the day off of work so right now I'm kind of bummed weird start but nothing to worry about first measurement was great for the second measurement I brought out the handy dandy 2x4 ruler and it confirmed that the truck would fit but both rails would be resting on the outside of each tire which wasn't ideal but felt fine to me I wanted to look like I was in inspecting something so I went underneath the

truck did a little shaky shake a little bada bing a bada boom this is a great time to mention I don't know what I'm doing I'm also not good at building stuff if you are I apologize in advance to make this sale even more interesting the owner refused to let me test drive the truck I don't think he believed I could drive stick so he drove me around as I sat in the passenger side which is on the left side since this was made in Japan it's definitely handling better than I would have thought like

he started explaining some bad experiences had with people from Facebook Marketplace which made how he was acting make a lot more sense so as he drove me around I tried to explain how serious I was about buying it while cracking a few jokes nothing seemed to work measured again after the drive and was convinced that this was my truck so I thought I'd ask one more time is there a way I could prove to you that I could drive manual no I'm not I'm I'm trying to remain calm right now so all right let's do

it c2250 are you serious yeah what what are you serious yes I'm serious if you are I'm sorry for being a don't ever shake before test driving the car you're buying but I was desperate and that was my last move the truck thankfully drove perfectly and once I got back with the trailer the owner apologized many times by the end we actually hit it off and laughed about the entire interaction he was also very kind and gave me a great deal since I bought the truck on this day The Hope was that I would be

able to build through September and do the Idaho trip sometime in October when the weather was still warm but it had to happen before this we weekend because this is a very important weekend to me in the meantime your boy is a mini truck owner so the hope is to turn my mini truck into a highrail truck if you've never heard of that before highrail trucks have retractable rail wheels that allow them to ride on the railroad as well as the actual Road I just got off the phone with a company that sells the retractable

rail wheel assemblies um it's going to be about 28,000 for for all for just a week so I immediately started looking for a cheaper way when I find Tom Proctor he's some random guy who uploaded a video to YouTube of him and his buddy riding a very homemade highrail truck down the railroad it's it's so cool it's also the only proof of concept that I could find on the internet so I've decided that this video will be my compass my blueprint my road map into turning my mini truck into a highrail truck I found a

bunch of stuff online that looked like the stuff Tom used on his truck starting with these my friends are conical Wheels aka the bane of my existence if you're new here let me catch you up to speed over the past year I have built and rebuilt a railroad go-kart in hopes of crossing a Trestle bridge that is hidden in the middle of the desert my first attempt was cut short because I chose the wrong Wheels you guys were quick to suggest that I use conical wheels for my next attempt I did not listen and bought

these fatties instead because a fellow rail rider used them the wheels held up long enough to get us to the bridge but the sharp turns eventually broke them once we arrived we realized that the bridge was only accessible on foot which sucks hence the better bridge in Idaho the new mini rail truck and now conical Wheels but how do you get wheels like that on the truck after watching Tom Proctor's video over and over again here's what I'm thinking how great is this it's like almost an exact replica all right first support beams underneath the

front of the truck second a conical wheel axle that somehow hinges to those supports and third a boat winch in the middle of the axle that's the thing he was cranking that hooks underneath the truck raising the front tires off the track letting the conical wheel steer while the back tires drive I love stuff like this but I've never built anything remotely like this in my life so if I can figure it out I'll I'll be impressed with myself but in order to do any of this I would need a conical wheel axle identical to

Tom Proctor's this was way harder to find than I ever would have thought but after countless phone calls and 3 weeks of waiting those are some conical Wheels right there this was the beginning of what I didn't realize at the time would be a very long emotional journey of building and testing but your boy was in the zone making record time with no way wasted effort whatsoever I've been laying under here for a while cuz there's this thing here I feel like I need to cut it off but I don't know if you're really supposed

to just take so yeah rip that thing off then put in this flat hanging piece to hold the support yes remember the supports well these are some big boy supports I don't know why I keep calling them supports so these will go right off the front which will be the connection point for the conical Wheels and they'll also be what lifts the front of the truck up which means these supports need to handle weight I can't believe they can handle any weight so please hold while I celebrate [Music] he I just didn't know I could

build stuff like this it's welding time I'm not the best welder but I'm a welder you know the Hope was to weld these plates onto the axle and then weld two arms to those plates but I going to put pants on I kept burning myself pants now that grilled thighs were officially off the menu it was time to move on to the next course figuring out how to mount a boat wch to a train axle this was actually an axle for railroad scaffolding that's why there's all these pipes all over the axle to basically build

