Illegal to posses old railroad track pieces???

I

IrishSteel

Joined
Nov 12, 2012
Messages
88
Hello everyone,

A friend of mine happens to have 1ft long piece of old railroad track. He's willing to give it to me so I can turn it into a small anvil for knife making, but as I was looking up how to modify the piece, I ran across many people saying it's a felony in the US to posses a piece of railroad track. Has anyone else heard of this? I'd rather like to not step on the law's toes.
 
I think you will find that many people have chunks of railroad track. If it is illegal, I am 99% sure that it isn't enforced. For example, how many people do you know that have been arrested for jay-walking? I would worry about it and take the gift.
 
Perhaps the intent of such a law (if standard laws against theft of property didn't cover it) would be to frown on folks scavenging sections of 'live' track. But the implications of owning a one foot long chunk? I've had a few pieces over the years. That stuff isn't all so easy to work with if you're looking to make flats on it; probably easier to look for sales on inexpensive off-shore ready-made anvils.
 
I'm willing to bet that you guys are right; that it's only enforced when people are trying to pull up pieces of live track. I'm still curious if any other makers have run into this problem. I haven't found any markings on this piece of track but it looks like it's oooold.

I may have a hard time using it to make flats, but it would be useful for other parts of knifemaking, and it would help me learn if I want to get into forging before investing in a good anvil. Besides, I can find other good uses for it; I've been peening my pins on an old vice I have that's mounted to a rolling toolbench. It would be nice to have a heavy solid piece of metal to use for that instead. It would also be a good sturdy piece to use for tooling my sheaths.
 
It is not illegal to own a piece of railroad track or railroad spikes. It is however illegal to go onto railroad property to take things from the property. If a person has purchased it legitimately than it is not a crime.
 
Another metal source is your local forklift business. The forks wear to the point they are too thin to pick up the rated weight. They might give you permission to look in their scrap steel container.
 
Thanks for the input everyone. Smokinbasser I'll definitely remember that, we have many forklift builders around in my area.
 
I hope they don't come to my place I have 30' or so of the stuff laying around. I bought a whole 30' rail with a kink in one end for $100 from a guy who owns a railcar repair siding and was given a 8' piece from a mine. Rail is all over the place and used in lots of places that don't even have real trains. Some bridge cranes run on RR rail.
 
the only way you could possibly get in trouble for it is if you try to scrap it. Police won't go looking for it, or probably even say anything if they pull you over and you have it. But down here the scrap yards work in conjunction with the railroad and Hvac companies to try and deter theft. I don't understand why it is a big deal since the RR Companies just leave it laying around when they replace it
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top