pump trolley

plural pump trolleys · alternative pump-trolley

1. A light railroad car propelled by a hand-operated pumping mechanism; a handcar.

   A gang was sent out on a pump trolley and the inspection car followed.

   1910 March 4, “Supply Trade Section: Fairbanks-Morse Inspection Car”, in Railway Age Gazette, volume 48, number 9, page 509

   2 more examples

   The train, minus the three abandoned trucks, again proceeded at a slow pace, with a pump trolley doing pilot ahead ; this was very necessary as a great many sleepers were found to have been burnt underneath the fishplates.

   1901, George Gipps, The Fighting in North China (up to the Fall of Tientsin City), Shanghai: Kelly and Walsh, →OL, page 40

   Immediately after the train had pulled away from St. Peters, Alfred Morrison, section foreman along with his helper, Frank Lindloft, took off with the pump trolley.

   1976, J. William Calder, All Aboard, Formac Publishing Company, →ISBN, →OL, page 118

   Synonyms: handcar, jigger, Kalamazoo, pump car