out a huge scaffolding structure that you could Roll On The Railroad I'm going to use the middle pipes to mount the winch winch complete but how would I get the winch to lift the whole truck up not sure what I did know was our boy Tom Proctor made some DIY hinges so the wheels could go up and down so I did a little drilling hoping my mini truck could do the same thing sometimes I think if drilling were an Olympic sport that I would definitely metal for my form however when it came to welding the

legs onto the axle I was not so confident it's just one of those things I can't really mess up it's it's just got to be perfectly straight perfectly aligned and and flat and you know all the stuff uh knowing that all these welds are pretty permanent I don't know where I found the confidence to start but I sure started and didn't really stop until I think it's done it makes me nervous because for this to work the wheels have to be able to lift up and they're not because of all this confident welding it was

pretty devastating knowing that the smartest move was to take it all apart and start over this is my car jack but you know what they say the smartest move isn't always the only move that is the stupidest thing I've ever said I'm so sorry sometimes I do these voiceovers and like I'm surprised at what comes out of my mouth okay so I use the car jack to bend the legs just enough so I can lift the wheels up and to my dis belief it worked would that haunt me later wasn't worried about it because this

was the last thing I had to install before test drive number one last time I did this a lot of stuff on the railroad so this time this sucker will be able to pull things out of the way I wired this the right way I don't I don't really know if [Laughter] it's wait the time had finally come for test number one because I live 1,000 Mi away from the truck's Final Destination which is Idaho there were four things I felt like I needed to prove before heading there and this first test would be solely

testing the boat winch and confirming that it could actually lift up the entire truck without my bad welds breaking I brought my buddy Taylor whose wedding was a few months away to test the truck on this railroad near my house that I found on abandon rails.com super helpful website I was so nervous making this drive that I got out a few times just to check on everything yeah it looks pretty good dud it's it's not falling apart so 34 minutes till we get to the abandoned uh train I can't speak railroad um and then Vick

vixon back hey what's up so it's it's I can't speak cuz I'm so nervous okay I'll check in soon hey guys editing Preston here if you've enjoyed the video so far it would mean so much if you'd consider subscribing I'm trying to get to a million subscribers eventually so that would mean a lot okay thank you bye once we got there I was able to pull onto the track directly from the road yeah you're on it's on baby yeah to the other side this was the first time the truck was ever on a train track

and the fact that it fit was just so exciting oh my God fits but will my Frankenstein welded winch apparatus actually lift the truck the idea here we're going to take this hook it somewhere underneath I don't know where yet we're going to make a game decision as a group what do you think this is might be important I hope it's not too important it's golden The Hope here is that with each crank of the winch that the front tires are slowly lifted off the track just like Tom Proctor and that the welds I did

are strong enough to hold the weight of the entire truck this is all in theory I haven't done this before so dude it is liftoff bro prepare for Lift Off let's go it's so sick that dud it's work oh my gosh what about the back wheels do they need it own thing or I don't know I'm not sure yet any last words uh I hope it works it doesn't break I'm nervous I'm going to throw up I'm might throw for you all right here we go first gear so I drove it a few feet and

then I quickly realized that it's working oh my gosh okay it worked okay you did it Idaho Idaho you go hidden deep in the hills of Idaho is the commas Prairie railroad also known as the railroad on stilts it earned this nickname due to its comically large number of wooden trussle bridges as we know I love Bridges and this track is home to a forgotten one known as the half moon Trestle Bridge she's an absolute giant standing at 141 ft tall 68 4 ft wide built in 1908 but abandoned in the late '90s I live

here and the bridge is in Idaho which is all the way up here that is 1,000 mil away and I am so obsessed at this point that I'm going to haul this tiny truck all the way there how do you feel man I don't know I like don't believe it like I feel like something's going to like pop up later and like oh gotcha hopefully not because the next day I rented a trailer ready to leave for Idaho as soon as possible but before I could leave I needed to very quickly pass the rest of

my test so when we get to the big boy abandoned track she's ready we'll see test number two would be a quick one testing the truck's ability to get onto the rails from the side taking turns as well as testing speed I hauled the truck to a parking lot next to a different abandoned track that had sharper turns and was a little longer and I've got to say things started off perfectly no no no stop stop stop driving manual on the other side of the car was not my favorite thing and on top of that

every time I turned I kept hearing this wonderful sound but the real test today is figuring out how to get onto the rails from the side yeah I don't [Music] know uhhuh the rails are just a little taller than I expected them to be and I'm worried that these two are going [Music] to so I get one tire over and immediately realized that there is no way this thing is going to clear but you know me I've got power tools and then trying to actually get the truck onto the rails yeah way harder than I

