Date Nail Hunting

[Old Pueblo]

Went out hunting for some date nails in some of the usual spots. I continued down the fence line I had found a bunch in previously, and found 17 more today, including one I left behind. Afterwards I checked out another one of the corrals out here and found 9 more nails, including two I left behind. One was a nice 1929 but for some reason it would not budge! Anyway, here they are. Mostly 1930s. Thanks for looking.

 

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[TomW244]

Those are awesome! I've never even heard of dated nails before. What a cool piece of history!

 

[PowerDubs]

Dated nail? Huh?


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[sandchip]

Was the fence built out of old telephone poles or crossties?

 

[A2coins]

Good job my friend you always have some great and interesting finds. Its great no winter for you can you send some sun Ill pay shipping LOL Good job Tommy

 

[Old Pueblo]

Was the fence built out of old telephone poles or crossties?

cross ties

 

[Old Pueblo]

Dated nail? Huh?


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Yes. They're from the Southern Pacific Railroad. Each one of those old wooden ties they used had a date nail pounded into for record keeping purposes. Every so often the RR ties would have to be replaced, and the date nail told the RR work crews when the tie was made and treated.

 

[sandchip]

Where on the ties are they driven? Because I've never seen one on a tie down this way. The only ones that I've seen were on old power poles.

 

[Old Pueblo]

It depends. Larger and smaller ones seem to be at one end, in the space between the tie plate and the end of the tie. The medium sized head nails are always in the middle, but usually close to one of the tie plates. Most RR stopped using them about 1970, from what I understand, so you need to find old ties.

 

[scruggs]

That’s interesting about a dated nail. You learn new stuff everyday.

 

[JamesR1964]

You do learn something new every day. Thank you for sharing them.

 

[sprailroad]

They were used when section crews would replace all the ties and rail. That was way back when, stopping in the 70's could be right, but I'm thinking earlier than that. You might still find them on branch lines, or on old track no longer used out there somewhere. I at one time would pull some, and I gave them all away, along with battery oil bottles that MIGHT still be found around where signal's used to be. At one time there might be a "section crew" maintaining about 10 to 15 miles of track, with housing and family's living with them, of then there would be another section crew with housing and family's etc. It was all jointed rail then, if I remember about 33' in length, whereas now on "main line" they come in 1/4 mile pieces, (or "sticks" ) Date nails are cool, and there are different types, depending on what rail road it was. As far as fence post, ranchers and farmers loved them, used that way, they could pretty much last forever. Nice collection "Old Pueblo". Spent time working on Navajo steel gangs in the mid 80's in your area, loved wandering around in the desert looking for stuff.

 

[Silvermonkey]

I've never seen these before. What a nice piece of RR history. Congrats!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Awesome nail finds, congratulations!

 

[PikesPeakCharlie]

Man do the date nail fairies sprinkle their pixie dust on you !! Congrats !!!!

 

[Old Pueblo]

Man do the date nail fairies sprinkle their pixie dust on you !! Congrats !!!!

Funny you should say that. I checked a couple more corrals down the road from here today and found 16 more.

 

[BLK HOLE]

Thanks for sharing I have never heard of a dated nail before.