1914 Rail Spike from Western Australia

This spike was taken from a bush fire damaged sleeper near Pemberton WA. The track was used to transport felled timber from the bush to the saw mill at Pemberton.

A rail spike (also known as a cut spike, or crampon) is a large nail with an offset head that is used to secure rails and base plates to railroad ties in the track. Robert Livingston Stevens is credited with the invention of the railroad spike, being first used in at least 1832.

A rail spike is roughly chisel shaped and with a flat edged point; the spike is driven with the edge against the grain, which gives greater resistance to loosening. The main function is to keep the rail in gauge. When attaching tie plates the attachment is made as strong as possible, whereas when attaching a rail to tie or tie plate the spike is not normally required to provide a strong vertical force, allowing the rail some freedom of movement.

Originally spikes were driven into wooden sleepers by hammering them with a heavy hammer by hand. This manual work has been replaced by machines, commonly called "spike drivers" (A machine that removes spikes is called a "spike puller"). Splitting of the wood can be limited by pre-boring spike holes or adding steel bands around the wood