Rail Car demolition

   / Rail Car demolition #1  

NAAsty

New member
Joined
Sep 18, 2003
Messages
15
I recently purchased some land that happened to come with an old rickety railcar as a bonus. It's up on rr ties, and very stable, however due to the condition of the car, I cannot get liability insurance on the land. The ends of the car are 1/4"-3/8" thick metal and very solid. I'm guessing there is some decent salvage money for the ends, but I have no idea what it'd take to handle them. Does anyone have experience with an old railcar and demolition/salvage?
 
   / Rail Car demolition #2  
I suggest you try and give it away to someone who will take it. Make sure the person you give it to has liability insurance. I would also call a local scrap yard to see what the price of scrap iron is these days. Not much I expect. If you want to get rid of it yourself, get a torch and cut it up. Do you have a tractor and truck to haul it away? Also remember there is probably a lot of material in it that is not iron so you have to get rid of that also. I've also had 30 yard dumpsters brought to an area to get rid of many different kinds of stuff. You may need to get two, one for the steel and the other for the "trash"' Good luck.

BTW I also had problems getting liability for vacant land. It turns out that many insurance companies won't insure vacant land that has any man made structures on it. The counted stone walls and barb wire fences as man made structures. You may find you can get insurance through an "excess lines" carrier without removing the car.

Andy

Andy
 
   / Rail Car demolition #3  
I agree with Andy. Put an ad in the newspaper advertising a free rail car. You'll be surprised at the response. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Like he said, make sure they have some sort of liability insurance when they come to remove it, whether they have the means to do it in one piece or if they tear it apart and remove it.

If you tear it apart yourself, I believe the last scrap steel we got rid of at work varied between $0.02 and $0.05 per pound. It will be at least enough to cover the cost of your dumpsters and maybe some change. There's even some companies will provide the steel dumpster and "misc trash" dumpster for free, provided you "give" them the scrap steel in the dumpster.
 
   / Rail Car demolition #5  
Just be extremely careful if you attempt to cut it up yourself. I'm not sure about railcars, but I know on passenger trains that the frame just sets on the wheels. I was talking to a guy who works for Amtrak (maintaining passenger cars) at Union Station in DC. They can pick the car up and change out the wheels when needed. Those wheels can weigh several tons too. I'm not sure how you would dismantle those. I think I would have to contract that out.
 
   / Rail Car demolition #7  
Hi
I think I would contact the local model train clubs in your area or use a cutting torch and save the steel for projects if I didn't want the car. but Im a collector of junk I never throw anything away.

charlie.
 
   / Rail Car demolition #8  
I just came back from buying some steel. Folks, around here it just went up 30% and onother hike is on the way. CHINA IS BUYING UP SCRAP AT 300 a ton. I couldn't believe my ears. And one more thing. The government has contracted India to take care of our income tax returns. Imagine that, now our ssn's have been given to a foriegn country by our government, and a high tech one at that. Sorry, had to blow off some steam, I'm sure there is a better forum for this.
 
   / Rail Car demolition #9  
before you do anything check with your local area or state railroad preservation society or a local /state live steamer club.
many of the older cars are worth much more in one piece.if all else falls you could get an estimate of its value for tax/salvage purposes.it might be worth a lot more then you think.even with the preservation society's they are tax exempt and you could simply donate it at a certain value to them,if i can help send me a private email .all of us old railroaders hate to see our history disposed of.. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
 
   / Rail Car demolition
  • Thread Starter
#10  
I'll try to attach a picture, which you'll see, there is not a lot of value for this piece. It's a hazard ( I hate to actually agree with the insurance company). These old box car "barns" are all over in this neck of the woods.

One salvage company did quote $120/net ton, which he said was way up. If they were only made to be disassembled... /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif
 

Attachments

  • 379660-boxcar.jpg
    379660-boxcar.jpg
    63.6 KB · Views: 525
 
Top