(The following story by John Lowman appeared on The Facts website on January 8.)
ANGLETON, Texas — John Henry’s legendary contest with a railroad tie-driving steam drill became part of old West folklore and bluegrass music, but Henry wouldn’t stand a chance working by hand today.
In the song, “John Henry,” the man drove 15 feet of metal spikes while the steamdrill made only nine. But the modern crosstie-lifting machine being used in Angleton this week can remove an old tie and have a new one in place in about 20 seconds, Union Pacific Angleton Yard Operations Manager Robert Ellis said.
“The machine comes along and removes the spikes with the front half,” Ellis said. “The back half grabs the tie, lifts it, shakes it, moves it out, sticks a new tie in and hammers the new spikes into it.”
A railroad cross-tie fastens together and holds down the steel rails. About 35,000 ties are being replaced from Angleton to Algoa in northern Galveston County, Ellis said. A crew of 55 people from the railroad’s southern region will be in the area through Jan. 22 to complete the task.
Henry would have fallen further behind today since a second machine lifts the 9-foot long, 7-inch-by-9-inch wooden ties weighing as much as 200 pounds and moves them to the side, according to information at the Association of American Railroads. Ties also are available in plastic and cement, but more than 90 percent are wood, like the ones being laid in Angleton.
Old ties are purchased by private companies for building temporary roads, landscaping or for use by smaller steam railroads, according to the Web site.
Placed about 2 feet apart, ties are treated with creosote, a coal tar derivative used as a wood preservative. Wood ties last about a dozen years.
The work is part of scheduled maintenance, said Raquel Espinoza, Union Pacific’s director of media and corporate relations. The Angleton-to-Algoa project is part of the company’s ongoing effort to keep facilities in shape, she said.
“Our infrastructure undergoes regular inspections and is replaced as needed,” Espinoza said. “The life span depends on where track is located, how much traffic travels along the line and the tonnage.”
Though the tracks are in the city, the railroad doesn’t apprise leaders of its movements, City Engineer Herb Smith said.
Rail officials cover their own tracks regularly, Espinoza said.
“We reinvest in our infrastructure, which includes replacing ties and rails,” she said. “It’s an ongoing process we have to ensure that our track is safe.”
As modern as machines and upkeep might become, some things remain the same, Ellis said. Seven-inch long metal spikes with L-shaped heads still hold steel rails to wooden ties, but when machines fail to drive spikes all the way in, a person with a hammer does the rest.