Hand car

A hand car is like a bicycle that you can use on train tracks. It's a special little vehicle that people used a long time ago to move things on the train tracks before we had big machines to do it for us.

Imagine you are sitting on a bench with your friend and there are two pedals on the ground in front of you. One for your left foot and one for your right foot. When you push down with your right foot, you move forward and push down with your left foot to keep going.

Now, instead of wheels on the bench, imagine it had metal wheels with flanges on the side. Flanges are like little wings that keep the wheels on the train track. With those wheels, you could ride the hand car along the train track like a little train, but instead of an engine, you would use your own feet to pedal.

It’s like a little bicycle on train tracks and it was used long ago to carry things from one place to another.