What is it? (Amateur Version POST04)

[lef...@hotmail.com]

Here is the fourth post in the series. As usual, I will try to answer questions about their composition, size and how they can move. Pictures are provide via dropbox. There is one composite image per tool.

POST04_TOOL13
This metal tool is approximately five inches long. It has a round metal rod with a 95-degree bend (slightly overbent to create a little less than a right angle) at one end. At the other end, the rod pierces and is welded at 90 degrees to the midpoint of a hollow metal tube.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wvbt81onn9yzmyk/POST04_TOOL13_PICALL.JPG?dl=0

POST04_TOOL14
A nine inch long metal tool in the adjustable vice grip family. When closed, the jaws form a rounded square with two small semicircular dips on opposite sides. A second opening in the shape of a rectangular slot is also formed.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fo4hcwqe2yety3v/POST04_TOOL14_PICALL.JPG?dl=0

POST04_TOOL15
A heavy steel tool 67 inches long. The bottom end has a square cross section ending in a dull four-sided point. The tool is slightly bowed but it is not clear if this by design or from use.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xup4zro4qlejbn9/POST04_TOOL15_PICALL.JPG?dl=0

POST04_TOOL16
A metal tool approximately eight inches long. The handles are kept open by a simple expansion spring requiring four pounds to oppose it. One jaw has a pivoting metal semicircle attached to it. The other jaw has a metal disc with tabs extending from it. The disc can be rotated to select from ten different tabs. The tabs are numbered [22,25,26,28,30,32,35,36,38,40].
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zt12ptjess0uxme/POST04_TOOL16_PICALL.JPG?dl=0

L Flynn

[Phil Kangas]

Here is the fourth post in the series. As usual, I
will try to answer questions about their
composition, size and how they can move. Pictures
are provide via dropbox. There is one composite
image per tool.

POST04_TOOL13

I made a tool like this for removing snowmobile
exhaust springs. pdk

This metal tool is approximately five inches long.
It has a round metal rod with a 95-degree bend
(slightly overbent to create a little less than a
right angle) at one end. At the other end, the rod
pierces and is welded at 90 degrees to the
midpoint of a hollow metal tube.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wvbt81onn9yzmyk/POST04_TOOL13_PICALL.JPG?dl=0

POST04_TOOL14

This is custom made probably for turning a shaft.
pdk

A nine inch long metal tool in the adjustable vice
grip family. When closed, the jaws form a rounded
square with two small semicircular dips on
opposite sides. A second opening in the shape of a
rectangular slot is also formed.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fo4hcwqe2yety3v/POST04_TOOL14_PICALL.JPG?dl=0

POST04_TOOL15

Probably a tool for punching a hole in earth for a
post. pdk

A heavy steel tool 67 inches long. The bottom end
has a square cross section ending in a dull
four-sided point. The tool is slightly bowed but
it is not clear if this by design or from use.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xup4zro4qlejbn9/POST04_TOOL15_PICALL.JPG?dl=0

POST04_TOOL16

No answer. pdk

[lef...@hotmail.com]

As usual, thanks for the helpful posts.

POST04_TOOL13
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wvbt81onn9yzmyk/POST04_TOOL13_PICALL.JPG?dl=0
This is trampoline spring loading tool. It can also be used as a tent peg puller. The bent part is used to stretch the springs to attach them to or remove them from the slots in the frame. The other side of the springs are hook to the bed.
http://www.amazon.com/Trampoline-Spring-Loading-Tool-Puller/dp/B00AAUMISC

POST04_TOOL14
https://www.dropbox.com/s/fo4hcwqe2yety3v/POST04_TOOL14_PICALL.JPG?dl=0
These vice grips
http://www.drumsanders.net/images/pictures/irwin-1078tray-10piece-visegrip-plier-set.jpg
have been altered by welding two pieces to the jaws. Suggestions are that they were used to turn a shaft or hold other items to weld.

