Railroad work relied on specialized tools for aligning rails before spiking them down, pulling and driving spikes, removing gravel when replacing ties and doing other grubbing jobs, aligning junction switches, holding parts for welding, lifting and carrying ties, putting date tags on poles or ties, carrying rails, fastening rails to ties in switching areas with switch bolts or with rail spikes, raising rails so ties could be replaced, and replacing old ties with extra wood rail ties.