Gandy dancer is a slang term used for early railroad workers in the United States, more formally referred to as section hands, who laid and maintained railroad tracks in the years before the work was done by machines.
The British equivalents of the term gandy dancer are navvy, originally builders of canals, or inland navigations, for builders of railway lines, and platelayer for workers employed to inspect and maintain the track. In the Southwestern United States and Mexico, Mexican and Mexican-American track workers were colloquially traqueros.
A railroad section gang – including common workers sometimes called gandy dancers – responsible for maintenance of a particular section of railway. One man is holding a bar, while others are using rail tongs to position a rail. Photo published in 1917.
Photo of railroad maintenance section crew, Lake Erie & Western Railroad, Rawson, Ohio, 1920
A "wide awake gang" of section crew workers. Photo shows what appear to be heel claw bars used to pull up spikes. The title and caption of the photo refer to union membership. Published in Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Journal, 1921.
"Typical Stone Ballasted Track", photo published in 1921
A railway track or railroad track, also known as a train track or permanent way, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties and ballast, plus the underlying subgrade. It enables trains to move by providing a dependable surface for their wheels to roll upon. Early tracks were constructed with wooden or cast iron rails, and wooden or stone sleepers; since the 1870s, rails have almost universally been made from steel.
New railway concrete sleeper
Traditional railway track showing ballast, part of sleeper and fixing mechanisms
Track of Singapore LRT
Ballastless high-speed track in China