# Pushing the limit



## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

http://www.belfieldhall.co.uk/belfield/ngr/walkingman_01.html

amazing !!


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## Chris Scott (Jan 2, 2008)

Logically wouldn't the next step be a man with his back against the car pushing it?

Isn't that better ergonomically for the body?


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Chris;

Folks in the late 19th and early 20th century did not have a concept of ergonomics. A few of them may have just barely learned to lift with their legs rather than doing the severe back bend. They may have been a heartier lot than today's workers, and they probably thought that it was better to see where they were going. One cannot do that with one's back into the rear of the vehicle. Rail mounted push vehicles were fairly common up to WWII. The hard floor push vehicles are still common today, as any trip to a big box or grocery store will reveal. Just take a look at what the shelf stockers use to haul their wares.

The model is true to its era. Heck, sometimes I had to shake the little steam locomotive on the Dry Gulch RR at Hershey Park to make sure there was water in the sight glass (the water level rose as things heated up). That locomotive weighed about 3.75 tons minus the tender, but shaking it was doable. And that was in the mid-1960s.

Regards,
David Meashey


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