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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 ...
Sep 27, 2023 · The term “Gandy Dancer” finds its roots in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a time when manual labor was the backbone of railroad construction. Legend has it that the term originated from the rhythmic movements performed by these laborers. Just like a skilled dancer who gracefully moves to the rhythm of music, Gandy Dancers would ...
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 ...
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 ...
Jan 22, 2018 · Irish and Chinese laborers, in fact, are known to have worked harmoniously on the Central Pacific, on which the graders and tracklayers were usually Chinese and the foremen and teamsters Irish. The blasting feud may have been the most durable and most pernicious aspect of the gandy dancer myth. John Koster is the author of Custer Survivor.
Jan 7, 2008 · Most of these gandy dancers—the label applied to railway line workers who maintained railroad tracks and kept the rails straight—were African Americans who adapted the work call to railroad work. The term is said to be from the dance-like movements of the spikedriver, plus the name of Chicago-based Gandy Manufacturing Company, who supplied ...
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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.
