Rolland Meyers Wrote:
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> I have been collecting, researching and writing
> about date nails for a long time now. There is
> actually a National Association of Collectors of
> these (GOOGLE T.D.N.C.A.)of which I am a member.
> The SP in the west stopped using them in 1942 but
> the SP Texas lines used them until 1951. The
> Santa Fe stopped after 1969 as did the Great
> Northern. The Northern Pacific stopped after 1921
> and the Milwaukee Road - famous for using a lot of
> copper nails because of its affiliation with the
> Montana copper mines - stopped after 1951
> (although they did use a bunch of 1962 Santa Fe
> nails in Iowa in a test section. The UP stopped
> using date nails in 1936, but also used a few
> 1964's found in WY. Most all Class One roads used
> date nails at some point in their history. Out
> west the WP did not use them and you will see a
> line like the Camas Prairie that was formed by a
> joint venture of the NP and UP in the very early
> 1900's where both parent lines used nails but none
> was used on the Camas.
> The first known date nail used in the U.S. was the
> 1897 supposedly used by the Mississippi River &
> Bonne Terre railway. I have never seen one of
> these and the earliest date usually found in big
> collections is the 1899 Great Northern Nail. The
> use of date nails started as a marker for testing
> various tie treatments for longevity and was
> introduced to America by Octave Chanute - of some
> aviation fame as well! Good nail salesmen seemed
> to keep the usage of them going for the purpose of
> marking the year the tie was put into service,
> regardless of the treatment. A letter or code
> nail was used by several lines for tests, and
> timber identification and bridge markings.
>
> Date nails were also used on Canadian, Mexican,
> New Zealand, French, Belgium, Russian, Japanese
> and Australian railways. There are a few others I
> am sure I left out.
>
> More than you ever wanted to know about date
> nails??
> Regards,
> Rolland Meyers


Thanks for the quality post Roland. It certainly adds a lot here. No real bearing on
this subject, but since you mentioned Octave Chanute...I spent a few months at Chanute AFB in
Illinois in spring of '66. Place is closed and the museum is struggling to stay afloat
in these lean times, but I remember it well. Of course, a GI would remember most anything
well after spending basic training in Texas! Illinois was like a breath of fresh air.