The earliest wooden Railways were fixed to wooden sleepers by pegs through holes in the Railway, or by nails. By the 18th century cast iron Railways had come into use, and also had holes in the Railway itself to allow them to be fixed to a support.18th century developments such as the flanged Railway and fish bellied Railway also had holes in the Railway itself; when stone block sleepers were used the nails were driven into a wooden block which had been inserted into a recess in the block. The first chair for a Railway is thought to have been introduced in 1797 which attached to the Railway on the vertical web via bolts.

By the 1820s the first shaped rolled Railways had begun to be produced initially of a T shape which required a chair to hold them; the Railways were held in position by iron wedges (which sometimes caused the Railway to break when forced in) and later by wooden wedges, which became the standard. In the 1830s Robert L. Stevensinvented the flanged 'tee' Railway (actually a distorted I beam), which had a flat bottom and required no chair, a similar design was the contemporary bridge Railway (an inverted 'U' shaped with bottom flange and used on longitudinal sleepers); these Railways were initially nailed directly to the sleeper.

In North American practice the flanged T Railway became the standard, later being used with tie-plates. Elsewhere T Railways were replaced by bull head Railways of a rounded 'I' or 'figure-8' appearance which still required a supporting chair. Eventually the flanged T Railway became commonplace on all the worlds Railwayways, though differences in the fixing system still exist.

Note: the above information is from wikipedia