I have found several date nails in the area of Piedmont, Al (in fencepost ties) and think they came from the Seaboard road, as opposed to the Southern. Does anyone know if Seaboard used date nails, and if so what years they were used? In the Montgomery area, I have found none on old Seaboard road, and a lot of the ties look old enough to have had them. Thanks

-- Al Pelham (alwc@alalinc.net), December 15, 1998

Answers

I found a few many years ago near Boykins, Va.(early teens and 20's).This line runs from Weldon,NC to Portsmouth Va.and was used extensively during the Civil War.

-- Carlton pope (dpope@amaze.net), March 27, 1999.

The Seaboard did use date nails as I have found them in several locations in NC. Several year ago I found some on an abandoned trestle near Pittsboro NC with 62 on them, obviously 1962. The Seaboard placed their date nails at or near the center of the ties while the ACL placed theirs in the end .

-- Tom Carver (trains46@aol.com), February 11, 1999.

One of my assignments was on a work train that re-tied the East Route (S-Line) of the (then) Collier Subdivision between Hermitage (Richmond) and Bellwood. Most of the date nails I found (and I found bucket loads) were 32-36, which makes sense, as the roadmaster with whom we worked explained that the life of a wooden cross tie is about 40 years.

-- Doug Riddell (railroaddoug@erols.com), December 18, 1998.

Yes. On the Portsmouth main line between Littleton and Garysburg, N. C. I have found date nail in ties 34, 37, 46, and 57 in different spots. These were found back in the mid-60's.

-- Larry Denton (saled@3rddoor.com), December 17, 1998.