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Santa Fe R.R. trip, March 1943. Section house along the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in the vicinity of Encino, New Mexico. View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.
Up until the mid 1980s the very busy railway line that passes through my town had "sectionmen" doing just exactly that. They carried a spike maul over their shoulder and walked along the track. The foreman had a gasoline track motor car which could be heard put-putting along this line. We even still had the telegraph poles along the right-of-way.
Today that is all gone along with the cabooses on freight trains. Maintenance-of-way personnel now drive fully equipped 3 or 4 ton trucks that are able to use pavement. They are also "tricked out" with a retractable set of steel wheels to take to the rails as needed.
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