Recently I was the recipient of a bag of date nails. Many of these came from the Paducah, TX, area, which is QA&P territory. Never having done anything with date nails I got online, found a couple of people who are extremely knowledgeable, and contacted one of them. He gave me TONS of information. Additionally, after looking at some photos I sent him, he told me that the 1930 and 1931 date nails are what he called "second hand Frisco" nails, whatever that means. The rest are apparently AT&SF. The two exceptions are the ones with IC in the middle. That apparently means International Creosote, and those nails probably came from telegraph poles along the QA&P line. One other nail of interest is the one with the "X". Santa Fe and one other railroad (Buffalo and something in the Northeast) put an X nail in any tie they deemed substardard but still usable. Apparently, they didn't have to pay for those and the ties with the X didn't get counted in the tie inventory. Anyway, I decided to make a display. A friend who only lives a mile from me lives on the old Orient Line. There are probably 1000 old ties , grade crossing timbers and bridge timbers stacked at one corner of his property. I found a dozen more date nails and found a piece of old tie that seemed like it would make a good display for the nails. NOTE: if you do anything with old ties, it might be a good idea to wear gloves and a mask. The creosote and who-knows-what-all-else they used to treat ties with is pretty caustic stuff. After cutting the back off of the tie to make it thin enough to hang on the wall, I sprayed it with several coats of matte clear to seal in the creosote fumes. Just a fun display that relates to railroading.
Thanks, Kurt. Our railroad room isn't just a model railroad. It's a tribute to the agriculture and industry that founded this part of Texas, and to anything of interest related to real railroading. The date nail thing was basically dumped in my lap, so it seemed appropriate to do something with it. Someday I may give it to one of the railroad museums in this area.
Many years ago I lived in Indianapolis. A friend had relatives in Wisconsin, somewhere north and a little west of Green Bay. We went up there at Thanksgiving and spent several days helping them cut Christmas trees for their business. Pretty country, but way too cold for me!!!
Here is my Milwaukee Road date nail collection. It is mounted in Mahogany, which being dark, does not lend itself well to photos, but views just fine in person. The logo at top is a MILW conductor's lapel herald, that is different from today's tack clasp style in that it has two threaded studs with nuts instead. I am missing the 1929 "Sunburst" nail, which is not quite easy to locate, an costs too much when you do find one for sale. The very bottom nail stirred a controversy among the so-called "experts". You can read more about it on my website: https://train-orders.com/MILW/NAIL/NAIL.html
You should come and try it now. We've had up to 6" of snow, strong winds and temps below 20. I live on the inside of a slight curve and there's a car laying out there, rather damaged. Even with a damaged leg, got hit by a car on my bike, I'll have to get the snow blower out in the morning.
We lived in Colorado Springs for 25 years. The first few years I was in my middle 30's. I bicycle commuted, even when it was down near 10 degrees. Not anymore!! It's no where near as cold as Montana or Wisconsin, and it was too cold for me the final few years. As I've gotten older, I don't handle the cold as well.
Here's a portion of my collection. Nothing really rare, per se`, but I still need to make a display for it. 2007 photo: And one in its natural habitat, on a disused rail line:
Nice!!! Date nails are pretty cool. Before being given the bag of them, I knew what they were but had never seen one. A friend on Colorado Springs is a graphic designer. He gave me an idea yesterday for the next date nail display. Get a couple of pieces of either G or F scale rail; take some small strips of barn wood and attach them like ties; put a date nail in each one; hang it on the wall.
I did, and donated to another railroad club member in Great Falls, MT in 2010 when I left for Germany.
The nails usually go in the top of a tie, used to tell its age. They are about 2 inches long. They are not used to attach anything together, their only purpose is to show a number on the head.
Date nail usage started in the 1890's. They were just starting to experiment with treatment (creosote, etc) in hopes of making ties last longer. The date nails were put in some of the ties so inspectors could determine how long a certain treatment process was lasting. Eventually, they were just used to see how long ties had been in use when they started deteriorating. The use of date nails ceased somewhere around 1969 or 1970. The newest one I have is 1966.
It's my understanding that they ceased tracking it. Plus, not too much later they started using concrete ties. Some railroads never even used date nails.
