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- But most researchers have identified a "Gandy Shovel Company" or, variously, "Gandy Manufacturing Company" or "Gandy Tool Company" reputed to have existed in Chicago as the source of the tools from which gandy dancers took their name.
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Jun 6, 2023 · There are other sources which state the workers themselves came up with "gandy dancer. However, historians have widely felt the term "gandy" was in reference to a tool manufacturing company that is believed to have been based in Chicago.
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.
Oct 17, 2023 · The name “gandy” supposedly arose from a belief that their hand tools once came from the Gandy tool company in Chicago (though no researcher has ever turned up such a company that made railroad tools).
Sep 16, 2006 · Where did the term originate? How did it start? It's what they used to call MOW workers ITGOD, especially but not exclusive to those who tamped ballast. BTW, the term did not come from "The Gandy Co." or "The Gandy Tool Co." in Chicago, which allegedly made trackwork tools including ballast tampers. That is an urban legend.
Jan 7, 2008 · 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 tracklining tools. The physical movements of these railroad crew members were synchronized by a caller who sang the chants, ensuring safety and pacing while spiritually uplifting the men at their toil.
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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.
May 15, 2021 · The origin of the term is uncertain, although some suggest that it referred to the movement of the workers or that it was derived from the name of a Chicago manufacturer of hand tools used on the railroads.
