snakehead

A snakehead is a length of strap rail or flat rail that has worked loose from its fasteners and curled upward, creating a sharp protrusion across the track. The term comes from its resemblance to a snake's head rearing up. This defect was endemic to American railroads built with strap rail, a thin iron bar spiked to wooden stringers, particularly in the 1830s through 1860s. As trains rolled over deteriorating track, the spikes would shear or corrode, allowing the rail end to lift and twist, especially under the wheel loads of passing cars.

Strap rail differed fundamentally from modern T-rail or I-beam rail. It was a flat bar, typically 2 to 3 inches wide and less than half an inch thick, offering little vertical rigidity. When a spike failed, nothing held the end down. The raised metal would catch a wheel flange, derailing the car and often causing the serpentine, upward-bent configuration that gave the hazard its vivid name. A single snakehead could wreck a freight consist or passenger train.

The hazard evolved with railroad investment. Operators running light traffic or minimal maintenance budgets tolerated snakeheads until derailments became unavoidable. Railroads with better capital replaced strap rail with heavier T-rail, which was spiked more securely and maintained lateral strength even when individual fasteners failed. By the 1870s, strap rail was abandoned on major lines in the Northeast and Midwest, though it persisted longer on branch lines and in underfunded regions.

A snakehead differed from other rail defects like corrugation or angle-bar failure. It was acute and sudden, not gradual wear. Maintenance workers had to inspect track regularly and hammer down or cut out loose rail ends before they became weapons. Some railroads attached guards or angles to the undersides of strap rail to catch lifted ends, a temporary fix that disappeared once better rail types became affordable.

Today snakehead is historical terminology, appearing in accident reports and engineering histories from the 19th century. Modern rail systems have eliminated the problem through heavier rail, continuous welded track, and mechanical fastening systems that do not rely on driven spikes alone. The term survives as a reminder of why railroad standardization and capital investment in infrastructure matter.