Not to be argumentative, but, uh.............

Gandydancers, railroad MOW workers, used tools, including shovels, mauls, and lining bars made by the Gandy Tool Co. of Chicago. For several large railroads, they were the main supplier and specifically for the larger eastern roads {NYC, Pennsy, and Chessie) they were virtually the only supplier.

The second half of the name came from several sources, The first, as I described, was the "shovel dance" needed to force ballast underneath ties. Another was the from the teamwork associated with laying and placing rail. Yet another may have come from the spiking.

Almost all of the MOW and inspection work done today is automated and especially the ballasting which was usually considered one of the hardest tasks in terms of doing the job properly. Of course, if you consider that the end of a spike maul is only the size of a 50 cent piece and the head of a spike is slightly smaller, driving spike was no mean feat in itself. As everyone is probably aware, at the "Driving of the Golden Spike" the big shots missed the spike entirely and it was driven in by a gandydancer, later replaced with the gold one temporarily. Gold is much too soft for a spike!

I haven't encountered Gandy as a producer of rail. Most railroads were tied in with the steel and coal companies through interlocking directorates or virtually sole ownership like Carnegie, and the rail business moved from the right pocket to the left.

Spaw