How much does railroad track cost??

[cnyeco1]

Found a piece of 3 foot long railroad track from a guy I work with for $50 bucks. Is that an OK deal or should I wait and keep looking? Going to make a few things out of it, (small anvil, etc.)

Thanks in advance

 

[Kevin54]

If you can use it, then it's worth it!!

 

[NUTTSGT]

Any more RR track is probably going to get harder to come by. Since most of it gets replaced by the railroad itself and sent to a recycler to be reclaimed, I doubt much is available for the generally public.

I know the local scrap places won't even take RR iron like spikes or the plates the spikes go through.

 

[Doug B]

Here's one thing I can tell ya...if you're walking the tracks and find an 18" long piece of track laying there,and it's about a mile and a half back to the truck,think long and hard about if you REALLY need that thing....that **** is HEAVY....but I have used it as an anvil about 3 times in the five years that I've had it....

 

[jkm4874ford]

Not sure about the price, but I do know overhead crane rails are the same configuration. Those get worn and replaced pretty often to. Might be an option for someonne.

 

[Krokodil]

Take it! Like being said, it is becoming more scare every day.

 

[CARS]

There has been some "discussion" on metal shaping forums about the legality of owning rail. I bought some at an auction once so I have a bill of sale, but I would be careful about who you buy it from.

BUT, it isn't like the RR police can possibly keep track of every foot of track!

 

[5lima30]

I would jump on it! RR steel is getting VERY scarce in most places. 20 years ago you could find it everywhere and it might have brought $5-$10. It will make a nice anvil and a great bumper/ weight for a small tractor!

 

[outcast]

i have a 3' piece. it has been in my MIL's garage ( that i now have use rights to) for over 20 years. its pretty surface rusty. i am going to take it when i move out. idk wth i am going to do with it, but its mine now.

 

[FJ 432]

I work for a construction company who was installing a generator. The area where the gen was to be placed had an abandoned spur that ran behind a large warehouse that used to sell furniture in the Denver Metro area. The rail had markings that indicated the age around 1920.

Everybody and their mother wanted that salvage because of the iron content in the steel. I should have grabbed a section....

 

[Shadowdog500]

I have a small piece on my workbench. It makes a great anvil to beat on. I would grab it.

Chris

 

[79firebird]

at work we have a 2 foot peace and i use it 2-3 times a month to bend metal for patch panles

 

[volvo]

...
Cut it in half & resale remainder $50.

Anvils Made From Sections of Railroad Rail

Introduction to Railroad Rail anvil making and design

http://www.spaco.org/Blacksmithing/Anvils/RailAnvils.htm

 

[bigdav160]

How much does that 3' piece weigh? 250lbs?

 

[kruegdr]

Track is the assembly of rail, ties, spikes, plates, etc. (Sorry, I work in the RR industry, and can't stand hearing rail referred to as track)

Anyways, you can get it for free sometimes if you ask the right maintenance guy. If you're looking to build an anvil, then you might specifically ask for a 1 ft section that he might have laying around. Most guys will give you a cold shoulder, but others will be happy to oblige.

If you are picky about what kind you want, the best rail to get would be anything over 132 lbs/yd. Ideally, you'd want something 141 lbs/yd and head hardened (for use in curves).

For a 3 ft section from your buddy, depending on what rail weight it is, 50 bucks might not be a bad deal.

 

[demographic]

How much does that 3' piece weigh? 250lbs?

In the UK the heavy grade railway track used for the faster trains weighs 110 pounds per yard.
I don't know what the American stuff weighs but I doubt its anything like 250.

 

[68-camaro]

I would buy it, once you have it you'll find all kinds of uses for it. Here is a picture of my railroad anvil. Made it years ago, handy little item. I would to try to get cheaper of coarse. My anvil is 11" across the top. You could make three of these anvils. 17 bucks apiece maybe that's not bad. A few hours of cutting and grinding to get it where it's at.

 

[Professur]

Not sure about the price, but I do know overhead crane rails are the same configuration. Those get worn and replaced pretty often to. Might be an option for someonne.

They might look the same, and might even be made the same ... but old rail has had millions of pounds of cars run over it and the surface is incredibly harder than it started out. Your talking apples and diamonds.

 

[nonhog]

I bought mine for $20.00 around 2'. Small 6" pieces were $5.
Here is a thread with good ideas.
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=90591&highlight=railroad,+track,+anvil&page=2

 

[WQ59B]

I liberated a forlorn piece (maybe 16" long) that had been tossed in the weeds along a ROW and Doug B is right on; damned heavy to carry the 500' I carried it. I would also agree with Professur- it is harder to grind than regular steel.

 

[DoyleDee]

I have a piece that was made into an anvil from my grandfather, he worked for the KD railroad in Kansas. I'm sure he picked it up from there, but I don't know when. I haven't ever used it as an anvil yet, I have a (I guess it is some type of anchor) that is a flat top about 2" thick with four legs that is all one piece... It is very heavy for what it is. I would say $50 is a good deal because I don't see a lot of rail around here.

 

[Jawn]

Track is the assembly of rail, ties, spikes, plates, etc. (Sorry, I work in the RR industry, and can't stand hearing rail referred to as track)

Thanks for pointing that out! It was bothering me too.

 

[pro machine Engineering]

I know the local scrap places won't even take RR iron like spikes or the plates the spikes go through.

They wont take anything that has the possibility of being stolen. There is a fortune is scrap metal of this type laying along the rail right of way. It will be there for ever and still belongs to the rail company. If you go down the rail right of way picking this up and get caught. Trespassing and theft charges can be pressed upon you. If the scrap company cant verify where they got it they to can be charged for recieving stolen property. Fined and possible shut down

 

[rmerina]

Depending on the size of the rail thats a decent buy. Generally speaking heavy (freight) rail is 115RE, or 133RE. Also generally speaking, the nomenclature of the numbers that is stamped on the rail generally refer to how many pounds per yard (length) it weighs. There are literally thousands of different rail profiles out there and gets even more complicated with you get into the transit rail and girder rail.

