I am looking for information on the two man repair cars I saw in my youth and in movies. The small rail riding car featured two men standing on top of a small flat bed car with a long handle that they pumped to propell the car forward. I wonder if anyone know the names of these cars or where to find pictures. The best I am hoping for is some kind of diagram to see the mechanism by which these cars were propelled. Thanks
They are called “handcars” and were used by the railroad crews to inspect track. Here’s a photo found off Google. Try this link too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handcar
propulsion was a lot like to your old peddle car but up and down instead of back and forth. Stay Happy. RMR
Handcar is right , take a look at the movie “Blazing Saddles” there are a couple of scenes with one there.
Hand Car enthusiast page http://www.handcar.net/
Image below is from this page which is about building an off-rail hand car (Replace *** with the 4-letter word for excrement)
shit-word.blogspot.com/2007_01_01_archive.html
I wonder how fast two strong guys could get one of them going?
Well when they race them 4 person teams can get them up around 30-35mph
Kiddicar
Welcome to the forum.
The B&O museum in Baltimore has one. (sometimes called a Gandy). Once a day they do a presentation on it. After the presentation, you might get a chance to take it for a short spin down the track. I did it a couple of years ago. It was fun for a short distance.
Rich
Palmerston handcar races