sleepers (ferroviari)

[laupras]

from English into Italian

question: how would you translate the word "sweepers" here?

context:

"Fisherman's Blues" lyrics

---
crashing a-headlong on into the heartland
like a cannon in the rain
with the beating of the sweepers
and the burning of the coal
---

I'm Italian and even if I speak English, I don't get the meaning of that word in this context

 

[Curandera]

This is what I found:

Desidererei essere un pescatore
---
Sbattendo la testa lungo la heartland (lett. Il centro della terra = Midwest)
Come un cannone nella pioggia
Sentendo il travetto e il carbone che brucia
Contando le città che sfilano via
---

 

[CPA]

laupras, hai citato male. Il testo dice: "I wish I was the brakeman / on a hurtlin fevered train / crashin head long into the heartland / like a cannon in the rain / with the feelin of the sleepers / and the burnin of the coal / countin the towns flashin by..."

"Sleepers" sono traverse, o traversine: quella parte del binario a cui sono fissate le rotaie.

Buon Natale!