I work for a heavy civil contractor that builds light rail, commuter rail and streetcar systems here in the U.S. and we always take the iron back for scrap. Never heard of any scrap yards that wouldnt accept the spikes or tie plates either...

--Rick

 

[rodm1]

Depending on the size of the rail thats a decent buy. Generally speaking heavy (freight) rail is 115RE, or 133RE. Also generally speaking, the nomenclature of the numbers that is stamped on the rail generally refer to how many pounds per yard (length) it weighs. There are literally thousands of different rail profiles out there and gets even more complicated with you get into the transit rail and girder rail.

I work for a heavy civil contractor that builds light rail, commuter rail and streetcar systems here in the U.S. and we always take the iron back for scrap. Never heard of any scrap yards that wouldnt accept the spikes or tie plates either...

--Rick

Welcome to the forum.

 

[rogsmart]

@ Volvo

Nice link to the page on rail worked into anvils. Good stuff.

 

[Falcon67]

Walk the rails - you'll find plenty. They have updated the track in places here and UP leaves pieces - BIG pieces - for years. Little stuff nobody seems to care about, least not the clean up crew.

 

[ozyborn]

I got mine when they were rebuilding a section of rail close by. I asked the cleanup crew if I could snag some. They told me I could as long as i could lift it into the back of my truck. I never was so glad for my truck crane bolted on the back.
I ended up getting several long sections. Long enough to fill my full size.
got them home, cut them the length of my work bench and use them for weight in the bottom.
Note. when you have a 6 foot bench that is 36 inches wide, then have 3 layers of rail going the full length under it. You will never want to move it,ever.

 

[metalmagpie]

I would *never* pay $50 for three feet of track. Maybe $15, that's it. If you want railroad steel, legal, used, buy it: http://www.akrailroad.com/

 

[805gregg]

If you want an anvil check out Cliff Carroll anvils.

 

[trackwelder]

And as a contractor authorized to repair track you should not have any problem. The theft of material now is unreal. Recently in northern NY we had over four thousand track anchors removed from a mainline.

 

[browntown]

So if I'm driving a long and see a rusty short length of rail laying in the gravel on the side of the track, I can't pick it up and take it home? That's RR property huh? Dang.

 

[demographic]

In the UK (I was training as a welder in Workington where they made the 110pound per yard track) I just ambled into the rail head hardening plant and asked the nearest bloke in a boilersuit if there was any offcuts going spare for me to use as an anvil.
He said "Aye lad, just get yoursell a bit" and pointed at the nearest skip containing scrap offcuts.

Quite a weight carrying it home on the train and through the station that night though.

 

[gmein]

Consider the price of remnant or salvage iron, multiply it by the weight, you are probably getting a deal because of all the uses. Make three anvils, sell two for 75.00 each, you will come out ahead. For example from the responses above.

110 lbs x .80 per lb = 88.00 at that price 50.00 bucks is a real deal.

 

[Highbeam]

They wont take anything that has the possibility of being stolen. There is a fortune is scrap metal of this type laying along the rail right of way. It will be there for ever and still belongs to the rail company. If you go down the rail right of way picking this up and get caught. Trespassing and theft charges can be pressed upon you. If the scrap company cant verify where they got it they to can be charged for recieving stolen property. Fined and possible shut down

In my experience, that is absolutely false. The scrappers will take anything and they don't have to take names or receipts until a certain dollar figure is reached. What they do here is pay you the first 20 bucks or so in cash and then a check for the remainder so as to track the transaction.

The scrappers will accept water meters, water meter lids, headstones, wire (of course) etc. These things can be obviously stolen but the scrapper is a junkyard dog and needs his drug money too.

 

[AmickRacing]

I don't have a need for rail, but I think it'd be fun to make an anvil out of it. I've been keeping my eyes open for this stuff for 10 years and never ran across any.
A buddy of mine works on the RR, he's the guy who drives the choo-choo, and he's asked around for me too, but he keeps running into dead ends.

Must be different in my neck of the woods I guess. On the way to a job site the other day, I saw they were tearing out a LOT of old track, if I had to guess they've torn up 50-80 miles of it already. Betcha that scrap brings a pretty penny. I didn't even stop to ask them since the stuff they tore up was full lengths, and I doubt my work van would appreciate a full length riding on top of it lol

 

[Falcon67]

>In my experience, that is absolutely false.
The place I use will swipe your drivers license and put all that data in their computer prior to any transaction, unless you are inthere already. If it's 1$, they have to have a record. More so if copper is involved. They get audited regularly. And several friends have run into the Spanish Inquisition when dropping off stuff at one of the local recycle yards. Eyes and ears are open around here anyway.

 

[Joe B.]

I was thinking the other day that there are tons of old rail lines running through urban industrial properties that are no longer used and basically paved over. For those experts out there, are they still property of the railroad or are they owned by the property owner? About 15 years ago I remember seeing a train headed down the middle of Alameda blvd. near downtown LA but a Google Earth view of the area shows most the tracks are no longer in use. You also see a lot of these old tracks in Chicago.

On a side note, i picked this up for $15 last week and I was pleased with the purchase. The piece of rail is 16"
View media item 14364
I picked this up last week for $15. I was happy.

 

[slimer007]

I bought mine at the local steel recycling yard. I think i payed .40 a pound

 

[dennis111]

I have a 3' length that was left by some previous renters. How do I cut the darn thing to make it a more usable length?