Nostalgia & History > Date Nails

What was the normal practice regarding the use of date nails? Did one get installed in every tie or just a sampling for a section of track. Are they still used?

Every tie.

No. Not sure when they discontinued them, and it probably varied by railroad, but mostly gone by 1950s or 60s.

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Great Northern Railway used date nails through 1969.

Santa Fe used Date nails through 1969 ALSO. The RR's used date nails in every tie starting around 1900. When they moved track sections to another area, they put in pentagon nails. I understand square nails were placed in untreated ties in the early 1900's, at least Santa Fe did. If you ever want to see a very good collection of almost 700 nails, visit the RR Museum in Belen, NM. I gave them my collection last year.

Some places date nails were used on test sections of track. MILW mostly used copper nails; some years they didn't. They also used a special copper nail for cedar ties. Railroads also used date nails in poles and bridge timbers.
RB

Before preservative treatment of wood, including ties, it only lasted 4-8 years in most conditions. No particular record was kept of tie life other than the gross amount installed.
This was a huge, unsustainable demand for replacement wood. Chemists proposed several treatments to make wood last longest and several were tried.
To research the benefits of the cost of treatment, railroads (and maybe utilities) began putting date nails in so they would have a business case for that extra cost.
We now know that tie life was extended by a factor of about four. The paradox is that one of the chemicals that accomplished this is creosote, which is hated by environmentalists but actually was/is a factor in conserving the forests.
Some RRs discontinued using them during WWII as a metal resource consideration. AFAIK the SP stopped about then and the ATSF continued until well after the war. "My" birthdate tie nail, 44, is actually a Santa Fe adoptee, I never found an SP one.

Here's a few Date Nails 1931 1936, I have a few others

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What is the device shown with the date nails?

You can find date nails in telephone poles, including the ones along railroad tracks too.

UP quit using date nails in 1936. Yes there is still a few date nails being made.
Come to the RR Date Nail show in Salina, KS on Aug. 10-11, 2018 at Trinity Lutheran Church and you will find a lot of Date Nails. upkpfan.

AmHog Wrote:
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> What is the device shown with the date nails?


No response yet! Maybe Homeland Security has confiscated it. Ha! I was wondering the same as you.

amHog! I had send You an Email from Your email and a few Photos! Anyhow that Spark Gun is to Start a Field Weld Boutet! Once it starts Boiling and it Slows Down and the Pot is Filled with a Charge and when You used that Spark gun, it sets it off!

Santa Fe System Standards V.1 has a 1929 drawing (revised 1946) entitled "Location of Dating Nails" on page 59 showing where the nails were to be driven on trestle structures, crossing planking, and track sections. In the notes it says, "Round head dating nails indicating the year shall be used for treated timber, square head nails for untreated timber and five-sided head nails for reused second hand timber. One dating nail shall be carefully driven into each timber 3" thick and over..." The 1946 revision was to add the five-sided head nails provision. The drawing shows nails driven into the trestle pilings, which is interesting since these timbers were also generally branded with their treatment year and various other alphanumeric codes by the plant that treated them.

I found my 1969 nails at Raton NM.:)

Not sure if this is the real name but it is a spark gun used to set off Thermite in a rail joint welding apparatus. Some M/W authorities can do better on this I'm sure.