Handcar (also known as trolley pump , car pump , jigger , Kalamazoo , velocipede , or draisine ) are railroad cars powered by passengers, or by people pushing cars from behind. Mostly used as road maintenance or mining cars, but also used for passenger services in some cases. The typical design consists of an arm, called a walking beam, which is pivoted, like a seesaw, on a base, where passengers take turns pressing and pulling to move the car.
Video Handcar
Histori
It is unclear who invented the handcar, also written as a hand car or car. It is likely that machine experts in individual railway shops are beginning to build them for their own designs. Many of the earliest are operated by turning a big crank. It is possible that the pump handcar, with the rays running back and forth, comes later. Although there are hundreds of US patents related to the details of the handcars, perhaps the main design mechanism for turning handcars is in common use so they can not be patented when companies start producing handcars for sale to the railroad tracks.
Handcars were essential for rail operations during a time when railroads were the main form of public transportation for people and goods in America, from about 1850 to 1910. There may have been cars in the early 1840s but they were quite common during the American Civil War. They are a very important tool in the construction of Transcontinental Railroad. There are thousands built. They are generally assigned to "parts" of the track, parts between about 6 to 10 miles long, depending on the weight of the locomotive's traffic and speed experienced in that section. Each section will have a part crew that will retain that piece. Each section usually has a home section that is used to store equipment and handcar parts. Approximately 130,000 miles of trajectory was built in America in 1900. So, considering there are handcar assigned to at least every ten miles of the track, there will be a minimum of 13,000 carriages operating in the United States. This figure is obviously too low because many parts are shorter than 10 miles and the railroad also has a backup handcar for use in unusual circumstances. Western Union Telegraph Company and other rail users have their own handcars, increasing the overall handcar population.
The first cart, built in railroad shops, may be made of what parts the shops have or could easily make. These cars may be quite heavy. Weight is the enemy with handcars. The heavy carts need more people to push it. More people will add strength, but at some point profit is offset by people's burdens: their own weight will not be compensated by the extra power they can generate. Many companies made wagons in the years following the American Civil War as evidenced by the number of advertisements in contemporary publications such as The Car Builder's Dictionary. In the mid-1880s Velocipede Sheffield Car Company, Velosipede Kalamazoo Company and Buda Foundry and Manufacturing Company were the three major companies that were the main builders of handcuffed cars. Sheffield was almost immediately acquired by the industry giant Fairbanks Morse. The three companies changed their name over the years but for most of the year they produced handcars, they were still identified as Sheffield, Kalamazoo and Buda. The hand car continued to be available until the first half of the 20th century. Fairbanks Morse still offers handbags from their catalogs until 1950 and Kalamazoo sold them until at least 1955.
While depictions on TV and movies may indicate that being a member of a handcar crew is a joyride, even pumping traditional handcars with bronze pads rather than modern roller bearing can be a very difficult task. The unpleasant nature of this experience must have been enhanced by the dead weight of typical crew supplies such as railway nails, track nuts and bolts, shovels, various hammers and other iron and steel equipment.
Motorcycle parts of the car began to appear in the early 1900s, or several years earlier. They quickly replaced most of the handcars. Handcars that were not removed during World War I, may have been removed during World War II. It is not clear how many handcars that survive. They can be found in the railway museum and some in private hands.
Maps Handcar
The modern usage
Handcars are typically used by train service personnel (the latter also known as Gandy dancers) for rail inspection and maintenance. Due to its low weight and small size, they can wear and remove rails in any place, allowing trains to pass. The cart has been replaced by a self-propelled vehicle that does not require manual power use, rather than relying on an internal combustion engine or electric to drive the vehicle.
Handcars are currently used by fans of handcars on antique railroad events and for races between hand car driven by five teams (one to push the car to a halt, four to pump the lever). One such race, Handcar Regatta, was held in Santa Rosa, California from 2008 to 2011 and another race was held in Australia. See the section on racing below. In addition to the carriages built for racing, the new carriages are being built with modern roller bearings and milling axles and crankshafts.
International
Australia
In Australia, hand cars or pump carts are usually referred to as Kalamazoos after the Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company, which provides many examples to the Australian rail market. Many Kalamazoo are kept in Australia, some even used for races.
Guatemala
There is a push-car service along the railroad between AnguiatÃÆ'º in Guatemala and the countryside towns across the Salvador border. Sometimes drawn by horses.
Japanese
In Japan, dozens of commercially operated carriage trains, called human car trams ( ???? , jinsha boy ) or human car train ( ???? , jinsha tetsud? ) existed at the beginning of the 20th century. The lines were purely built for passenger/cargo services, and the "drivers" pushed a small train along the way. The first line, the Fujieda-Yaizu Tramway, was opened in 1891, and most others were opened before 1910. Most lines are very short with a length of less than 10 km, and the rail gauges used are 2Ã, ftÃ,6Ã, in ( 762 mm ) or 2Ã, ft ( 610Ã, mm ). Because the human-powered system is quite inefficient, many handcar trams immediately convert their power sources into horses or gasoline. This system is not strong against competition with other modes of transportation, such as trucks, horses, buses, or other trains. Taishaku Handcar Tramway stopped operating as early as 1912, and almost all lines were closed before 1945.
List of tram handcar in Japan
- Hokkaid?
