A few years back i pcked up this old cabinet card photo at a local flea market.The actual photo on the card was yellowed with age so i scanned it with the color restoration wich is the attached image.

Anyhow what kind of handcar is this? Most of the big old 2 man pump cars you see photo's of, or whatever there called have the center mounted frame work with a 2 ended handle that 2 men operate,or you'll see photo's of velocipedes with a pump handle for one man to operate.The reason i bought this photo was i had never seen anything like this type of cart before.It appears to have a crank handle of some kind on the left side of the big round encased metal part on the back of the cart wich i presume has gears inside.The center part of the cart looks to be recessed as the seated man on the right has his feet down lower.The front of the cart looks to have a toolbox for tool storage.

Unfortunately this photo along with many other old ones from that era does not have any information on back as to the date,place and names of those photographed.I also can't see any other clues as to lettering on the cart,building ect. by zooming in on the photo.

What is the best way to preserve these old RR cabinet card photo's to keep them from deteriorating any further? The first thing i've alway's done is to try and scan each photo when i get them but as far as keeping them around for many more years to come i'm not really sure as some are rather large and often when you get them the card part is brittle,chipped or cracked and the actual photo's stained or foxed with age spots.

Here's another old interesting one,sort of like a velocipede with a handle for one man to operate but this one has 4 wheels.This was on Ebay a few years back and went for quite a bit.Unfortunately i didn't win this one but the Ebay photo scanned somewhat nice for referance.

When I was a wee lad, my brother and I had a wheeled toy that we sat on and propelled by pumping back and forth on a lever with handles on either side. We steered by moving the pivoted front axle with our feet. This contraption was called an "Irish Mail", and it appears to be non-rail version of the "rail velocipede" in the second photo. I've sometimes wondered whether the "Irish Mail" name was a "slam" on the Hibernians, implying that Irish Mail was the opposite of "speedy".

They just restored an Irish Mail toy on American Restorations a few weeks ago. They too make the rail comparison.

Later!
Mr. Ed

Mr. F.N.Kuenzel,

Please view http://ngdiscussion.net/phorum/read.php?1,171983,172269#msg-172269 on the Narrow Gauge Discussion Forum. It should help you refine the direction you're looking in.

Also, click 'Next Message' for a photo of that type car.

James

In the City of Saugatuck, Michigan there are two examples of archaic marine transportation. The first is the SS Keewatin, a former Canadian Pacific Steamship which has been on display as a tourist attraction for around half a century. The second is (a modern replica of) the chain ferry which crosses the Kalamazoo River on a regular basis during the tourist season. Both are owned by a gentleman by the name of R.J. Petersen, who, having a few years on yours truly, claims to be an historic relic in his own right.

The mechanism on the car in the first picture is reminiscent of the manual crank which, when attached to one or two sturdy college students, propels said ferry across the river. I suspect that the car is a chain drive with a reduction similar to that on a bicycle.

Addendum: It would seem that the photograph in the Narrow Gage Forum has confirmed my supposition and I do not consider it improbable that as the cars came from the Kalamazoo Car Company that the same mechanism may well have been used as on the earlier ferries.

GME

I can recommend archival storage materials from Gaylord. I am sure there are other suppliers out there. Putting the photos in sleeves and boxes, etc. such as the example shown here will protect them from damage. I have had success with scanning a photo in its sleeve.

Wesley



http://www.gaylord.com/listing.asp?H=3&PCI=128068

Thank you for the replies about the old crank type hand car.James i enjoyed the link over on the narrow gauge forum about the hand cars and the photo's posted there! I was just looking on Ebay this afternoon and a seller out in Ca. has a set of cart wheels with fancy curved spoked wheels.One of the axles has a large gear in the center of the axle.I'm wondering if these axles were maybe off one of these types of hand cars?The seller didn't specify what diameter the wheels were or what track gauge they were for.I sent him a message and he replied back that the wheel diameter was 14" and with the flange 16" He said that between the wheels it measured around 45" and from outside to outside of each wheel end to end it measured around 54" across.What gauge is that? I don't think he knows much about them as the listing description is ver brief! He has a $300 starting bid on these.

The Ebay listing number is: 190632098237 if anyone is interested in looking at the photo to determine what they may be from.

Assuming an inch to an inch-and-a-half for the flange and the fillet and a three inch wide tread on each wheel that gives a gage of forty-eight inches, more or less. I suspect these come from a car used on a lumber or mining operation.

GME

No longer having time to volunteer at Heber Valley, my interests have turned more and more toward the human-powered vehicles of early railroading.

Take a look at the spokes on this hand car http://www.ausbcomp.com/~bbott/winrr/wrrwhc.htm ...similar 'waviness' but they appear to be thinner and lighter weight. You'll note that the poster of this photo notes an interpretation that the spoke shape makes this a unique handcar of local manufacture. I had this link http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/ODVELOC1.Html to a reference that these wavy spokes were a product of the Kalamazoo Railroad Velocipede & Car Co. and sent the photo poster a note to that effect...with no acknowledgment. The drawing in the Engineering News article seems to be more like the photo wheels than the eBay wheels.

BTW, there is a picture of your 'crank style' handcar at the bottom of the first above referenced page.

sc 'doc' lewis

We've discussed a miniature version of these cars in the past:

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=8607



I believe at one point Knoebels Amusement Park had purchased the Hodges machining, tooling, spares, and/or patent.

See also http://www.trainontime.com/rides/index.php

Just to build a little more on the history of your crank car...check A History of the Railroad Hand Car by noted rail historian, J.H. White, Jr. that appeared in the October 1972 issue of Railroad History No. 127 (The Railway and Locomotive Historical Society, Inc., Boston, MA).

He covers the development of the hand car from the initial push cars, through crank, lever, motorized, to hi-rail. Of note, his opinion is that the crank style reached its peak of popularity around 1870 and cites a reference from 1879 that the lever car "...has now almost wholly supplanted [the crank car] as being much less laborious." That information can help you date your photograph.

The paper has four photos of different crank cars, both belt driven and gear driven that have not been shown in this or the narrow gauge discussion thread.

sc 'doc' lewis