"Handcar."

This model, in 1/8 scale, 7 1/2 inch gauge, is of an Armstrong Speeder, or handcar. It is based on a Denver and Rio-Grande Railroad, narrow-gauge prototype. These little pump-action cars were used by section gangs and others working on the railroads in the early days, having been replaced with gasoline versions and pick-up trucks and automobiles fitted with flanged wheels. I scratch-built this handcar in steel and oak, and cast the wheels of aluminum in the foundary shop at East High School, Anchorage, Alaska. I machined them on my lathe. The gears are from a broken water flow meter from the USS Hugh Purvis, the destroyer I served on for over three years.