I have about 500' of track with 2 switches that are an officially abandoned siding on my property. The thought was to scrap it for cash. How much does a foot weigh? What's the best way of removing it? Is it worth it? (LOTS of metal here!)
IICR rail is weighed by the yard. For example 100lbs per yard would give you the rail size. Siding rail would be smaller than main line rail. Best way would be to chop off 36" and see what it weighs. There may also be some indicator cast into the rail telling size.
Bernd
Rail is sized by lbs/yard, and it ranges from maybe
40lbs for a light siding like yours to 140lbs for a modern mainline.
Wouldn't it be more fun to get a locomotive or to lease it out to a railclub?
"Tom Gardner" wrote: clip) How much does a foot weigh? (clip) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Go to an end, or a joint with a gap, and trace around it onto a piece of cardboard. Then rule some squares on the tracing, to help you estimate the area. Area x lengthx density equals weight.
Actually ROLLED into the web of the rail on one side. It will also have the date rolled into it. Even more information if you know how to red all the makes.
howard
You should check into donating the rail and possibly the ties if they are in good enough condition to a railroad museum. You could write that off your taxes and possibly the museum might even come remove it. Where are you located??
tim
Buy this and have more fun than you could ever imagine!
Tom -
Where do you live ? - e.g. are there any private trains near by ? They might just come and get it for something. e.g. Mountain climbing trains, wine route, logging type, just pretty route...
That stuff might be worth something that you can't get - e.g. they have it for trade... Life trip ticket or that old junker furnace we bought last year - ..... Might be worth more in use than in scrap.
Scrap is better than on the ground, but I never minded it.
ONe issue you might run into - hasmat the ties ?! - that stuff is poison now. In situ - in the ground with rail - grandfathers them. [ have them hauled with the rails as a whole deal ]
Things to think about.
Martin
Post in all the local metalworking news magazines and on the internet that you are selling railroad anvil material for $5 a foot, and they have to remove it themselves.
It will be gone in about 2 weeks.
Is that 500 lineal feet? Or 2 250 foot lengths? A 1000 feet of railroad track is a shitload of steel.
You may make more money selling it to a railroad collectors club. Particularly with the switches, signals, ties and road equipment.
Gunner. "To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem. To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized, merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas
I'd run this question by the folks over in alt.railroad.
Good Luck!
Erik
You've received some great suggestions, but if it gets down to scrapping the rail, the price is about as good as it gets right now. Steel is at, or near, a record high, including scrap. Sell it off, so it will end up in China, where they'll turn it into lathes and mills and sell them back to us.
Harold
I'd have to go look to get you an address - hold on a minute.
Ohio Brush Company, 2680 Lisbon Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44104
And judging from the Mapquest picture when you plug in the address, he's right alongside a through rail line.
I would NOT rip the siding out or disconnect it from the mainline if it's still serviceable - it would be prohibitive to put it back if you suddenly had a need for it. As in shipping in or out lots of big heavy stuff that's going to a customer who also has rail access.
A better option might be to see if someone in the region needs a place to park a private railcar - you might be able to get some rent income from the siding. Or call Conrail and make them the same offer, siding space for lease, reasonable rates...
Tom: That steam engine above is one handy option if you want to start a REALLY expensive hobby, but at least the one advertised above is ready-to-go. Just bring your checkbook.
Welded boilers only - do NOT buy a riveted lap-seam boiler or an engine that doesn't meet current FRA rules, you can't take it out on the main lines and they have annoying habits like going with or without warning. Which can ruin your day...
If you need motive power, it'll be a lot cheaper to buy an older Diesel, like a yard switcher.
(Have a friend who's involved with Orange Empire Railroad Museum,
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Jay Leno mentioned tonight that the price of scrap has recently quadrupled. Is this true or just hype? Engineman1
quadrupled.
While I can't say it has quadrupled, it sure as hell has gone up considerably. I've not followed the scrap market closely, but the price of any steel item has increased by double in the past six months, at least where they stay current on prices. I know they're paying more for scrap, but I don't know how much more as compared to six months ago. Currently they're paying $85/ton average for steel. I can remember when scrap yards wouldn't even accept light steel.
Here's a link if you're interested.
Don't know if anyone else has heard it, but my scrap dealer tells me there's a fair amount of hassle in dealing with railroad iron. As in, having documentation as to ownership, and he can't resell it except to a recycling plant. No idea if this is state, federal or where the rules come from, but it won't hurt to check.
Short chunks of it _do_ make nice things to pound on, though.
And a 5-in. section makes a great dolly for fast bodywork. I have one with a thumb-hole that somebody torch-cut through the web. I polished it up good with my 16-Amp Milwaukee grinder. When I use it with my basic body hammer -- a 2-lb. maul -- I can knock a fender into shape quick as a wink. If you stand back about twenty feet, on a cloudy day, it looks damned good.
This is not a joke, BTW.
Ed Huntress
I have a friend that made a bumper for his pickup truck out of a section of rail. He had it extended about a foot from the body with aluminum tread plate on top. He rolled the sides of the tread plate over and made cutouts to match the profile of the rail so you could see the ends of the rail.
Since his truck had been raised about a foot, he had a bumper sticker made up that said: "If you can't stop, smile as you go under".
The number that is rolled onto the web of the rail is the weight per
*yard.*Orrin
Weight, manufacturer, type of rail, etcetera.
We still have some Carnegie Steel Corporation rail, circa 1890s, here in Monterey Bay.
(Carnegie and Mellon were later merged to form U.S. Steel Corporation).
I've seen some Geneva (a WWII-era plant near SLC) rail around here.
Since 1936, rail has generally been Controlled Cooled, and CC is usually seen as a type marking.
Pre-1936/non-controlled cooled rail is highly favored by Gillette Company, for use in razor blades.
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