Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (N.Z./US) walking, on foot; also as v., to walk, to travel by foot.

1919		H.J. Tudury diary 9 Oct. 🌐 Left Faid [?] Germany at 8:00 P.M. Via ‘hobnail’ express, and hiked three day’s [sic].
1919		R.L. Thompson Hist. of 310th Infantry, 78th Div. 109: We were to proceed ‘without delay’ via the ‘Hob Nail Express.’.
1935		Amer. Legion Mthly 19-20 45: In a few days the grand advance on St. Louis will commence ... by bus, plane, ^ rail, boat— and even by hobnail express.
1936		W. Reddan Other Mean’s Life 137: Touring France via ‘hob-nailed express.’.
1944		Infantry Jrnl 54-55 60: To the Editors of The Infantry Journal Reading the article— ‘Hobnail Express’— printed in your March 1944, edition, I was surprised by your opinion of the Paratroops.
1965		I. Mudie Riverboats 142: Be that as it may, the improvements greatly cut down the need to use the hobnail express.
1987		Chron. Oklahoma 24: [Ibid.] On August 17 Corporal Noble and his fellow band members, weighed down by full field packs, left Minot by ‘hobnail express’. 30: Noble’s unit occasionally travelled by truck, but more often it moved by ‘hobnail express’.
2001		Max The ‘Joy’ Of Earlimart! Coffee!!! 🌐 Good morning y’all! Hobnail express on in, and put your bum in the rocker, and prop your wing tips on the ottoman.

2. the conveyance of heavy weights by hand, rather than by machinery.

1953		S.J. Baker Aus. Speaks 148: hobnail express. — The unloading of cargo from a river boat by manpower, not derricks.
2008		J. Nicholson Steam, Steel and Speed 14: Everything had to be lugged up the [river] bank by hand. They called this job the ‘Hobnail Express’.