File:DSC00545 - Sheffield Hand Car (48167645231).jpg

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To keep the tracks in good condition, track crews were regularly maintaining them. Each team was assigned about ten kilometres of track under the supervision of an inspector. To move the tools and materials, they used various small light vehicles—including the handcar—which were easily removed and placed on the rails. The first ones were built in railway workshops, using available parts.

With the tricycle type, called “velocipede”, the most representative model was the inspection handcar powered by a tandem manual mechanism, patented in 1882 by the American George S. Sheffield. The main manufacturers were the Sheffield Velocipede Car Company (now Fairmont), the Kalamazoo Velocipede Company and Buda Foundry and Manufacturing Company. Fast and inexpensive to manufacture, these small vehicles were very useful and were ubiquitous at small country stations and trackmen posts. They were also very dangerous and it was not uncommon to see a labourer fall under the front wheels at high speed, with the consequences we can imagine.

Currently the inspection and maintenance of railroads uses a range of specialized vehicles, sometimes running in convoy. The old handcars gradually disappeared between 1920 and 1950. Some became museum pieces, but others provide amusement to amateur clubs using them for epic rides on abandoned tracks. Called “Irish Mail”, descendants of manually propelled handcars circulate as toys or adult vehicles whose handlebar acts as a lever for the driver. Variants were also designed for people with limited mobility.

All the information used with the pictures was taken from information at the Canadian Railway Museum Site.