Train Rail Steel

Rails are definitely NOT A-2 ! the higher carbon grades are too brittle .1080 sounds about right.
 
hardheart said:
anyway, carbon steel is too cheap and available in blade stock to worry about making a knife out of rail unless it has some history/nostalgia associated with it.
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The good kinds of leaf springs and ball bearings are increasingly hard to find here. A few makers and smiths are starting to use alternative materials. It's also hard to find other sources of blade stock as inexpensive as leaf spring for our traditional makers.
 
hardheart said:
makes a lousy anvil. the idea for rail is to be structurally strong with low mass, and mass is exactly what an anvil needs.
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I disagree. It works a hell of a lot better than NO anvil! :p I keep my section of track in my apartment for any time I need a solid surface to strike against--my 110# Fisher stays in the basement at my folks' place.
 
I actually had a chance to ask one of the guys from the Boston Engine Terminal this question. They replace wheels far more often than rails (rails very infrequently, wheels all the time). That's in the Boston area; long-haul freight lines might have different results (?).

JNewell said:
Actually, I believe it's the other way around, though I'm not an expert. That's the impression I've gotten talking to train people over the years. Wheels wind up having to be reground to regain concentricity and roundness on a fair regular basis.
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Not surprising. It's much easier to dress the face of a rail than that of a wheel, and once rail has worn on one side they pull it up and flip it so it's facing the opposite direction, presenting a fresh surface.
 
JNewell said:
I actually had a chance to ask one of the guys from the Boston Engine Terminal this question. They replace wheels far more often than rails (rails very infrequently, wheels all the time). That's in the Boston area; long-haul freight lines might have different results (?).
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All I know is what I see.... replacing ties under the rails is quite common as I drive around NM and AZ, replacing rails I don't see often. I would imagine wheels are by far the easiest, since it can be done in the maintenance yard rather than out in the middle of no where - and that's where the bulk of the rails live.:D
 
Most rails are "ribbon rail" as we called it. They came in quarter mile segments and were welded. No "clackity, clack" while you're riding and you are likely on ribbon rail. I have no idea what steel it was made of but they were there for years and years before replacement.

We did have huge tools for working on the maintenance gangs that were made out of tool steels of the "A" class. On the railroad everything is oversized.

Be aware I was last employed on the B&N (AT&SF) decades ago so I'm a bit behind but the ideas are the same.

Joe

Burlington Northern railroad
Steel prep gang 913 May 79- ?
Ainsworth to Alliance Nebraska. Stayed in Mullen mostly.
 
They are welded together by Thermite Welding.

BTW tracks have been recycled by making bed frames from them !!
 
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