After 100 years, Motorcycle Week to be combined with Train Week

LACONIA — You could call Charlie St. Clair many things but you could never accuse him of having a one-track mind.

St. Clair, known to many as executive director of the Laconia Motorcycle Week and known to others as a state representative who has, at times, championed the expansion of rail service, is combining his two passions. He announced on Monday that the 102nd running of the world’s oldest motorcycle rally would also celebrate enthusiasm for trains.

The rally will be rebranded as “Laconia Motorcycle/Train Week,” he said.

“It made sense. The popularity’s there, the interest’s there, and we have the tracks, too, so we can do it,” St. Clair said.

History’s on his side. While motorcyclists have been congregating at Weirs Beach for a century, trains have been pulling into the station at Weirs Beach since 1848. There was a time when the majority of visitors to the region arrived via railways.

Lately, of course, train ridership has taken a back seat to other forms of transportation. However, as St. Clair’s re-branding illustrates, it’s possible to hold two favorite modes of locomotion in one’s heart.

Some will come with those two loves already in their possession. Others will be drawn to the event by their affinity for one, St. Clair expects, and leave with a newfound appreciation for the other.

“It’s going to be a wonderful thing,” he said. “They both depend on mechanized travel.”

There’s precedent to the idea. Amtrak has, in the past, offered travel packages for the Sturgis Rally that allowed ticketholders and their motorcycles to take the train to Minot, North Dakota.

He said he is currently trying to arrange a similar experience, which would deliver motorcyclists and their rides directly to Weirs Beach.

“A lot of people, for whatever reason, trailer their motorcycles to New Hampshire for Laconia Motorcycle Week. This is giving them a very proven alternative.”

Group tours of the Lakes Region will be offered by both rail and road. St. Clair said he is working on an adaptor kit that will allow for train or motorcycle fans to experience the region through the eyes of their counterparts.

If he can get the kits engineered and produced in time, St. Clair will be able to offer Motorcycle/Train Week attendees to put train wheels on motorcycles, so riders can zoom along the train tracks at their own pace, and motorcycle wheels would be fixed to the trains so they can be operated on the region’s scenic roads.

Chief engineer on the project, April O’Fooligan, said there are still some technical hurdles to be overcome.

“Trains are heavier than motorcycles, it turns out, so all of the motorcycle wheels have failed catastrophically during trial runs. Also, trains don’t have any steering mechanism, so engineers can only control their speed, not direction. But it should work out fine as long as they don’t have to turn,” O’Fooligan said, adding, “ChatGPT said it should work fine, so we’re going for it.”