# Dated railroad nails



## Tombstone Brick (May 24, 2016)

Anyone collect dated nails?


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## RCO (May 24, 2016)

I've found old nails before but don't really collect them , anything I found near the tracks wasn't that old . only time I found old nails was some I found with metal detector near site of an old saw mill and some others I dug up in a turn of the century dump a while back


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## andy volkerts (May 24, 2016)

I am assuming you mean railroad spikes not nails??? Yes but I have no traders at the moment. they didn't make too many dated spikes......Andy


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## Tombstone Brick (May 24, 2016)

They put a date nail in each tie to see how long it last, also copper telegraph nails. They started in 1897. In Arizona the oldest is 03.


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## CreekWalker (May 24, 2016)

I've examined dozens of spikes, on abandoned railroads back to the 1870's while hunting insulators and have not found a dated spike. Now, finding cross tie retainer plates marked with company names and states are occasionally dated, I've found a couple dozen so far. I've also descaled rusted narrow gauge RR track spikes and so far no markings. Try the insulator forum here on ABN, and you may find a collector. And post a picture of a dated nail or spike. Lastly, I just remembered the RR bridge nails used to secure the cross tie to a bridge cap and beam are sometimes marked with company initials, numbers on them may be a date.


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## nhpharm (May 25, 2016)

The picture shows what these look like...they are about 2" long and were hammered into each railroad tie so the railroad knew when the last time the tie was replaced.  I accumulated a lot of them when I was a kid in New Hampshire.


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## botlguy (May 25, 2016)

I was an avid collector a few years back and there are many, many different types and sizes of "Date Nails" used by Railroads and utility companies to identify various things in cross ties, timbers, poles, etc. Not all numbers on nails are dates and there are those with letters and with number-letter combinations. _It is a whole hobby, mainly associated with the Texas Date Nail Collectors Association but with collectors all over the country. I received 24 nails just this week for a project I am working on. I am in the process of building another display of the 25 nail set used by Northern Pacific RR to donate to their museum here in Wallace, Idaho.
So Brick, I can say I sort of collect but not as avidly as I did once.  There is wonderful on-line information available.
Jim_


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## CreekWalker (May 25, 2016)

Those are certainly in a category of a niche collectable. Back in the 1970's and 80's , while working for a timber company , I carried wire cutters in a carpenters pouch, while felling trees. Using the cutter , I would remove six inch sections of barbed wire growing in trees, three to four feet thick. I still have them stored. Knowing and appreciating the history behind these items would be must for me. nhpharm, that is a very nice group of dated nails.


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## Bob Apples (Jul 6, 2016)

Here's a few of mine, pre 1920 are mostly what I collect. I have them from 1903-1983.


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## andy volkerts (Jul 6, 2016)

andy volkerts said:


> I am assuming you mean railroad spikes not nails??? Yes but I have no traders at the moment. they didn't make too many dated spikes......Andy



My bad, I didn't realize those were nails, I didn't mean spikes as in holding down rails, but after seeing your collections which are pretty cool. I see where they would be called nails, the couple I have are a little bigger, about five inches long, they came out of a trestle in the feather River canyon  below Portola.........Andy


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## jk666 (Jul 7, 2016)

My uncle in North Carolina does, or used to.


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