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A 'handcar' (UK: pump trolley) is a maintenance of way or mining railroad car powered by its passengers, or by people pushing the car from behind. A typical design consists of an arm that pivots, seesaw-like, on a base, which the passengers alternately push down and pull up to move the car.
Handcars have been normally used by railroad service personnel for railroad inspection and maintenance. Due to their low weight they can be put on and off the rails at any place. Handcars have since been replaced by self propelled vehicles that do not require the use of manual power, instead relying on diesel or electricity to move the vehicle.
Handcars are nowadays used by handcar enthusiasts to organize races between handcars driven by five person teams (one to push the car from a halt, four to pump the lever).

Contents

Bamboo cart

Japan

List of human car tramways existed in Japan

Taiwan

In popular culture

See also

External links

Bamboo cart

In Cambodia and other developing countries, local citizens sometimes make their own unofficial carts to transport goods along the railway tracks.

Japan

In Japan, dozens of commercially operated handcar railway lines, called or existed in early 20th century. Those were purely built for its service, and "drivers" pushed small train cars all the way. The first line, Fujieda-Yaizu Tramway, opened in 1891, and most of others opened before 1910. Most lines were very short with less than 10 km lengths, and the rail gauges used were either or .
As the human-powered system was fairly inefficient, many human car tramways soon changed their power resources to either horse or gasoline. The system was not strong against a competition with other modes of transport, such as trucks, horses, buses, or other railways. Taishaku Human Car Tramway ceased its operation as early as 1912, and almost all the lines were already closed before 1945.

List of human car tramways existed in Japan

★ Hokkaidō

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★ Ebetsu Town Human Car Tramway 江別町営人車軌道

★ Akita

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★ Nakanishi Tokugorō Operated Tramway 中西徳五郎経営軌道

★ Yamagata

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★ Akayu Human Car Tramway 赤湯人車軌道

★ Iwate

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★ Waga Light Tramway 和賀軽便軌道

★ Miyagi

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★ Matsuyama Human Car Tramway 松山人車軌道

★ Tochigi

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★ Iwafune Human Car Railway

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★ Kitsuregawa Human Car Railway

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★ Nabeyama Human Car Tramway

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★ Nasu Human Car Tramway

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★ Otome Human Car Tramway

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★ Utsunomiya Stone Tramway

★ Ibaraki

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★ Haguro Tramway 羽黒軌道

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★ Inada Tramway 稲田軌道

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★ Iwama Tramway 岩間軌道

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★ Kabaho Kōgyō Tramway 樺穂興業軌道

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★ Kasama Human Car Tramway 笠間人車軌道

★ Chiba

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★ Mobara-Chōnan Human Car Tramway 茂原・長南間人車軌道

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★ Noda Human Car Tramway 野田人車鉄道

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★ Ōhara-Ōtaki Human Car Tramway 大原・大多喜間人車軌道

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★ Tōkatsu Human Car Tramway 東葛人車鉄道

★ Tokyo

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★ Taishaku Human Car Tramway

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★ The current Keisei Kanamachi Line.

★ Gunma

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★ Satomi Tramway 里見軌道

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★ Yabuzuka Stone Tramway

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★ The part of the current Tōbu Kiryū Line.

★ Kanagawa

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★ Zusō Human Car Railway

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★ Also in Shizuoka.

★ Shizuoka

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★ Fujieda-Yaizu Tramway

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★ Nakaizumi Tramway 中泉軌道

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★ Shimada Tramway 島田軌道

★ Fukui

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★ Hongō Tramway 本郷軌道

★ Okinawa

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★ Okinawa Human Car Tramway

Taiwan

In Taiwan, commercially operated handcars were called either 'light railway line' (Traditional Chinese: 輕便線; Hanyu Pinyin: qīngbiàn-xiàn), 'hand-pushed light railway line' (手押輕便線; shŏuyā qīngbiàn-xiàn), 'hand-pushed tramway' (手押軌道; shŏuyā guǐdào), or most commonly, 'hand-pushed wagon' (手押臺車; shŏuyā táichē). The first line was built in 1870s. The network developed later under Japanese rule. In 1933, its peak, there were more than 50 lines in the island with 1,292 km network, transporting local passengers, coals, factory products, sugars, salts, bananas, tea leaves, and others. Most lines, excluding those in mines and isolated islands, have disappeared after Japanese have left. However, a few lines survived well until 1970s. Currently, only the sightseeing line in Wūlái still exists, although its line is not human-powered anymore.

In popular culture

Handcars are a recurring plot device of twentieth century filmic comedy. For example, the opening scene of ''Blazing Saddles'', depicting railroad construction, features a handcar.

See also

★ Some rowbikes are inspired by early handcars

★ Draisine

★ Human-powered transport

External links

★ PRR Hand Car diagrams

★ History and other information

★ A handcar racing website

★ 全国人車鉄道一覧 (List of human car tramways all Japan)

★ 友蚋炭坑人車軌道 (Yŏuruì Coal Mine Human Car Tramway): About the handcar railway line in Taiwan.