Definition of "handlamp"

The operator went out on to the platform with his handlamp and waved it in the traditional "wash-out" signal across the body. The engineer had been expecting this and responded at once with an acknowledging honk on the horn before bringing this huge, 16-car train gently to a stand at the platform.

1961 July, J. Geoffrey Todd, “Impressions of railroading in the United States:Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 424