POST04_TOOL15

A heavy steel tool 67 inches long. The bottom end has a square cross section ending in a dull four-sided point. The tool is slightly bowed but it is not clear if this by design or from use.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/xup4zro4qlejbn9/POST04_TOOL15_PICALL.JPG?dl=0

It may be in the crowbar family but the end is not well designed for prying, and the weight distribution is bottom heavy. The guy I got it from said his father worked for the railroad. It could be placed in the class of a plumbers digging tools or spud bars with a square lower shaft and a pencil point.

POST04_TOOL16
https://www.dropbox.com/s/zt12ptjess0uxme/POST04_TOOL16_PICALL.JPG?dl=0
This is a CF-71 Spark Plug Gapping Tool
http://www.collectingsnapon.com/index.php?page=pliers/SparkPlugGapping

L Flynn

[lef...@hotmail.com]

> POST04_TOOL15
> A heavy steel tool 67 inches long. The bottom end has a square cross section ending in a dull four-sided point. The tool is slightly bowed but it is not clear if this by design or from use.
> https://www.dropbox.com/s/xup4zro4qlejbn9/POST04_TOOL15_PICALL.JPG?dl=0
> It may be in the crowbar family but the end is not well designed for prying, and the weight distribution is bottom heavy. The guy I got it from said his father worked for the railroad. It could be placed in the class of a plumbers digging tools or spud bars with a square lower shaft and a pencil point.

> It's a ballast tamper then. Used for pushing the rock ballast
> between and under the crossties.
> I've done that, many years ago, altho the tampers we used had
> flat ends as I recall. It was painful work.
> John

Thanks John,
I found a picture of someone using a similar tool while working with a mechanical tamper. It's about 1/3 of the way down this page
http://trainmuseum.blogspot.com/
They are using it as a lever to remove a dip in the track.

L. Flynn

[Ed Huntress]

I have two of these tools. In the late '60s, I worked for a short time
on a crossing crew for the Pennsylvania Railroad. We used those things
for several jobs -- mostly for lifting track. But crossing crews did
things any way they could, because we didn't have a lot of
special-purpose tools.

An old guy on the crew at the time told me these were crowbars. He
made a big point of the fact that real crowbars are straight, not
curved on the ends.

But jargon varies so much among trades that someone from another trade
might have another name for it. All I can tell you is that we had lots
of those things on the Penn RR, and we'd use them to pry, lift, or
tamp anything we needed to.

If you want a photo of the end of one of mine, I'll shoot it for you.

--
Ed Huntress

[Leon Fisk]

On Sat, 18 Apr 2015 07:39:14 -0700 (PDT)

I excerpted a couple pages out of an old railway supply catalog that
has similar items for sale from ~1914 (1.3mb):

http://www.iserv.net/~lfisk/RailwaySuppliesCat-CrerarAdams-excerpt.pdf

See if that helps any.

Save a copy if you want to keep it. I'll be deleting the pdf in a week
or two...

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI/Zone 5b
Remove no.spam for email

[lef...@hotmail.com]

Thanks Ed and Leon,
There's nothing better than a description from someone with hands-on experience. I've made a copy of the catalog. I like the price of $0.14/pound.
L. Flynn

[SnA Higgins]

It may be incorrect, but we called them lining bars when I worked on the
railroad. I hope that song doesn't stick in your head. It'll take days for
me. A guy I worked with sang it all the live long day.
Anyway the bars worked great for lining track. I remember the ones with a
chisel point tended to twist in your hand when force was applied. We used to
sing when lining. The song would allow us to sync our motion.
We also favored the pointed ones to act as an extension handle for the track
jacks we used. The jack handle was a square socket. After some practice
you could set the jack in place with one hand and spear the socket with the
other. The chisel pointed bars tended to snag (corners of the bar would jam
in the flat of the socket) without bottoming in the socket.
We didn't use the bars for tamping ballast. We used a flat bottomed
shovel - a track shovel. Standing on one leg with the other on the shovel
you would use a pushing motion along with moving the shovel handle toward
your body. Repeat. It was called gandy dancing. It took some practice but
after learning it you could raise track almost as fast as a mechanical
tamper but with far more effort. It took 8 guys to equal a mechanical
tamper.

Steve


"Leon Fisk" <lf...@no.spam.iserv.net> wrote in message
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