Railroad spike question - HC, WHC?

Question

I was reading on some forum about spikes and I am confused

About what "HC" means.

Is it a company? Or does it mean "High Carbon"? or something else. Could you help me out?

And also on the same forum"WHC" was said to be "water/high carbon"?Thanks for any answers.

Answer 1

could be high carbon or Houston Central.

Answer 2

Indeed, "HC" stands for the stronger, high carbon, spikes and must be stamped into every one that includes such.  And yes, WHC means the steel has been formed using the method of water quenching (which can be of either high carbon or not so it will either have just  "W" or "WCH" as in the case of this discussion).