Overalls or bib-and-brace overalls, also called dungarees in British English, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers".
A 1920 advertisement for Over Alls, published in the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Journal, depicts railway workers adjusting track.
Diesel Black Gold Fall/Winter 2010 Collection
Salopettes for a motorcycle rider
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