California USA-1936: Men Working To Build Railway Tracks

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Year1936
Decade1930s
LocationCalifornia, United States
Duration5s
Price$149 USD
Collection1936 California

$149 · CommercialDirect license: commercial and editorial use

$149 USD flat · royalty-free worldwide · 4K restored master (MP4)

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Stockfilm licenses the rights identified in the applicable agreement. Additional use-specific review may be required. See the Licensing Guide and Archive Integrity.

Men Working To Build Railway Tracks — Clip Details

Black-and-white 8mm home movie footage from California, USA, in 1936 shows a group of laborers working on a railway line in a rural, arid landscape. Men in period work clothes and hats use tools to lay and secure railroad tracks, with some bending over the rails and others standing nearby. The grainy, high-contrast film has a distinct vintage quality, with visible film edges and natural lighting. The scene captures the physical effort of manual labor during the early 20th century, offering authentic archival footage of industrial construction.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Shot details: Black & white
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 5s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 121505164

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Commercial Direct license: commercial and editorial use. $149 flat from Stockfilm. Royalty-free worldwide license for commercial and editorial use, delivered as the restored 4K master.

Editorial use is the safest path. For commercial use, a clearance review is recommended for the flags below.

People visible: Yes
Minors visible: No
Logos / trademarks: No
Audible music: No

Flags come from automated catalog metadata, not a legal opinion. The source is an original 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie reel. For high-stakes commercial use, request a full rights review.

Source & Documentation

Source reel: Reel record not linked for this clip
Date: 1936 Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Date evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual or technical evidence; no reel-level note is linked.
Location: California, United States Estimated (Catalog estimate from the footage and file metadata; not independently confirmed.)
Location evidence: Catalog estimate based on source metadata and visual evidence such as signage, landmarks, or terrain; no reel-level note is linked.
Licensing route: Direct license available from Stockfilm

Confidence labels are defined on Archive Integrity. Fields without a recorded value are shown as not recorded rather than assumed.

Open Clip Documentation Record Request source information

Topics & Keywords

Archive Intelligence

Archive brief fit: Useful for 1930s archival requests needing California railway construction, manual labor, rural infrastructure, or Depression-era work scenes for documentary or education use.
Period detail: The clip shows men in work hats and loose work clothes using hand tools on rail lines, visual details consistent with the supplied 1936 home-movie metadata.
Home-movie behavior: The footage has an observational home-movie feel, watching workers cluster, bend, stand, and move around the rails without staged presentation.
What appears in frame: Visible elements include laborers, rail tracks, hand tools, a sloped dirt embankment, open arid ground, hats, and rough track bed material.
Film character: Black-and-white 8mm texture shows heavy grain, soft focus, high contrast, visible frame edges, and slight handheld framing from the original film scan.
Edit role: An editor could use this as a brief insert, cutaway, or transition for stories about railroad building, manual work, rural infrastructure, or 1930s labor.
Historical context: The scene visually documents small-team physical labor on railway track in a dry rural setting, without enough detail to identify the project or employer.
Research note: People are visible and some faces may be partially identifiable, so likeness review may be needed separately from copyright or source-license checks.
Research search match: Relevant search phrases include 1930s California railway workers, 8mm railroad construction, men laying track, rural labor footage, and home movie infrastructure work.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with other scenes from the same reel, then with California 1936 material, and then with related railway, construction, labor, or transportation footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

California 1936 home-movie frame showing laborers with hand tools working along railroad tracks in an arid rural setting. — Laborers work by the rails while others stand farther down the track bed.

California 1936 frame with several men standing and working beside rail lines near a sloped dirt embankment. — A group of men cluster around the rail line beside a dry hillside.

California 1936 home-movie frame showing men around the railway line, with one figure partly cut off at the frame edge. — Workers stand along the tracks while one bends near the rail bed.

California 1936 frame showing a small railway crew near curved rail lines, hand tools, and a sloped arid embankment. — A small crew works and stands near curved railroad tracks in a dry landscape.

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