You ever tried to swing a spike hammer on a railroad spike .With me it's one hit in ten swings .Good thing I was never a gandy dancer,I'd have been fired before lunch time .
When I first got out of the military I worked on a rail gang for a short time. I swung a spike mawl quite a bit and got half way decent at it. Then I realized I needed a job that used my brains and not my back. I could not imagine doing that for a lifetime.