DCHP-3

head of steel

DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

1

the most recently laid tracks of a railway under construction; the farthest point to which tracks have been laid.

See: end of steel(def. 1b),railhead(def. 1a)

Quotations

1912
The head of steel is the point where, for the time being, the actual steel rails end.
1963
To a man who has seen labor gangs living in boxcars at the head of steel . . . these rooms still looked comfortable.
1963
For a week or so, the survey party to which I was attached worked around the gang laying the head of steel at about Mile 30. The steel gang lived in railway cars, pulled up by a locomotive along one or two miles of the track they had laid that day.
2

the farthest point to which railway service extends; the terminus of a railway.

See: end of steel(def. 1a)

Quotations

1939
From this post the letter will go out by dog team with the rest of the winter mail to Moosonee and the head of steel.