Railroad Spikes

Falls Road Spike 

From New York Central Falls Road which ran from Rochester to Niagara Falls.

Falls Road came through Spencerport and ran until 1982.

Rail road spikes are large nails with an offset head that is used to secure rails and base plates to rail road ties in the track. Robert Livingston Stevens invented the spike in 1832 and it was used for over a hundred years in order to fasten the railways. In 1982 spikes were still being used to fasten rails in North America. While men worked on railroads these spikes were driven into the wooden sleepers on the railroad by hand using massive hammers. Later machines were used to drive the spikes into the ground.Spikes like the one above were used to build rail roads everywhere.The spike pictured above can be found in the Spencerport Depot and Canal Museum.

Guest post by Kelli Emler