Gandy Dancers 1973

1973 16mm film by Jack Schrader and Tom Burton that features field recordings of work chants of Gandy Dancers including aligning songs and chants to knock out slack in the rail.  Shot with a 16mm Bolex camera without sync sound, the visuasl shows men working with cross ties, aligning the track, and spiking.  The film focuses on the changes brought about by mechanization of railroad building. The film is part of the Burton Schrader collection in East Tennessee State University, 
Archives of Appalachia. A digital beta copy is in the Folkstreams archive in the Southern Folklife Collection in Chapel Hill.

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[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!

[Warsie]

just take the file. he uplaoded some sociological documentary i think.

[MrnoclaF]

These men don't need to go to gym after work!

[James Murphy]

Larry, I still have scars on my arm from the creosote-treated ties I had to unload (manually, one-at-a-time) from a hopper car.

[Chris L]

That was the song 'John Henry' being played on the harmonica @ 3:40

great documentary

[Larry Singleton]

I worked on a track gang. When I saw another similar video a few minutes ago I could literally smell the creosote.

[smartassstevie]

it's all pretty much the same to this day. except the singing we just talk trash all day.

[MsRunofthemill]

I just watched a Nat Geo doc and there are no less than six machines taking the place of these guys...then there are at least 8 men to feed and or run the machines..One digs the trenches for the tracks another fills with rocks another lays the track another puts in the spikes and still another that comes behind to put anchor pins on the spikes...still another comes and makes sure all in in alinement and covers up the center of the concret tiles...Oh my goodness this is progress????

[notfarfromhome]

We use the 8 or 16 pound hammer for the spikes. But that windmilling style is pretty awesome.

[Thomas Hickey]

if OSHA was around when this nation was building we still wouldn't have coast to coast railroad