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!

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.

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.

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

The Tom E. Dailey Foundation recently awarded a $1,000 grant to the Western Railway Museum to restore a Sheffield velocipede.

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!

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.

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

Disneyland, Anaheim, CA has a functioning Kalamazoo No. 6 - possibly the last narrow gauge handcar Kalamazoo produced, circa 1955.

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.

The Pacific Southwest Railway Museum has an operational handcar and two velocipeds.

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.

Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum (CERM) has an operational handcar they use often and give visitors a ride on.

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...

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).