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Railroad Spike Inserters

Please note, the images here show general railroad MOW equipment, not spike inserters.

Railroad spike inserters may look complicated from the outside with a host of equipment and gadgets to see but their function is rather straightforward, as the name implies. There are several different spike inserters models (also known as spike drivers) out there and in use today. However, some of the most common are operated by three workers whereby one person feeds the spikes and the other two apply the spikes into the tie (one on each side of the rail).

Railroad spike inserters almost always work as some kind of mechanized gang, usually as part of a tie gang (which today normally consists of an army of machines, not men). Today's tie gangs includes such machines as spike or rail anchor pullers (which pull the spikes/anchors clear of the tie), tie cranes (which remove the railroad ties once they are free of the rails), tie extractors/inserters (different from a tie crane these machines work vertically to remove or replace the railroad tie from underneath the rail), and spike inserters (as you might have guessed these machines use hydraulics to quickly drive spikes down in the tie plate and tie itself).

If very heavy work is being done other large equipment will be used such as a mechanized tie relaying machine and/or even a rail train if new rail is to be laid. As it is, tie gangs may look like machines simply heading off to work in an elephant line. However, they are actually very coordinated work details with each machine and accompanying operator assigned a very specific task to get the work done as quickly as possible. The reason for speed and hastiness in finishing a maintenance job is simply, to keep the trains and goods moving. Delays are quite costly and avoided at all costs because if the freight isn't delivered the railroad's don't get paid!

While the laborious task of driving spikes by hand is still done today, even on Class I railroads for minor maintenance work, for larger jobs to keep the trains rolling spike inserters are used. The job is done very fast with the operator of the machine (who also pulls double-duty applying and driving the spikes, although today's newest models can be operated on one side or the other) aligning it over the tie and, along with his counterpart on the other side of the machine drives the spikes into each side of the rail. If needed a third person is employed to make sure the tie inserter always has plenty of spikes.

Being self-propelled, railroad tie inserters can clip along at a quick pace with a top speed of nearly 30 mph (although when inserting spikes the machine goes much slower, around 10 mph), completing a long stretch of main line in a day's time. Today's models also are heavily computer-controlled and usually feature push-button or joystick controls.

For more information about railroad maintenance equipment you may want to consider picking up a copy of Brian Solomon's book, Railway Maintenance: The Men and Machines That Keep the Railroads Running. I have a copy of the book and not only used it for reference in covering all of the railroad maintenance equipment featured on this site but also found it very interesting as I learned much about a subject of the industry I had known only little about before. If you’re interested in learning more about the maintenance aspect of railroading you will definitely enjoy this book. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing it please visit The Railroad Diamond by clicking the tab in the menu to your left marked "TRD Store".

Also, for even more information about railroad spike inserters, tie cranes, ballast cleaners, railroad undercutters, ditch diggers, and other MOW equipment please click here to return to the main menu.

For more reading about spike inserters you may want to consider the book Railway Maintenance Equipment: The Men and Machines That Keep the Railroads Running from noted author Brian Solomon. Throughout the book's 128 pages Solomon covers all types of maintenance equipment from tampers and undercutters to Jordan Spreaders and rotary snow plows. I own this book myself and have used it as reference material for this site many times. It's a great read on an often little understood area of railroading. If you're interested in perhaps purchasing this book please visit the link below which will take you to ordering information through Amazon.com, the trusted online shopping network.

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