Structure for closing and opening railway house car sliding doors comprises a rack member affixed to the door track, bracket structure mounted on the door and extending rearwardly therefrom and mounting a rack-engaging pinion on its lower portion, a handwheel on its upper portion at a level substantially above the door track, and a chain and sprocket drive connecting the handwheel and the pinion for selectively rotating the latter to move the door between opened and closed positions. The handwheel is provided with a pivoted handle movable from a flush inoperative position to a projecting operating position.