The short form of any introduction to Dr. Dick Smart is a list - in no logical order - of several of his lifetime accomplishments: dentist, family man, railcyclist, train enthusiast, patented inventor, author, outdoorsman and nature lover. He's also the designer and builder of a pedal-powered, rideable version of the Little Engine That Could train that runs on 400 feet of track in his backyard.

Passionate? That's only half of it.

Where did it all begin?

My father was a ranger and I was raised in a series of ranger stations in western Montana.

I had a fabulous time growing up. It was absolutely the best childhood and, you know, I'm still directly related to that childhood. I feel like I'm the same person now as I was when I was five years old.

My most memorable ranger station was Ninemile station, where the mules were kept. In the spring, they'd drive as many as 1,500 mules from the winter range down into the Ninemile Valley and up to the remount. The mules were used for packing in to the lookout towers.

Did you go all the way through school in rural Montana?

No, we moved to Coeur d'Alene when I was in junior high. It was hard at first, but then it got better. I'd never lived in a city before and I was really short then - like 4-foot-11 - and I was a teenager going through teenager problems.

After Coeur d'Alene, we moved to Alexandria, Va., when I was in high school. To be whisked away to this strange part of the country was very difficult because I couldn't relate to it. And then all of a sudden I'd turned into this big guy - I grew nine inches in one year - and it happened so fast I didn't know how to act anymore.

You know, you lose your confidence in a foreign environment. I tried to find the forest in Virginia, but it just wasn't the same.

Outdoor guy, train lover, cyclist - what on earth made you choose dentistry?

I don't think I've ever known a person who made up their mind as quick as I did about how they were going to earn their living. I was a junior in high school in Virginia when one day I went to the library where they had all these brochures on vocations. In the brochure I picked up it said that if you liked science, liked working with your hands, liked people and liked making a better than average income, you should become a dentist. Well, that was me.

My true love for 30 years was dentistry because of the people. I considered my patients to first and foremost be my friends.

One of the other things I loved about dentistry was I knew they always needed dentists in rural communities and that I could go any place in the U.S. I wanted to go. I could even go back to so many of the places I'd lived as a kid.

Did you? Go home again?

After graduation, I went into the Navy as a dental officer - lieutenant. When I got out, I wanted to pick a town for my practice. I was thinking of Montana towns - Troy, especially - but I took one look at Ann and the tears were rolling down her cheeks.

So we ended up back in Coeur d'Alene and it's been my first and last stop.

So here's what I've been wanting to ask since I first heard about you. Why railcycling?

I've always loved bicycles, always loved the railroad and always loved nature. So I kind of combined all three and it was like that was what I was meant to do. I'm an adventurer.

One day many years ago my family and I were in Spokane watching a parade and it was raining, so we ducked inside a bookstore and everyone wandered over to the area they liked best. I went to the railroad section and inside a book called "This Was Railroading" was an old picture of a bicycle riding the rails. It was an unusual contraption that was kept in the baggage car and the brakeman would ride it if he needed to go get help. And that was the real beginning for me.

When did you build your first Railcycle?

In 1976 and it went through quite an evolution. It took me over 30 years to get it perfected.

Just a few years ago, I came up with the final version - the little engine finally made it up over the hill.

The first bike didn't work very well. It came off the rails every hundred yards or so. Most people would have quit by then and I have to admit it was very frustrating for me. But I'm someone who has incredible persistence.

When you started the project, did you have the skills to complete it?

Seriously, I didn't even know how to weld. I learned it from this old guy in a hardware store in Hayden Lake. I had a lot to learn about nuts and bolts and about just about everything else.

The first ones we built were the Silver Stallions. We got the patent for the bike in 1980, but we didn't sell them until 1982.

Ann told me you've never been much of a salesman.

I was happiest when I was riding, not selling. So she suggested I stop trying to market the bike and I did.

I did eventually sell eight bikes, though, to the London Underground in 1997. It was the Bakerloo line and they thought it would be good down in the tunnels because it didn't have a motor on it and there was no exhaust. Also you could pedal it on the street, too. They wanted it for things like track inspection and picking up litter.

I thought that because the London Underground was the largest subway system in the world, I would end up selling Railcycles all over the world. That didn't happen, of course, but visions of grandeur are part of the spice of life.

They never ordered any more than the original eight, though.

Ann also said that the moment you got involved in railcycling, she ran out and bought accident insurance on you.

It's true. She was always expecting a call from the hospital about me.

What do the railroads think of your invention?

Not much. The railroads are really paranoid about anyone on their tracks. They don't want to have an industry start up on their rails. As in, "Don't do this, we don't want any other people on the railroad." Railbiking isn't legal anywhere in this country.

For the most part I've always ridden on abandoned tracks. That or on a Sunday when I knew it was a day off for small railroads.

In the 1970s, the railroads started abandoning thousands of miles of rails. Now there aren't that many abandoned tracks left because they've pulled most of them up.

What about Patagonia?

Yes, Patagonia. I went down there on a scouting trip in 2005. They had the longest narrow gauge in the world that was left - 250 miles - in the foothills of the Andes. On that trip, I got to see the rails and learn what adjustments I'd have to make on my bike for it to work for us.

We came back in 2008 and 2009 and finally completed the trip. It took us about 11 days. We camped out in abandoned railroad stations and brought all our own food.

What was the best part of the trip?

I remember this one day when we were peddling over this small range of mountains - coming down the other side and going fairly fast - when all of a sudden there were all these little chicks ahead of us running toward the railroad. They were rhea, which is a member of the ostrich family. And these little fellows came out on the tracks, running in front of me and tumbling and rolling like little balls. So I braked so I wouldn't go over the top of them - they're so cool looking. They finally got off the tracks when their dad came over. We found out later that in their world, the male does everything and all the female does is lay the eggs.

And then there was just the plain fun of being free - going someplace that maybe no one has ever gone, except maybe a railroad crew. Since the bikes are silent running, you can come up on wildlife and they look at you like "Where in the heck did you come from?"

What pleases you most about your life?

I'm very pleased with what I've done. I think I've lived a wonderful life.

I was always kind of known as the poster boy for good health until I was diagnosed with a brain tumor a while back. I remember a time before that when I was leaving my doctor's office and one of the ladies who worked there said to me, "Dr. Smart, you're going to live to be 100 years old."

You know, my closest friends have been nature lovers and you don't have to have a purpose to go into the woods and that's the way I've lived my life.

That's why it's really hard right now. I love spending time with Ann and we're living every day to the fullest we possibly can - we just try to attack everything that way.

The first bike I had as a kid had 16-inch tires. And the last bike I ever built had 16-inch tires as well. So maybe I've just come full circle.

Smart (and 15 of his good friends) have recently completed an illustrated book about their international railbiking adventures called, "Biking on Rusty Ribbons of Steel." For order information: cathbak4@gmail.com