Date nail
Date nails were tagging devices utilized by
Date nails can vary in size, shape, length, material, and rarity. Some railroads used "code nails" which means that the nail was used to mark something other than the date the tie was installed. An example of a code nail would be the
Date nail use has dropped dramatically since the mid-20th century and the advent of more modern maintenance of way equipment. Date nails on American railroads were phased out in the 1970s. Ties are no longer marked in this manner in North American practice, and the nails are now sought after by railroadiana collectors. The Southern Railway never used date nails.[4]
Date nails are also found on utility poles, sometimes in conjunction with a nail showing the height of the pole in feet. The types of nails may have distinguishing characteristics, such as the date nail having raised digits and the "height nail" having incised digits. The pole height will be a multiple of five (e.g., "35" or "40").[5]
References
- ^ "Railroad Date Nails". RelicRecord.
- ^ Meyers, Rolland. "Date Nails" (PDF). Railway Tie Association.
- ^ Oaks, Jeff. "Date Nails and Railroad Tie Preservation, Volume 1" (PDF). University of Indianapolis.
- ^ Oaks, Jeff. "Date Nails". University of Indianapolis.
- ^ Weed, Scott. "Nailhunter".