Civilian and Officer in Rail Yard, 1862-63

AndyHall

Colonel
Joined
Dec 13, 2011
Men in Rail Yard.jpg

Original LoC caption: "Military railroad operations in northern Virginia: soldier and another man standing at railroad tracks in front of locomotive." Not very helpful, really. Said to be 1862 or '63.
 
What did they use the things for, that look like draft shoes but there not!!! they must be 5 pds each. what the heck are they for??? any one know??
 
Twisted.png


Thanks to a member of the Pre-1895 Railroads & Steam Engines Facebook group, this question is answered -- those implements are steel hooks used for twisting rail. They're described (along with this same picture) in Herman Haupt's autobiography:

Other experiments were made on old sidings near Alexandria to determine the best mode of rapidly destroying tracks. The usual mode adopted by the enemy had been to tear up the rails, pile the cross ties, place the rails upon them, set the pile on fire, and bend the rails when heated. I found this mode entirely too slow, as several hours were required to heat the rails sufficiently and, when bent, we could generally straighten them for use in a few minutes, in fact, in less than one-tenth of the time required to heat and bend them.

We had been experimenting for some time with no results that I considered satisfactory, when one day Smeed came into my office with a couple of U-shaped irons in his hands (see illustration on page 111) and exclaimed: "I've got it!" "Got what?" I asked. "Got the thing that will tear up track as quickly as you can say 'Jack Robinson,' and spoil the rails so that nothing but a rolling mill can ever repair them."

"That is just what I want," was my reply; "but how are you to do it with that pair of horseshoes ?"

He explained his plan. The irons were turned up and over at the ends so as firmly to embrace the base of the rail. Into the cavity of the U a stout lever of wood was to be inserted. A rope at the end of the lever would allow half a dozen men to pull upon it and twist the rail. When the lever was pulled down to the ground and held there, another iron was to be placed beside it, and another twist given, then the first iron removed and the process repeated four or five times until a corkscrew twist was given to the rail. After hearing the explanation, I said: "I think it will do; let us go at once and try it." Smeed's plan was found to answer perfectly, and the problem of the simplest and quickest mode of destroying track was satisfactorily solved.
 
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Thanks to a member of the Pre-1895 Railroads & Steam Engines Facebook group, this question is answered -- those implements are steel hooks used for twisting rail. They're described (along with this same picture) in Herman Haupt's autobiography:

Other experiments were made on old sidings near Alexandria to determine the best mode of rapidly destroying tracks. The usual mode adopted by the enemy had been to tear up the rails, pile the cross ties, place the rails upon them, set the pile on fire, and bend the rails when heated. I found this mode entirely too slow, as several hours were required to heat the rails sufficiently and, when bent, we could generally straighten them for use in a few minutes, in fact, in less than one-tenth of the time required to heat and bend them.

We had been experimenting for some time with no results that I considered satisfactory, when one day Smeed came into my office with a couple of U-shaped irons in his hands (see illustration on page 111) and exclaimed: "I've got it!" "Got what?" I asked. "Got the thing that will tear up track as quickly as you can say 'Jack Robinson,' and spoil the rails so that nothing but a rolling mill can ever repair them."

"That is just what I want," was my reply; "but how are you to do it with that pair of horseshoes ?"

He explained his plan. The irons were turned up and over at the ends so as firmly to embrace the base of the rail. Into the cavity of the U a stout lever of wood was to be inserted. A rope at the end of the lever would allow half a dozen men to pull upon it and twist the rail. When the lever was pulled down to the ground and held there, another iron was to be placed beside it, and another twist given, then the first iron removed and the process repeated four or five times until a corkscrew twist was given to the rail. After hearing the explanation, I said: "I think it will do; let us go at once and try it." Smeed's plan was found to answer perfectly, and the problem of the simplest and quickest mode of destroying track was satisfactorily solved.
Thanks for the explanation! I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking they just pulled up the rails, heated them in a fire and twisted them around trees or rocks....
 
Thanks for the explanation! I'm sure I'm not alone in thinking they just pulled up the rails, heated them in a fire and twisted them around trees or rocks....
They did plenty of that, too. But Haupt believed that twisting them longitudinally (like a licorice stick) was both faster and much harder to fix once the Union army had moved on.
 
They did plenty of that, too. But Haupt believed that twisting them longitudinally (like a licorice stick) was both faster and much harder to fix once the Union army had moved on.
Thanks for your response.
I recall seeing a period illustration in my high school history book discussion of Sherman's March that showed the 'pretzel bending' around trees. That has always stuck with me. Now I know someone came up with a better idea.
 
Folks on FB tell me that the man at left, holding the implements, is Haupt himself.

Well, since this is the place for hopelessly arcane opinions, let me just opine that the man mentioned in the article as the inventor, an engineer named E. C. Smeed - appears to be the guy holding the devi es.

There is CDV picture of him readily available with a search engine but I'm on my phone and can't post it.

Maybe some other kind soul can do so.

Anyway, with all due respect to the railroad fb guys, I think the man is Smeed, not Haupt who, as a Union Army Major General, you'd expect to see in uniform.
 
Well, since this is the place for hopelessly arcane opinions, let me just opine that the man mentioned in the article as the inventor, an engineer named E. C. Smeed - appears to be the guy holding the devi es.

There is CDV picture of him readily available with a search engine but I'm on my phone and can't post it.

Maybe some other kind soul can do so.

Anyway, with all due respect to the railroad fb guys, I think the man is Smeed, not Haupt who, as a Union Army Major General, you'd expect to see in uniform.
I've seen both Haupt's and Smeed's pictures, and I'm agnostic on which is which.
 
GREAT post @AndyHall I still like the bow ties. This is a very clear image and show the spikes. I love the CW RR as my Grandfather, and Dad worked for the RR all their life and my Dad and I have always collected CW RR items for years. I'm still on the hunt for an original bow tie. but anyway one of the things that I have been looking for is a photo of the "Chairs" that they used at the rail joints. most of the time you will just see a double or triple set of spikes. Since that had no way of drilling holes in the rail they used a chair. If you come across a photo of rail joint using a chair let me know.
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sherman-destroying-railroads.jpg
Diagram_of_section_of_Leeds_and_Selby_Railway_Chair_showing_rail_and_key.JPG
 
They did plenty of that, too. But Haupt believed that twisting them longitudinally (like a licorice stick) was both faster and much harder to fix once the Union army had moved on.

I think Haupt was correct in that Ive read CS accounts of repairing the RR after Sherman did his first march to Merdian and that the rail straight and back up in 5 weeks.
 
This a an awesome thread, I never get to see these kind of things very often. It explained some details I had never seen before. I 've seen sections or segments of Civil War rails, but never a twisted bow tie. Thanks for posting this.
 
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