A worker assigned to a gang that builds new railway lines or replaces existing rails and ties. The term also applies to heavy, specialized maintenance-of-way machinery that automates this process by laying down continuous welded rail and concrete ties in a single pass. Human tracklayers handle the physical alignment, spiking, and fastening of the steel to the roadbed.
Heard on the job
The tracklayer crew needs another hour to finish spiking the new turnout before we can let the local through.