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Jun 6, 2023 · The term "gandy dancer" sprang up to describe section gangs, a group of track workers previously mentioned. These men did everything from laying ties to aligning the rails. The origins of "gandy dancer" are unknown although "gandy" has sometimes thought to have originated from the Gaelic dialect while "dancer" denoted the unified motion workers ...
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 (from navigator ), originally builders of canals, or inland ...
Jan 22, 2018 · First of all, they were all Irish. Second, they had to fight Indians every step of the way while laying track. Third, they ate and drank themselves to death on meat and potatoes and rotgut whisky instead of eating vegetables and seafood like the Chinese. Fourth, they spent the last of their money in whorehouses.
Oct 17, 2023 · Gandy Dancers “Gandy dancers” was a nickname for railroad section gangs in the days before modern mechanized track upkeep. The men were called dancers for their synchronized movements when repairing track under the direction of a lead workman known as the “caller” or “call man.”. The name “gandy” supposedly arose from a belief ...
5 days ago · June 1, 2024. They say the crews of men who built the railroad tracks running through northwestern Wisconsin would dance. As the legend goes, their hand tools were manufactured down in Chicago by the Gandy Tool Company, and these guys would use some kind of song or a call to synchronize their drudgery. So the tools and the fancy footwork earned ...
Sep 16, 2006 · I did a Google search for the term, and got a Wikipedia site. According to this site, there are two theories, exclusive of the so called Gandy Mfg Co of Chicago which may have never existed. One says that the tool used, probably a pry bar, was called by the slang term GANDY and the coodinated use of this tool was akin to a dance.
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Railroad maintenance crews were nicknamed "gandy dancers" for their synchronized movements during track repair.The term "gandy" may have originated with the company that made the workers' tools, or with the stylized steps, resembling a goose or duck, they took while repairing the railway tracks.
