William…go to www.switchcrafters.com
It’s called The Spiker.
Thanks Randy! Sounds like a handy little tool!
It’s a bit pricey but well worth it. I just finished hand spiking rail to an 8 foot trestle…could not imagine doing it any other way.
Thanks for the reminder guys! I wasn’t looking forward to spiking too close to the wall. This rig will be the ticket! 
BTW I find that a fair price and quicker than do the engineering, find the materials and all that other good stuff.
After a couple of years, “The Spiker” continues to perform wonderfully. (Available from Switchcrafters: http://www.switchcrafters.com/ )
If you’re into handspiking your track, this tool is well worth the money.
I have modified mine a bit, since I don’t use the narrow ties. I ran this through my table saw to cut off the legs, allowing it to fit my wider ties.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/thejoat/tools/IMG_0838.JPG)
Every year, I have been pounding my spikes back in place. My trestles and bridges were all done the “old” way - needle nose pliers putting a spike on either side of the rail. Over the winter, these all decide to rise up - and my Shay bumps across them.
This year, I decided to pull all of the old spikes and put in new MicroEngineering medium spikes using the spiker - 4 spikes per rail per tie.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/thejoat/tools/IMG_0834.JPG)
It’s not nearly as bad as the first time spiking - I only remove two ties worth of spikes at a time, so the rail is held in place while I use the Spiker to put in the new spikes. The old holes sometimes cause a bit of a problem, but not a big one.
I’ve looked over the switches I have redone with the spiker, and I do not see any of the spikes popping up. I’m ever optimistic…
I hand spiked my trestle last year and I was worried about the spikes popping up. I took Rodney’s advice and dipped each spike in super glue before spiking. I had no movement what-so-ever, which is good. However, my switchcrafters curved switch has not fared as well. I’m going to have to remove the spikes and respike. I think I will use the glue trick again.
If you plan on spiking rail to wood ties…just wet the spikes before you drive them into the wood…they then rust and grab the wood…problem solved…don’t use stainless steel
spikes…
I have spikes that were pressed into Western Red Cedar ties that have never moved in ten years.
Fred
I just got the Spiker, spikes, and ties from Switchcrafters. The Spiker seems like a good investment. I’ll start with some bridges. I would like to move on to a switch. Good tips here.
Bob, your pictures from the first page got erased? They don’t show up.
Joe Paonessa said:
I just got the Spiker, spikes, and ties from Switchcrafters. The Spiker seems like a good investment. I’ll start with some bridges. I would like to move on to a switch. Good tips here.
Bob, your pictures from the first page got erased? They don’t show up.
Fixed
Thank you! There are some helpful tips on this site, and I appreciate the help. I actually am excited to try the Spiker on some rail now.
The CA trick seems to be a good idea, time will tell…The Spiker will also accomodate using 18 x 1/2 eustucheon pins availible at any hardware store…once they rust a bit you really can’t tell the difference…
My rail has only been done for a year. But I did not see any movement from over the winter. Re-reading this thread has reminded me I have to fix that curved switch.
Glad this thread of Bob’s has been revived recently. There’s good info here.
I’ve adapted my original track hand laying jig for making switches. My switches (and railroad) is code 250 aluminum from Llagas Creek. The first switches I made were Llagas Creek kits.
The last five or six were Llagas Creek switch kits which had been out in the sun for about a dozen years. Ties were loose, rotted, or missing. So I replaced all the ties.
http://www.largescalecentral.com/freightsheds/users/dick44/switch_rebuild/RBS_5sm.jpg
http://www.largescalecentral.com/freightsheds/users/dick44/switch_rebuild/RBS_13sm.jpg
http://www.largescalecentral.com/freightsheds/users/dick44/switch_rebuild/RBS_24sm.jpg
I even reversed the frogs and outer rails to make lefts into right. Nice build. I don’t have a spiker, just use a pair of pliers. Since I make my ties out of redwood fence boards, which is pretty soft, I just push them in.
They do come back out over time, and I haven’t found a good way to respike them on the ground.
Any suggestions.
A nail set and a small hammer…
Nail Set and small hammer works good indoors, but pounding nails in ballast only shoves the ties into the dirt.
Even with a stringer beneath the rail, the ties are shoved into the ballast.
Am I the only one who can’t see those three photos? Dick???
Needle nose pliers?
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/freightsheds/users/dick44/switch_rebuild/RBS_5sm.jpg)
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/freightsheds/users/dick44/switch_rebuild/RBS_13sm.jpg)
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/freightsheds/users/dick44/switch_rebuild/RBS_24sm.jpg)
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/freightsheds/users/dick44/switch_rebuild/RBS_5sm.jpg)
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/freightsheds/users/dick44/switch_rebuild/RBS_13sm.jpg)
(http://www.largescalecentral.com/freightsheds/users/dick44/switch_rebuild/RBS_24sm.jpg)
Thats cause the http:// www.largescalecentral.com/ was missing