Good evening all,

I'm starting a scratchbuilding project based on the building diagram below. There's one bit of information that I don't know regarding the drawing. There are two heights noted on the plans. There's a 12 ft. height on the "top" outline near the center. There's also a 22 ft.height notation near the lower left corner.

Some time ago, I remember reading about a guy who created his own spikes using thin metal rodding (think desktop staple size).  The process was bending it ninety degrees, then laying side cuts right up against the long side and snipping it.  That would leave the (now very) short side just long enough to hold down the base of the rail.  The metal was hard enough that it could easily be driven into the roadbed (so not brass) and soft enough to bend easily (so not piano wire).