Rail road Rail - Page 2

Originally Posted by newattitude

My dad has a piece from HIS dad from way back when. There were two, I took one piece on my very first scrap drop off and got yelled at.

You cant get in trouble for owning it (what are they gonna do? arrest you for your father or grandfather for taking it in the first place??) but you can get in trouble trying to scrap it.

what about a case where you have written authorization from the R.R. company, cause behind my house is old old tracks that im thinking of calling them up and see what they say. once permission (written) is given a scrap yard should have no problem.

4 foot lengths in the trunk of car being scrapped has never raised any red flags

In my part of the world, there was lots of mining in the old days where a guy would dig a rathole in the rock and use those little mine cars like you see in museums. The rail was about half the size of regular RR rail. Does that stuff count as fair game? I got a few chunks I dug up when I cleared some land in the back 40.

What about rail that you can buy yourself by going to your friendly neighborhood steel supplier? I used to order the stuff to replace rail track used in lumber dry kilns--the wood was put on little cars that ran on rails thru the kilns. The environment inside the kiln would rust out the rails in a very short time.

I suspect that the kicker might be in the fine print--a railroad rail that has a name embossed on it, such as might be the case when a railway company custom ordered a thousand tons of rail...they would be able to custom order anything they wanted rolled into the rail as it was being made...

So if a rail section cannot be traced to an owner, ie, not having a RR name on it, wouldn't it have to be assumed to be just a piece of steel?

Jon.

I wouldn't sell em for scrap anyway, worth much more just to use as an anvil. I've got 2 or 3 of em laying around here that came from who knows where, or even when. Probly from flea markets or such

4 foot lengths in the trunk of car being scrapped has never raised any red flags

I heard a story some years ago, about a junkyard that sent a car to the shredder with a railroad car wheel in the trunk. It was said that they got the bill for the 50 thousand bucks it cost to fix the shredder.

I'll dig up 3 or 4 foot long chunks of rail every now and then. The worst reaction I ever got was....

Yard man: "I'm not supposed to take that."

Me: "Ok. I can take it to a place down in town and they'll take it."

Yard man: "Throw it off. I'll hide it in the middle of the pile."

Originally Posted by Ditchdigger

I heard a story some years ago, about a junkyard that sent a car to the shredder with a railroad car wheel in the trunk. It was said that they got the bill for the 50 thousand bucks it cost to fix the shredder.

I'll dig up 3 or 4 foot long chunks of rail every now and then. The worst reaction I ever got was....

Yard man: "I'm not supposed to take that."

Me: "Ok. I can take it to a place down in town and they'll take it."

Yard man: "Throw it off. I'll hide it in the middle of the pile."

some yards process there product ( they shred ) so they might deal with it better .

u need a letter from the local rail companies or freeway maintenance crews in order to turn it in ...

Throwing anything over 1\4" thick in the trunk of a car or in the bed of a truck that you are scrapping, is a REAL good way to get fined by the local yard. The yard I use does shred passenger vehicles. However, their shredder will only process to a thickness of 1\4" thick or less.

I tried taking some square tubing that had a 1\2" wall and instead of getting the shred price for it, I had to take it to their 'Torch Area', I learned really quick, anything the yard has to cut with a torch or their sheer, you only get HALF of the regular shred price.

Sorry if I hijacked your thread.

My grandfather had two chunks of old rail. One was used as an anvil the other a boat anchor. They were in the family for ever before he got them. His grandfather was a "section boss" with the railroad. He was responsible for a twice daily inspection of the tracks. He also oversaw repairs and such. I suspect that both chunks came from him. His railroad work was in the late 1800's so I am positive that no one could prove ownership one way or the other. When my grandfather died, the chunks ended up with my BIL.

There are many thousand and thousands of private trunk lines , many are very old . The RR does not own these , they are paid for by the company where they go to pays for them..or the city. county are state... There are several companys that install rail lines... would get a letter or bill of sell from this person ,and have him state that it was there when he bought the property..and have it notarized. You can file a copy of this with your county clerk.

i think the guys at the scale would have had a suspicion when the car weighed double.

Not if it went across the scale on an 18 wheeler with a dozen others. But yeah, it could be BS.

some yards process there product ( they shred ) so they might deal with it better .

This one doesn't, but you're missing the point, which is that the shredder doesn't deal well with great big thick chunks of steel.

And as RustyDollars said above, heavy melt brings a better price than shredder. There's not much ferrous that's worth less than shredder.

Originally Posted by Ditchdigger

I heard a story some years ago, about a junkyard that sent a car to the shredder with a railroad car wheel in the trunk. It was said that they got the bill for the 50 thousand bucks it cost to fix the shredder."

I remember reading about the same or a similar situation here in SMF.

Apparently the guy had the peices up about 2 1/2 feet horizontal off the ground & lifted the boot lid & then backed the car up over the rails.
When it hit the firewall he cut them off & closed the boot on them.....

I'd just LOVE to hear what it sounded like when it hit the mincer.