Railroad Ties

I think if they are in fair shape you should be able to sell them.

Correct! The ties are the wood that the track is connected to. From my understanding, anything belonging to the R.R. is private and scrap yards wont touch it!!

check with some landscaping companies. A lot of them use them to landscape with.

Toss them on CL. People are always buying ties for gardens, landscape, retaining walls, borders, etc.

Or is it the spikes that you have?

Ties = ties the rails together.

Spikes = what holds the rails down.

Be careful with rail scrap. The rail cops are no joke! Make sure you have the proper documentation before you sell it. Any good scrap yard would not buy it without the correct documentation.

I spent a little time in track management for a fairly large railroad company. I would first be concerned about creosote in the ties (sounds like a tie gang has replaced a number of ties). The next thing is many people use the ties for landscaping, but a large amount may be hard to move in an efficient amount of time. Last, as others have said, be very careful with ANY railroad scrap, the penalties can be severe for something very small. Most railroad scrap has been let under contract for removal (actually the companies usually buy the material from the railroad, so they own it). The fact that it takes the companies so long to remove it is frustrating, but they have as much time as they need to remove it usually as long as it does not interfere with right of way or train operation. Sorry for the long respone.

Railroad clamps and spikes are referred to as OTM (other track material) in the industry. Because it is so dense and heavy it is the second most desirable iron commodity behind busheling...ohh and maybe tool steel.

Sounds like a brokered deal to a landscaping company would be in order. Work out the freight and then ship it to them. Take your cut and move on without ever having to store 150 ties.

I acquired a pile of assorted scrap iron the other day which contained a piece of track.
I thought "great for weight", then...I read various posts on the subject. A little disheartend, I called the yard I use most frequently and inquired. He confirmed that I should not bring it in without a permission slip. I asked about a couple of really short pieces I had and he told me that he'd probably look past a couple of those. I suggested then maybe I could cut the longer down and bring a piece in each load until it was gone. He ok'd that after I promised I'd stay away from track hereafter. Thought I'd share a possible way out from under an ignorant mistake in case there's another fool out there. LOL Sooo, now I need to search to locate a post on track cutting. Off I go.