Railway rail-fastening clip and assembly and methods of employing the same

An anchoring device for retaining an M-shaped railway rail fastening clip (1), the device (5) has a base member (51) and a pair of clip-retaining members (52) connected to said base member (51) wherein opposing side faces of said clip-retaining members (52) are connected together by said base member along only a portion of each said side face, the pair of clip-retaining members extending substantially upwardly with respect to the base member when the device (5) is in use, said clip-retaining members (52) being spaced apart so as to define an inner leg opening (54) between the pair of clip-retaining members for receiving the interconnected inner legs of such an M-shaped clip (1) and contiguous with respective guiding passageways (53) for receiving respectively the outer legs of the M-shaped clip (1), the device (5) being such that, as the clip (1) is driven into the device, the outer legs are forced downwardly with respect to the inner legs, thereby changing the clip (1) from an unstressed to a stressed operative configuration wherein a toe portion (14) of the clip connecting the inner legs together projects from a front face of the device to bear on a rail.