Dandy cart

nounStandard termRailroad

A historic wagon designed to carry a draft horse downhill on gravity railways.

A specialized, low-slung railway wagon used in the early days of horse-drawn mining and industrial railways. When a loaded train coasted downhill under gravity, the horse would ride in the dandy cart to rest, saving its energy to haul the empty wagons back up the incline.

Heard on the job

The colliery line used a dandy cart so the horses could ride the loaded trip down to the staithe.