Gandy Dancers 1973

[mg123ish]

Well said cj

[cjone33]

Yeah some machines come on and made it easeir but anybody that works in maintenace of way still know how to swing a maul, pick a crib, tamp a crib and shovel rock we don't always do it the old way but we do when we have to and it is more common then you would think its still no game for the lazy gotta be willing to give it your all if you wanna work out here.

[caddyj1]

I'd like to thank all the men who with the sweat of their brow built this nation present, past, and beyond.

[jhpmurphy]

1973! I was a "school boy" (university student) employed as a section hand for the MoPac. We worked at the Ivory Street yards at the mouth of the River Des Peres and the Mississippi River. Hot, humid, dirty. I loved every second of it. Taught me profound respect for these hard-working men. And damn! Did I study hard when I got back to school in the fall! 

[aperturemicah]

u aint a man till you're on track crew.

[broham776]

now this is MANual labor lol what's better or worse the fact that these guys busted there ass for a paycheck ... or that there jobs are now done by machines ... there is a price we pay for technology

[CSXtrackworker]

@broham776 We still bust our asses for a paycheck on the railroad. The work is still dirty, heavy hard time consumeing work.. We do have mechanized machines for basic track gangs, but it only alleviates some of the hardness of the work...

[DammitDrag]

My Uncle was a section foreman for the Florida East Coast railroad and I had the pleasure of riding on his motorcar with 12 gandy dancers, all good people and hard working men.

[MsRunofthemill]

The men are doing very strainous work...the ones without gloves are there for show only...How things have and haven't changed in the work place no matter where it is...

[mikes47jeep]

@MsRunofthemill i dont know about that, i cant wear gloves when swinging a hammer, pick, or shovel. i get more blisters with gloves than without

[copperblazer1]

That guy at 5:15 - 5:27 was really whipping that hammer. Now that is surely hard work those guys were doing, hat's off to them.

[Lotusandcedar]

I was working for the Canadian National Railway's extra steel gang #101 the summer of 1972 near Prince Rupert, BC and Wainwright, Alberta. We were replacing the old railroad tracks with 1/4 mile long ribbon rails. The minimum wage then was CAD$1.50/hour and CN was paying us casual labourers CAD$2.43. I needed the money to go to school and was working 10 hours a day, 7 days/wk the whole summer. It was hard work, but I was happy !!!!

[orixaofthewind]

I love you folkstreamer! Thank you so much for this video!

[gerrythrash]

Backbreaking work.

[sgrroiii]

Not one fat guy,

[securetag]

They have gone from singing about those they love and hate to some bovine pie for da white boy....OK.. go boy go boy lol

[judge6754]

A breed apart, Outstanding ..

[99rejoyce]

put the words on top of the pictures to go along with the songs.

[billyrose76]

Great lyrics and music have always gone hand in hand with hard work. Let's hear it for the working class!

[warabe53]

Wow, awesome piece of film

[allengoodman69]

Those were men !

[TheBoyFromNorfolk]

What a fantastic record. Good to see.

If only the british Rail track had skilled workers like them.