thought it would be first two on for context that took a solid 20 and trying to get the back two on felt even more embarrassing and I just remember thinking at least there's no one here to see this this really feels like the wor worst case scenario off the prison here I go to my surprise he said you could just live for what happened next I couldn't believe just kidding this is now the worst case scenario I about to die without a SP he's going to get it I know it he's going to give me

ticket I know it I'm good thank you sir thanks bro just kidding this is not the best scario you get the picture I'm tional yes I call them bro I don't know why guess that was a so lot okay someone saw me struggling and they called the cops I wasn't ready for any of that I I I the good news was the cop told me there's nothing wrong with riding abandoned rails which felt cool but the bad news is that it took 2 weeks for this new spare wheel to get to my house which means

we are very very behind schedule I took the truck to the shop to get them to plug the tire but because the tire ripped in the outside they told me buy a new tire yeah so they put on the spare and I went home and ordered another tire online while also checking in with our boy Tom Proctor I need to figure out how he gets onto the rails by this point I had only gotten onto the rails by driving straight onto them but if we're doing this huge journey I just know there's going to be

moments where we need to get off the rails and then get back on the rails specifically from the side like Tom proor okay so first it looks like he's got some speed he's at an angle front tire is on back right is on on oh and then yeah he turns right wow it's so impressive Tom Proctor who are you who is this madman I have to meet this guy I've watched this video 75 times and the hope is that it makes somewhat of a difference for test number three all right we're back with a new

tire and the a less confidence I will be attempting to get on the rails get off the rails and take a big turn coming up there so this is a very abandoned railroad it stinks but using everything I learned from Tom Proctor things are hopefully going to start smelling a lot more like success pretty good now I just need a hard right get this wheel up on that guy if you're wondering why it looks so much easier when Tom did it in this moment so am I over and over I tried to do exactly what

he did but I couldn't help but think that maybe my tiny tires and an engine 5.8 times smaller than his might explain why even doing this in four-wheel drive wasn't cutting in come on I feel like I almost had it that time I can tell you now that I definitely didn't but attempted this longer than I should have okay what [Applause] If eventually and I'll be honest with you I did lose my mind let's make the mini truck go in the railroad let's put the mini trck in the no one's ever done this before I'll

do it I'll be the first person ever the guy with no experience building anything yeah hey me again spoiler this series pushes me a little further than I thought possible and there were actually quite a few times where I considered just thrown in the towel but remembered how many times this past year you guys have commented keep going which is why I'm excited to officially launch the keep going hoodie I think it's the perfect hoodie that will hopefully serve as a reminder for me and maybe some of you guys too that you've got what it

takes to push through whatever you're facing they're only available while the series is live so get one while you can I want you guys to have like a jersey for the YouTube channel and that's what I think this is um please tap me on Instagram I'd love to see you wearing them in the meantime ramps that's how I'm going to get on the on the tracks I don't know why I didn't think of that before that's four ramps baby cut to tomorrow are we still here we shouldn't be here we should be cut we I

hope we have cut the Honda acti isn't supposed to have wheels this big which makes it look really cool but they also make turning nearly impossible all that being said I think I need to [Music] like it is officially time to master the side mount all right today we got ramps I also cut into the all the doors so hopefully turning is a little easier and hopefully today's a better day than than yesterday the idea is up so we start here and then over so I started off slowly driving up the ramps and pretty quickly

it seemed like this may actually work after getting all four wheels on the rails in under 30 seconds I celebrated like a dad who just took the lead in cornhole oh yeah come on baby that's four let's go four don't move don't move don't move 1 2 3 4 let's see if she can ride the tracks I don't know turn oh a dang it dang it and then the ramp process began again but once I got all four wheels up for a second time again cornhole dad four baby I'm going to back you up a

little bit just in case I fulfill every dream I've had about this project in this very moment for that to happen I need to hit this straight away and the big turn up ahead without fall off really really really really oh oh no way and now this turn up ahead is the only thing standing between me and Idaho as long as all four wheels stay on the track this truck will be ready for Idaho all right back wheel fell off so yeah I obviously need the truck to be able to take turns if I want

to do this 2-day journey which is why this moment was truly a breaking point for me you're really annoying huh you know that the back wheels fell off the front wheel stayed on because conle boys so I guess we need some more conle boys in the back I think that's thought you know the worst part about this whole bit I'm doing I don't even know if that's the truth I don't even know if that's the right move I don't know I'm pissed so at this point I have spent over $7,000 my most expensive project to

