Two Guys On A Truck?

Jun 04, 2006 18 Replies

Anyone know the proper name for those rail trucks with two guys who pump handles up and down to make it go?



Sorry I don't have a better description :)



Pete


When I was growing up, they were called Gandydancers.

-- Ray

The guys doing the pumping are the Gandy Dancers, the truck is called a handcar, see the old railroad folk song: 'Jerry go and 'Ile the Car'.

Call an MoW guy a "Gandydancer" and be prepared to duck. :-)

Hand cars that were pumped were called, get this, "pump cars". :-)

-- Cheers

Roger T.

Home of the Great Eastern Railway

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video guy -

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spake thus:

You're both wrong (about "gandy dancers"); those were the poor slobs who had to shovel ballast, tamp ties, etc. The cars were just called "handcars".

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The accuracy of Bachmann's use of the term for track workers (supposedly from jumping up and down on the end of a shovel handle - supposedly manufactured by the Gandy Co. - wedged under a tie, to work ballast) for a handcar should be judged by the appearance of the "model", which would only satisfy someone who'd never seen a handcar.

Pump\ Hand\ Push\ Car and Gandy Dancers....

Cheers folks,

Now why didn't I think of 'xxxx' - 'car'!

Mostly found what I was looking for now.

Pete

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It's a lot better than the "American Flyer" which looks more like a futuristic hovering piece of cheese :o)

There is another called 'Hobo handcar' but that looks like a cheap soft plastic toy you get in cereal packets.

Bachmann's isn't so bad considering it's motorised.

The nicest models I have seen so far are unmotorised.

Wonder if there are any oo\ho scratch built ones out there.....

Pete

Steve Caple spake thus:

Don't let your hatred of Bachmann cloud your judgement.

They were called "gandy dancers" because of the shovel manufacturer. Forget Bachmann; I take as my authority no less than the Great Golden Voice of the Southwest, that indomininatible Wobbly, Utah Phillips.

"The accuracy of Bachmann's use of the term for track workers (supposedly from jumping up and down on the end of a shovel handle - supposedly manufactured by the Gandy Co. - wedged under a tie, to work ballast) for a handcar should be judged by the appearance of the "model", which would only satisfy someone who'd never seen a handcar."

What do you expect from the idiots who labeled their H-16-44 as a Baby Trainmaster despite the fact that only the H-16-66 was so nicknamed and extensively documented as such.

Eric

"The accuracy of Bachmann's use of the term for track workers (supposedly from jumping up and down on the end of a shovel handle - supposedly manufactured by the Gandy Co. - wedged under a tie, to work ballast) for a handcar should be judged by the appearance of the "model", which would only satisfy someone who'd never seen a handcar."

What do you expect from the idiots who labeled their H-16-44 as a Baby Trainmaster despite the fact that only the H-16-66 was so nicknamed and extensively documented as such.

Eric

The Shelburne Falls Trolley Museum

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has one. You can pump and ride it all day for the price of a ticket. If you get tired, you can ride the trolley.

We call it the pump car.

| 1 oz Yukon Jack® Canadian whisky | 1 oz amaretto almond liqueur | 1 oz banana liqueur | 1 oz pineapple juice | Shake ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled collins glass.

It's a good thing the pushcar is on rails and can only go in a straight line though after a few of your concoctions I'd probably just fall off..

Sounds yummy - except for the yucky pineapple that is :o))

That's so fruity it should be called a lumberjack, OK?

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