Re: C&TS Fat Farm

Even with a spike driver/jack hammer, the spikes go in far easier if the holes are predrilled. When we laid a switch we fired up the Joy air compressor, used an air drill for the holes, and drove the spikes with a driver.
As for the old ways, in the mid 70's I was working at a warehouse here in Wichita that sat at the Rock Island/Union Terminal junction. The Rock Island section crew was driving spikes by hand. Four men with spike mauls driving each spike in unison. They worked like a well-oiled machine. First and last time I saw four men driving the same spike. Poetry in motion, and I wish now that I had a movie camera to capture that moment.