rail spikes
Tie-piercing steel pins
Rail spikes are large, thick nails used to fasten railroad rails to wooden ties.
They have a distinctive shape—a chisel point and an offset head that hooks over the rail's base.
The term sometimes appears in contexts involving railroad history, construction, or as collectibles: He found old rail spikes along the abandoned track.
- tiesConnections or neckwear
- ironElement twenty-six
- iron horseSlang for steam engine
- trackPath or monitored route
- headUppermost body part
fasteners · drive · tamping · gandy dancer · work gang · steel · ballast · maul · clang · creosote · hammer · shank · sleepers · thud · gauge · rust · rust stains · alignments
- trainstrains, train, locomotive, locomotives, steam locomotive
- fastenersbolt, screw, nail, nut, clip
- rail yardsswitchyard, marshalling yards, receiving yard, yard crew, yardmaster
- railroadianawaybills, ticket stubs, signal lamps, semaphores, signal flags
- railroadstrains, train, tracks, track, locomotive
- railwaystrains, train, locomotives, locomotive, tracks