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 Post subject: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 10:49 am 

Joined: Mon Sep 05, 2016 4:52 pm
Posts: 1
I'm interested to figure out how many functioning Handcars (aka Velocipedes) are out there, in museums, private collections, back yards, etc.

Thanks for any input!

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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 11:12 am 

Joined: Sun Aug 29, 2004 9:21 pm
Posts: 105
The WW&F Railway Museum in Alna, Maine, has two 2-footers. While both are operational, typically only one is in use at a time. Children (of all ages) enjoy operating them subject to the rules (copied from the Nevada State Railroad Museum, Carson City). The rules require that a certified brakeman be aboard, all operators face in the direction of travel, no handbag straps or other loose items, hand on the bars at all times, etc.


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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 1:40 pm 

Joined: Sun Sep 14, 2014 5:05 pm
Posts: 1227
Northwest Ry Museum Snoqualmie, WA 2
Mount Rainier Scenic RR Elbe, WA 2
town of Wilkeson, WA 1
http://www.theolympian.com/news/local/a ... 62194.html

The last time I saw one in work service was September 1969.


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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 2:23 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 22, 2004 7:58 am
Posts: 728
Railway Museum of Eastern Ontario, 3 handcars and 2 velocipedes, and various spare parts on hand for them... only one handcar in regular use, the rest are gently used for demonstration occasionally.

Steve Hunter


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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 2:30 pm 

Joined: Mon Aug 23, 2004 12:59 pm
Posts: 644
The Tom E. Dailey Foundation recently awarded a $1,000 grant to the Western Railway Museum to restore a Sheffield velocipede.


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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 2:54 pm 

Joined: Tue Aug 24, 2004 3:07 pm
Posts: 705
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum has a standard gauge example, obtained from the Monongahela Railway in the 1960s. It is not currently on exhibit.

Last time I saw one of these in commercial use was on the CN main near Union Station in Toronto in the summer of 1963. Propelled at an alarming velocity by SIX men!


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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 3:35 pm 

Joined: Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:02 am
Posts: 293
Privately owned velocipede (at least partially replica) on display at GN&C Railway in Skykomish, WA.

Handcar (replica) at the Depot of the Issaquah Trolley in Issaquah, WA.

Handcar (rebuilt several times) at the privately owned Lake Whatcom Railway.

I recall a Velocipede on display in Garibaldi, OR, in the park next to the Shops of the Oregon Coast Scenic Railway.

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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 4:24 pm 
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Joined: Fri Oct 24, 2008 9:05 pm
Posts: 1053
Location: MA
Shelburn Falls Trolley Museume has one they give rides on. We also have a young volenteer who has built a velocipede. There is a repelica handcar in Deerfield MA at Habitat Post & Beam and they have admitted to takeing it out on the Pan Am mainline :(
https://youtu.be/6laoUXvfC7o?list=FL249 ... rE6maoDC6Q


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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 4:29 pm 

Joined: Mon Feb 22, 2010 5:06 pm
Posts: 174
Disneyland, Anaheim, CA has a functioning Kalamazoo No. 6 - possibly the last narrow gauge handcar Kalamazoo produced, circa 1955.

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Fireman, New Hope Valley Railway


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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 4:46 pm 

Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2011 9:52 pm
Posts: 42
Location: Albany, NY
Keep in mind velocipedes and handcars are two different animals. What you have pictured is a handcar. A velocipede is basically a rail bicycle with an outrigger - pictured here is a Buda velocipede that was for sale a while back.
Attachment:
sn65907.jpg
sn65907.jpg [ 27.09 KiB | Viewed 8525 times ]


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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 4:49 pm 

Joined: Tue Jul 31, 2012 5:05 pm
Posts: 116
The Pacific Southwest Railway Museum has an operational handcar and two velocipeds.

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Jim Lundquist, Director of Museum Services
Pacific Southwest Railway Museum
Campo, CA (San Diego County)


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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 5:33 pm 

Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2004 2:50 pm
Posts: 2815
Location: Northern Illinois
Train Detainer wrote:
Keep in mind velocipedes and handcars are two different animals. What you have pictured is a handcar. A velocipede is basically a rail bicycle with an outrigger - pictured here is a Buda velocipede that was for sale a while back.
Attachment:
sn65907.jpg


Actually, not a bicycle. The toy from my childhood that uses the same form of propulsion (a push-pull handle and crank) was called an "Irish Mail", if IIRC. There are modern rail bikes, either two standard bicycles connected side by side to hold the gauge, or a single bike with a wheel at the end of an outrigger, but I have no recollection of a historical equivalent.

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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 7:58 pm 
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Joined: Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:24 am
Posts: 298
Location: H2O-town, CT
Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum (CERM) has an operational handcar they use often and give visitors a ride on.


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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 7:59 pm 

Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2013 10:17 pm
Posts: 96
We have one in our shed for the station on the Wilmington and Western. It's operational, but we can't take it up the railroad thanks to a few rulebreakers...


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 Post subject: Re: Working Handcars?
PostPosted: Tue Sep 06, 2016 10:12 pm 

Joined: Sun Aug 07, 2005 1:24 am
Posts: 90
Location: Michigan
The East Broad RR (or possibly owned by the Friends of the East Broad Top) has one at the southern end of the line in Robertsdale, PA.

The Quincy Mine Hoist Association in Hancock, MI (Quincy & Torch Lake RR) has one stored in the hoist house (when last I knew, circa 2000).


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