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The Lartigue system was inspired by camels shifting balanced paniers across the sands of Algeria. The Listowel-Ballybunion line, opened in 1888, was the longest built to this design, and its drawbacks were obvious as soon as a portly passenger shifted in his seat. If you wanted to send a cow to market, you had to balance it with two calves, who could balance each other on the ride back; and level crossings were a mechanical mess. The line was scrapped in 1924 but there's nowadays a museum, and you ride a short reconstructed section, hauled by a diesel got up to look like the original steam-loco-on-a-bicycle.