- Tram Ebetsu Town Handcar ????????
- Akita
- Nakanishi Tokugor? The Tramway is Operated ?????????
- Yamagata
- Akayu Handcar Tramway ??????
- Iwate
- Waga Light Tramway ??????
- Miyagi
- Matsuyama Handcar Tramway ??????
- Tochigi
- Iwafune Handcar Tramway ??????
- Kitsuregawa Handcar Tramway ???????
- Nabeyama Handcar Tramway ??????
- Nasu Handcar Tramway ??????
- Otome Handcar Tramway ??????
- Utsunomiya Stone Tramway ???????
- Ibaraki
- Haguro Tramway ????
- Inada Tramway ????
- Iwama Tramway ????
- Kabaho K? gy? Tramway ??????
- Kasama Handcar Tramway ??????
- Chiba
- Mobara-Ch? nan Handcar Tramway ??????????
- Stain Handcar Tramway ?????? (linemap)
- ? hara-? taki Handcar Tramway ???????????
- T? katsu Handcar Tramway ??????
- Tokyo
- Taishaku Handcar Tramway ??????
- The current Keisei Kanamachi line.
- Taishaku Handcar Tramway ??????
- Gunma
- Satomi Tramway ????
- Yabuzuka Stone Tramway ??????
- Part of the T current? bu Kiry? Line.
- Kanagawa
- Zus? Handcar Tramway ??????
- Also in Shizuoka.
- Zus? Handcar Tramway ??????
- Shizuoka
- Fujieda-Yaizu Tramway ???????
- Nakaizumi Tramway ????
- Shimada Tramway ????
- Fukui
- Hong? Tramway ????
- Okinawa
- Okinawa Handcar Tramway ??????
Taiwan
In Taiwan, commercially operated carts are referred to as either light rail lines (Traditional Chinese: Hanyu Pinyin: q? NgbiÃÆ'n-xiÃÆ'n), light rail lines that are pushed hands (?????; sh? uy? q? ngbiÃÆ'n-xiÃÆ'n), hand-pushed tramway (????; sh? uy? gu? dÃÆ' o), or most often, hand-driven carts (????; sh? uy? tÃÆ'¡ich?). The first line was built in the 1870s. The network was developed later under Japanese rule. In 1933, the peak, there were more than 50 trails on the island with 1,292 km of networks, transporting local passengers, coal, mill products, sugar, salt, bananas, tea leaves, and others. Most lanes, excluding those in mines and remote islands, have been lost after Japan left. However, some lines survived well until the 1970s. Right now, just the sightseeing line in W? LÃÆ'¡i is still there, although the line is not human-powered anymore.
In popular culture
Handcars is a repetitive plot of the twentieth-century film, comedy and drama.
- The opening scene Blazing Saddles , installed on the railroad construction site, features a handset.
- In the movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome , the peak scene of chase happens along the railroad track, with one of the pursuers pursuing heroes down to the track with a handcar.
- In the episode of The Royal Train The Royal Train , the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard platoon finds themselves trapped on an escape train. Warden Hodges, vikaris, verger and city mayor pursued them using a handcar.
- In the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? , the three main characters met with a blind old man in the handcar after escaping from prison and at the end of the movie.
- In the movie The Great St Trinian's Train Robbery two St Trinian schoolchildren used one to move between the remote lever.
- In the episode of Coyote and Road Runner "Rushing Roulette" (1965) Wile E. Coyote tried to catch Road Runner using a handcar.
- In 1998, Sega produced a handcart-based handcraft Magical Truck Adventure controlled by the player by pumping a big grip.
- Buster Keaton uses a handcar during a scene in the movie The General; he also uses the powered draser at The Railrodder
- In the the Simpsons "500 Keys" episode, Marge pursues a toy handset called "Pooter Toot Express". The two figures pump cars through gas every time they pump.
- In "Reds (film)" (1981) John Reed, played by Warren Beatty, attempted to leave Russia via velocipede but was detained by Finnish troops on the border.
Racing
The Canadian Championship Handcar Races is held annually at the Palmerston Railway Heritage Museum (formerly the old CNR Palmerston station) in Palmerston, Ontario, Canada every June. The race started in 1992 and has been running ever since.
An annual handcar race, Dr. E. P. Kitty's Wunderkammer, featuring Great Handcar Races of Great Sonoma County (formerly known as The Hand-car Regatta), is held on a railroad in downtown Santa Rosa, California.
A multi-faceted festival, centered on a variety of human-powered vehicles that operate on the railroad tracks. These include traditional hand powered carts and others supported by pedals or pushing.
A similar race took place in a town near Northern California, Willits, California, on September 8 and 9, 2012. Another race was held in Australia, some using old carts preserved. See the reference above discussing Kalamazoos in Australia.
Additional images
See also
- Draisin
- Human-powered transportation
- Railcar
- Some rowing cycles are inspired by the initial booth
References
External links
- PRR Hand Car diagram
- History and other information from handcar.net
- Folsom Handcar Derby 2014
- Racing at Willits Kinetic Carnivale
- The Video Railriders are produced by Oregon Field Guide
- (in Japanese) ???????? (List of Handcar Tramways all Japan)
- (in Japanese) ???????? (Y? UruÃÆ' Coal Coal Mine Handcar Tramway): About the handcar line in Taiwan.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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