Do you think they are going to walk that handcar across the wash out?
Looks like they are trying every angle to get it across.
Looks like they were fixing to be "up the unsanitary tributary".
How would you like to be flying down the tracks and pumping the handle for all your worth only to round the bend and see the tracks washed out!
They certainly aren't on the level %0)
Rich
In those days they manhandled the problem, more track to be inspected I'm sure. KGB
"S**t that was lucky, dang near lost a $400.00 hand car"
The inspiration for the first roller coaster!
Good one Dave.
Great photo Herb! Keith as head of the Russian Secret Service you should not be making that public information. Dave, "S**t that was lucky, dang near lost a $400.00 hand car" and our jobs. Sorry Bill, I'm with Dennis on this one. I think they are just trying to save the hand cart and their jobs.
Happy motoring'
Warren
There just going to inspect the rest of the track, this will be fixed by the time they get back. They didn't need to weight for the administrators and unions to get a job dune back then.
Bob
Has anyone on the forum ever been on one of those hand operated carts?
How hard is it to work and if you have 4 guys working it how fast can you really go?
Were there multiple sizes? Could you work one like in the picture with just one guy?
I've always wanted to jump on one and try it! Seems like it'd be a blast. I always thought one of those as a amusement ride would be great (although entirely too dangerous, people would either fall off or have a heart attack from working too hard, etc).
An area hard hit by the Depression.
The other unknown here is are they just starting across the sunken track or are they almost finished after they get over the hill?
Howard Dennis
Seth
Google hand car races,there are yearly events
and one might be near you.
Bob
We ran a hand car like this many years ago at an antique transportation meet, and they ARE dangerous!
We raced it down the track, stopped it and picked up a piece of paper on the ground, then reversed direction and went back to the starting point. We did this with a 4 person crew, sometimes with mixed sexes. The lowest time won. Very dangerous, could never do that today. It would make an insurance guy faint on the spot.
When they're going along, the handle goes up and down regardless if you are pushing or pulling on it. If your head is down when the handle comes up, you'll have a broken or at least awfully sore jaw. The problems Seth mentioned above of potential heart attacks or falling off when at speed, are very real and could even be fatal.
Yes, they do come in different sizes and the smaller ones can be operated by just one person, but it's a lot of work.
Keith
Bob, Ewe gotte won illiterate 'puter their!
Funny Dave, my mind instantly went to "Blazing Saddles" quotes as well, but if I posted the one I was thinking of, I'd probably be banned from the forum for life.
Herb - To answer your question, IMO,.....Yes! They are definitely going to "walk that hand car across the wash out". I'm sure that there's a lot more track to inspect past THIS wash out, and there'd be only one more way to get the hand car through, and that would be to carry it! Think of the weight of that thing, and look at the terrain and distance that they'd have to carry it, and there's no question in my mind that despite the precarious angle of the washed out track, rolling the hand car on the rails is by far the only logical way.
As and "aside", in the late 1800's and early 1900's (and even later), the easiest (and cheapest) way to build a railroad, especially back in the days of very crude earth-moving equipment was to follow the naturally mostly gentle grades that were formed by rivers and streams. The problem with that is the "gamble" the engineers took with the ever-present threat of wash outs! FWIW,......harold
(.....another great old picture by the way Herb,.....)
Keith - ....you said the same thing that I said, but with a lot less words!
Derek, I know I have to stop my quotes right where they are.
Actually they were 40 miles from town and it either save the car or walk home.
That really looks like a stretch of the Durango & Silverton in Colorado. I've seen other 1900s photos of a washout on the D&S that seems identical. Here's a 2007 view:
For those that are unfamiliar with the term that I used above, "unsanitary tributary", it is the same thing as "Schitt Creek".
Hmm,interesting; right now it looks like they are at the most precarious spot on the washout. Wish we knew if they were almost done crossing it, or just starting to cross.
The tracks are too wide to be part of the D&S, but that's interesting that they did not recover the rail from the previous wash out.
Yes, handcars can be dangerous, and YES, it becomes very tiring pumping one around, especially if you are the only one pumping! Been there, done that, didn't get a T-shirt!