On the UP, we called them hand trucks, and I always thought ours superior to those I saw on other lines around the country.
Ours had uprights at either end, which certainly made it easier to build a load that held together. We built those loads "high like a mountain and wide like a tree," and they usually didn't fail on their journeys across rough plank crossings.
We handled mostly baggage and canvas sacks of U.S. mail. I could understand the Railway Express version at our same depot, which lacked the upright at one end, because sometimes they would get a long roll of carpet, or something else outsized, in their mix.
But I always wondered about the numerous other railroads that seemed to disadvantage their mail and baggage handlers with an upright at only one end.
