That section of rail probably weighed about 68 pounds per foot. No wonder it took a lot of men to carry it.

He's wearing what my generation knew as a drill-sergeant's hat. An appropriate association, because railroad section gangs, typically minorities or immigrants, were subject to harsh discipline.

Section gangs were also called 'gandy dancers', the 'gandy' being a five-foot iron lever used to align track as the crew moved forward. All the gangs used chants or songs to coordinate movement. But the term 'gandy dancers' has become specifically associated with southern Black crews whose moves achieved balletic coordination. The original of folklore legend John Henry may have been a gandy dancer.

I'm reading Tony and Anne Hillerman novels, set in New Mexico, and each tribe can instantly recognize another's heritage, Navajo or Hopi or Pueblo, etc. What tribe might these be, and what part of the country?

[Read the caption! - Dave]

Does not look like easy work! Ten men at each end of one piece of rail? How much do they weigh, and how far to carry them?

Good a guess as any: the 39-foot rail weighs 112 pounds per yard, so say 1,500 pounds total with the tongs. What do they have, 16 guys carrying it? But no doubt they try to manage with fewer, now and then anyway.

Prove that rail is definitely heavy.