Railroad cart

[Mark A. Mandel]

On 4/17/07, Seán Fitzpatrick <grendel.jjf at verizon.net> requested a term for
> 		 the small, four-wheeled, man-powered
> carts used by railroad maintenance crews.  They often had a two-man
> rocker crank handle, although the one in this picture seems to have a 
rotary
> crank handles.

Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU> suggested
>>>>
"Hand-car" is one name for it. OED def: "a light car propelled by
cranks or levers worked by hand, used in the inspection and repairing
of a railway line."

As featured in the movie _O Brother Where Art Thou?_:
http://www.stangarner.com/obrother.html
<<<<

And the immortal Edward Gorey's "The Willowdale Handcar" (hyphen?).

(Why do we call people "immortal" only after they're dead?)

m a m