United States-1938: Worker Sitting Beside Railroad Tracks and Heavy Machinery

Catalog date: estimated · Catalog location: estimated. Review source evidence · Request a source quality check

$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.

Year1938
Decade1930s
LocationUnited States
Duration2s
Price$149 USD
Collection1938 · United States
StatusStockfilm Exclusive

$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.

From the same film reel

1938 · United States · Reel e7c9589b contains 11 published Stockfilm-exclusive clips. Watch them in reel order and review the available reel documentation.

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What is in this clip

railway labor
rest
rural infrastructure
mechanization
working life
human scale

Shot type: wide
Camera: static · Slightly elevated view across the trackside ground
Setting: outdoor · Rural railroad worksite beside a road and open agricultural land
Time and weather: daytime · undetermined · Sunlit conditions
Lighting: Strong direct sunlight with deep shadows beneath the machinery
People: 1 · One apparent adult man wearing a light cap, long-sleeved work shirt, loose trousers and sturdy footwear, seated with knees raised and arms resting across them.
Vehicles: Rounded separate-fender automobile · Partially visible rail-mounted maintenance machine
Objects: Steel rails · Railroad ties · Gravel and bare earth · Large machinery wheel · Metal machinery frame · Hanging hoses · Utility poles · Work cap
Colors: black · gray · white
Master dimensions: 3840 × 2160
Audio: Silent
Date confidence: Low
Location confidence: Medium

Moments in the footage

Select a time to watch that moment in the preview.

A seated man rests beside the rails beneath the cropped machinery.
The view holds his resting pose with an automobile and fields behind him.
The same composition continues with slight framing and posture changes.

Worker Sitting Beside Railroad Tracks and Heavy Machinery — Clip Details

United States, circa 1938 home movie footage shows a man sitting beside railroad tracks with his knees raised and his forearms resting across them. Part of a large rail-mounted machine fills the right side, with its wheel and hanging hoses visible behind him. A rounded automobile stands on a road beyond the tracks against open fields and utility poles. The brief black-and-white wide shot holds the scene with slight framing movement.

Licensing & Technical Details

Original Format: 8mm / Super 8 Home Movie
Shot details: ExteriorBlack & white
Resolution: 4K restored master (MP4)
License: Direct license: commercial and editorial use
Delivery: Instant Digital Download
Duration: 2s
Price: $149 USD
Clip ID: 800003950

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: 1938 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: 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: Supports documentary requests for American railway working life circa 1938, particularly a brief resting-worker cutaway.
Period detail: The rounded separate-fender automobile, cap, loose work clothes and heavy rail equipment fit the broad period around circa 1938.
Home-movie behavior: The man remains seated facing generally toward the camera, giving the short view the informal quality of a personal worksite observation.
What appears in frame: A seated man occupies the foreground beside steel rails, with a machinery wheel, hanging hoses, a background automobile, utility poles and open fields.
Film character: Monochrome grain, soft detail, uneven projected brightness and dark edges give the transfer a visibly small-gauge archival texture.
Edit role: Use as a short human cutaway or pause between shots of digging machinery and manual track work.
Historical context: The composition places an individual worker beside large railway equipment in an open rural landscape.
Research note: The man's face is visible but indistinct, and equipment ownership is unidentified; copyright licensing is separate from likeness and property permissions.
Research search match: Matches searches for a seated American railway worker, a railroad rest break and black-and-white home movie footage circa 1938.
Archive pairing path: Pair first with this reel's ditcher digging, rail crew working together and workers swinging tools, then with United States railway labor footage circa 1938 and other work-break scenes.

Still Frames From This Clip

United States, circa 1938: a seated worker rests beside rails and a cropped maintenance machine, with a rounded automobile in the background. — A seated worker beside the rails, with heavy machinery immediately behind him.
License this still · $49

A railway worker sits with raised knees in the United States, circa 1938, framed below heavy machinery with a road and fields behind. — The man's resting pose beneath the cropped rail-mounted machine.
License this still · $49

United States, circa 1938: a capped man faces the camera from beside a railway track, with gravel, machinery and a distant automobile. — The seated figure against the rails and open roadside landscape.
License this still · $49

A resting worker beside sunlit rails and shadowed machinery in the United States, circa 1938, with an automobile on the background road. — Sunlit trackside ground contrasts with the machinery's deep shadow.
License this still · $49

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