date and I sat there racking my brain trying to think of a way to get the truck to turn without spending more money you know you sound stressed I'm very stressed it like hurts my stomach thinking about all of the money I'm going to have to spend like I don't even know if if the idea I have for the additional conical Wheels on the back like works like this is real Stakes you're not making it up and like you have to make the decision right now you send it now well still good weather or rebuild

spend more money add more conical wheels and just hope that the weather holds how much more is this 1,700 bucks o we're like in episode one right now oh are we this is this is only episode one do you think so what's up episode one what's up you guys how you guys doing I'm hating this episode how are you are you enjoying it I think you know what you need to do it just sucks I know okay I bought it nice I'd have 12 days until the new Wheels arrive and since our boy Tommy P

only had wheels in the front hopefully that would be enough time for me to figure this out on my own the idea was to build some sort of bumper thing that could support the wheels rotate and also sit on top of the bed of the truck now the plan I guess is to weld this little bumper onto the back of this girl and and then figure out how to get conical Wheels onto it somehow so [Music] ow I finished the bumper surprisingly fast which made those 12 days move pretty slowly I did have time to

get my tire fixed fixed but every day that passed the weather in Idaho was getting colder and colder which I tried not to think about too much the wheels finally arriving was a perfect distraction I mean everybody was psyched about these wheels I put on another winch I found some pipes that fit into the axle perfectly I bolted those through the bumper cut the pipes then tried to lift it for the first [Music] time yes we're back at the worst place on Earth my expectations are Rock Bottom there's only one way to find out if

I just wasted two weeks of my life so now that getting on the rails from the side was officially conquered turning and speed were still the final things I needed to cross off the list before I could leave for Idaho and the Hope was obviously that these new Wheels were the answer I will say the setup went really well which made me even more confident stepping into that truck and taking on the curve that embarrassed Me 2 weeks before my tongue does this for some reason when I'm really focused and I guess it was helping

because I was feeling confident but once it was time to actually take the turn my confidence quickly shifted into me making really desperate sounds oh oh please please please oh oh come on it's okay oh I oh my gosh did I do the turn I think I did I kind of did the turn I'm going to throw up but I wasn't out of the woods quite yet because this track had one more Big Bend right at the end and because I was so paranoid about falling off oh I hate it oh I hate it I

slowly crept forward and some now oh my gosh I think it's working hope is a powerful feeling especially when you haven't really felt it in weeks I wasn't going very fast but I also wasn't falling off spending the extra money was hard but it was so relieving knowing that all four wheels would now stay in the track no matter what or so I thought I also got stuck and yeah after countless weeks of trying trying and failing I can say that this moment was me at my absolute lowest people like to tell me in these

moments like this stuff's good for the plot like conflicts good it sure doesn't feel good right now I don't think I want a good Plot In This Moment I just want it to work so so I don't I'm losing my mind I'm losing my mind losing it okay [Music] great I sat there in the truck for a while so disappointed in myself because this was the night everything was supposed to be finished my next seven days were booked with normal life stuff which meant I was not going to be able to work on it anymore

and I honestly just felt silly for caring so much so then to voluntarily step away from this problem that I was so obsessed with that I still hadn't solved yeah it was painful but I can tell you now that giving the dream a little room to breathe no matter how silly that dream is I think it's always a good thing [Music] so I went to my buddy's wedding CB my eyes out I helped plan a trip for a group of my college friends that I don't get to see nearly enough they're all wearing blindfolds because

we told them to fly to Canada without telling them what we were doing there none of us had ever bungee jump before and I personally wasn't thinking about my mini truck at all and of course like clockwork the solution just kind of came to me when we were all hanging out and I find myself needing to be reminded of this every so often that the answers rarely come when I'm expecting them it's when I Let Go almost get hit in the face that's when they usually come and this answer came in the form of a

2-in wheel Widener oh wider Wheels who would have thought that's nice huh look at that thing before after all right we're back for attempt number 945 all right so the wideners definitely did some [Applause] [Applause] love all right you know the rules you probably don't I've never said any rules don't fall off the track that's basically it here goes that we're moving dude should I get the Drone in the air drone is in the air is that presumptuous of course it is I mean we're we're going guys I'm going to speed it up a little

it's working it's working it's working it like really worked oh what the I don't I don't think I wow we're going [Applause] backward oh yes oh my gosh ladies and gentlemen oh we have liftoff [Applause] guys there are no words to accurately describe what this moment felt like especially knowing that it meant it was officially time to head out to AO with a man truck I on know [Music] I don't know haven't even seen one potato