you see them in movies/cartoons, and has a man pushing this lever up and down which propels the four wheeled vehicle down the tracks...

It is called a handcart. Not in use anymore. l tried one once and about killed myself. They are HELL to get started rolling.
After that, It is fairly easy to keep the momentum up. There used to be one on a siding near where l lived. We would steal it and take it through a tunnel to use a shortcut to the river for swimming. It never failed, one minute we are in the tunnel and the next someone says, ''is that a train l hear?''

http://ausbcomp.com/~bbott/WINRR/wrrwhc.htm

handcars, they were replaced by motorcars which were similar except they had gasoline engines, usually we called them speeders.

pushcarts were exactly as the name implies, you had to push them along, they were for carrying tools and equipment.

edit to tronary, that is a great old photo,
that is not a gandy dancer, the term gandy dancer is referring to section hands (track department laborers).

They are called Hand Cars. We have one at our club we use for moving around in the yard, and up and down our main line when we are not in operation. We only operate on weekends.

The other term you will also hear them called is a Gandy Dancer.

Good Luck.

Yes, they r called hand carts. The lever u mention is what keeps the vehicle in motion. They were later replaced by small vehicles with motors in them called speeders. They were used for track inspections & can be found running today in large groups of people that have restored them.

The current system is called a ''High-Railer'' & is used for the same purpose. A pickup truck or other type of equipment is fitted with wheels that line up to the rails. They can be dropped in place for rail use or put up for regular highway travel.

Hand CAR, not hand CART.

A hand car is what you're thinking of.

A hand cart is a table on wheels.

Yes, they have been replaced by motorcars or speeders. You can learn all you want to know about speeders at http://narcoa.org/