California-1936: Workers Laying Iron Rail with Hand Tools

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only. $149 flat from Stockfilm for documentary, news and educational use, plus internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Year1936
Decade1930s
LocationCalifornia, United States
Duration6s
Price$149 USD
Collection1936 California

$149 · Editorial onlyDirect license: editorial use only

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

Before you add to cart: Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement. Checkout will only offer editorial, educational, internal and social/web scopes.

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Workers Laying Iron Rail with Hand Tools — Clip Details

A group of workers in 1936 California labor on a railway line, using hand tools to move and align iron rails. Shot on 8mm film, the footage captures men in work clothes and hats bending over the tracks, pushing a rail-laying tool across wooden ties. The scene unfolds in bright daylight under a clear sky, with rocky terrain visible in the background. The grainy, color-bleached quality of the Super 8 home movie adds authentic vintage texture, offering a rare glimpse into mid-20th century industrial labor and railroad construction.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: editorial use only Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 6s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 127477167

Rights & Clearance

$149 · Editorial only Direct license: editorial use only. Editorial use only: documentary, news, educational, internal and organic social use. Not permitted in advertising, sponsored or branded content, broadcast promotion or any paid commercial placement.

Editorial use only; commercial use is not offered for this clip. Review the flags below for your editorial context.

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 California industrial labor requests, railroad construction sequences, documentary cutaways, and education edits about manual track work before mechanized maintenance dominates the scene.
Period detail: Visible era clues include brimmed work hats, heavy work clothes, wooden ties, hand tools, and a small rail-positioning device on a dry outdoor track bed.
Home-movie behavior: The camera observes from close range as workers bend, brace, and coordinate around the rail, giving the clip an unstaged record of repeated manual effort.
What appears in frame: The frames show several adult workers, iron rails, wooden ties, hand tools, gloves, dusty ground, rocky banks, and bright open daylight.
Film character: The 8mm scan has soft focus, warm color fading, visible grain, gate edges, and slight handheld framing that reads as physical home-movie evidence.
Edit role: An editor could use it as a brief insert, labor cutaway, transition into transportation history, or tactile detail within a sequence on infrastructure work.
Historical context: The footage visually documents a crew handling railroad material by hand in California, showing the physical coordination behind track work without identifying the rail line.
Research note: People and faces are visible, so likeness review may be needed; no logos or private property are apparent, and copyright clearance is separate from depicted-person rights.
Research search match: Good match for searches such as 1930s California railroad workers, 8mm rail construction, vintage track repair, and men laying iron rail with hand tools.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with adjacent shots from the same reel, then other 1936 California material, then broader railroad labor, industrial work, and infrastructure construction footage.

Still Frames From This Clip

Adult workers in 1936 California appear to align iron rail by hand beside wooden ties on a dry outdoor track bed. — Workers gather around the rail as hand tools are positioned over the track.

A small crew in work clothes uses a rail-laying tool on a California railway line, with dry terrain and a bank behind them. — The crew leans into the rail tool while working along the track.

Men in hats and workwear bend over the railway, using hand tools near wooden ties in a 1936 California outdoor work scene. — Workers bend close to the rail as the tool is adjusted on the ties.

The 8mm frame shows a California rail crew coordinating around a metal rail tool, with iron rails and ties visible under bright sun. — The rail tool sits across the ties as workers continue the track work.

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