1950s Men Working on the Santa Fe Railroad 

Damned hard work regardless of what your job was.

I still remember track walkers on the UP in the late 1970s inspecting each rail joint, tightening them and lubing them as necessary. They walked the entire line (a few miles a day).

Flash-butt, and welding. Two activities that were both fun to do back in high school, though never both at the same time :)

I worked in the railroad for about 5 years, it was ok but left it for the steel mills. both jobs equally hard. The story of my life

The narrator explains this so well while the new vids are flashing HD and no info..

This is really interesting I didn’t think they started welded rail until the late 60’s. I guess Santa Fe was ahead of the game. As a welder myself it’s neat to see the different welding processes. That was a dirty job for those guys especially the grinders🙊

Fascinating!

This is so cool, nice video

My Uncle did rail head weld grinding for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe back in 1954 after getting discharged from Korea. Sadly all that was the mechanical works in Albuquerque burned down just to n the past few years do to arson. Even though it had a new life as the farmers market.😟

Wow very labor intensive!

All the men in this video are still alive - their bodies preserved with creosote.

A lot of human labor and more machines needed compared to today's MOW

too large logo over the image

Look at the freaky old poles.

How things have changed and improved.

I have one of Santa Fe Railroad Spikes it’s made of stainless steel I bought it off eBay

Wow... And I thought continuously welded rail came out in the 1970s or something?

Saudade tempinho bao🤣

So the work started from 9:18 till the end.

I didn't realized welded rail goes that far back.

Sharing this beautiful video? Videogates are awesome! Twitter? Facebook? RU-vid? Yes indeed i am truly a dinosaur 🦕? And I do have a You Twit Face account

Heat and water conductor

Has any of this equipment been saved for posterity? In a museum or anything?

Mountains water dirt to heat compacted

Some terrible operating practices with lots of injuries back then. Dangerous jobs.

If they could see how it's done now!