Railroad track weight ?

[MrJimi]

Yesterday coming home from the airport I found a short piece of RR track on the side of the road, It is 6'6" long and 5.25" at the base and 5" tall and real heavy, do any of you know what it would weigh per foot or something?
Thanks
Jim

 

[blueberryman]

Mrjimi,

I found this on the web may answer your ?



Yahoo! Answers - How much does a 12" length of railroad track weigh? Someone said it was 80 lbs.?



Rick

 

[mjarrels]

I have a piece about 18" long and I can barely lift it!

mark

 

[MrJimi]

Thanks, I do know there is different size track, I have 5" tall and I hear the stuff in use now is 7". Whatever it weighs, I grabbed one end of it and I thought I would just sit it the truck bed, I parked wrong and I had to lift the whole thing in and slide the rest in.
It is real heavy
good counter weight

 

[Egon]

Railway track has many different weights depending on the track design.

I'fn I recall correctly its weight is related to a three foot length???

 

[Shmudda]

You are correct the track is weighed as a 3 foot length. So, what that means is if you have a 105lb track it is 105lb/3 ft. I have worked a lot with crane rail and it's the same way, but with anything there are many variables with rail on how its rolled and finished.

Craig

 

[MrJimi]

I found this site but none of the clickable pictures on the right work ? I do have flat bottom track

A&K Railroad -- Rail Sections

 

[JB4310]

I'm surprised you were able to lift 6 and half feet of it, must have been one of the smaller varieties or your related to Arnold, I've seen track near the switches that you would not lift 2 feet of it, it's so big. My neighbor has a 20 foot section propped up between to tree crotches, it was used for lifting a camper off a truck, don't know how they got it up there but it must have bee long ago as the trees are dead and that thing is dangerous the way it is now, she said I could have it if I can get it down, thought it would make a good drag leveler, doesn't look like the larger variety.

 

[MrJimi]

I'm surprised you were able to lift 6 and half feet of it, must have been one of the smaller varieties or your related to Arnold, I've seen track near the switches that you would not lift 2 feet of it, it's so big. My neighbor has a 20 foot section propped up between to tree crotches, it was used for lifting a camper off a truck, don't know how they got it up there but it must have bee long ago as the trees are dead and that thing is dangerous the way it is now, she said I could have it if I can get it down, thought it would make a good drag leveler, doesn't look like the larger variety.

I'm surprised also, I had a hernia operation in Oct of 2006 when I picked up one end of a 750 pound H beam. And I weigh 170 pounds and 60 years old, I'm more stupid than strong

 

[waynokakid]

The weight of rail is in accordance to the size. There is, for example 80lb which is 80lbs per foot. The height of yours is probably an 45 or 55lb weight. which would make it about 297 to 363lbs. Give or take a few pounds. Just do a internet search on rail standard. I think there is a federal standard.

 

[dqdave1]

Don't try and take any rail to a scrap yard. All rail is federal property I was told at scrap yard. They would not accept it. Any truth to this?

 

[MrJimi]

Don't try and take any rail to a scrap yard. All rail is federal property I was told at scrap yard. They would not accept it. Any truth to this?

I have read that and I found mine on the side of the road as if it fell off a trailer
My gain, his loss
Good counter weight and I found out I may have a piece of 119 rail, Thats heavy

 

[mopacman]

I know their is federal rail and they are careful with they do with it when they pull it up. I think their is also privetly owned rail because it is handled different and used for all kinds of things after it is removed from service........Larry

 

[varmint]

Lighter weight rail is used for stuff like switch yards, private spurs, etc. and the heavier weight is used for main lines, with the heaviest used for lines that get a lot of heavy freight traffic. The history of rail is pretty interesting, and is all about metallurgy... the first attempts often led to serious loss of life when rails fractured. I forget who the author is, but there's a good book detailing the development of rails and railroads. It's a shame that GM came along and pretty much destroyed passenger rail in this country. I just heard that a gallon of diesel can move a ton of freight 443 miles, or something like that!

 

[Egon]

In Canada both Rail lines are filled almost to capacity with plans for expansion and new inland ports.

 

[MrJimi]

I just heard that a gallon of diesel can move a ton of freight 443 miles, or something like that!

Thats the kind of mileage that I need with my Turbo Powerstroke 7.3

 

[SkunkWerX]

Mr. Jimi,

It cuts with a bandsaw , but it's slow going.

I got a peice at a scrapyard, many years ago, it was about 3 feet long.
My neighbor and I cut in half, and each took a piece for use as a make-shift anvil.

Upside down, you can use the flat surface, or, for bending curves, flip it right side up.

 

[MrJimi]

Mr. Jimi,

It cuts with a bandsaw , but it's slow going.

I got a piece at a scrapyard, many years ago, it was about 3 feet long.
My neighbor and I cut in half, and each took a piece for use as a make-shift anvil.

Upside down, you can use the flat surface, or, for bending curves, flip it right side up.

I was thinking about a counter weight or a dirt scraper, when I bought my 16" tall H beam, I bought a 50' piece and had the steel shop cut me 2 24'4" pieces for my upstairs support. I kept the left over for ?? I haven't done anything with it yet except move it a few times. here is a picture of my 16" beam
Jim

 

[RollTideRam]

I saw a show on the History Chanel where they had a company that recycled rail and were making metal T post out of it. They were grinding up the ties and using them to fuel a power plant. I have a 7' rail I want to use for ballast with an I beam on my box blade, when I learn how to use a torch to cut it up.
Have any of you ever watched them replace rail on the tracks? I watche a company replacing them behind where I work. They use lots of differant machines. I'm still waiting to see what they use to cut up the old track and take it away. A few short rails about 20' are laying close to the crossing, someone got the 8' section. JC

 

[bigdad]

Rail is weighed by the yard. Like ......132 lbs. per yard. It is not necessarily Federal, though the Feds are heavily involved with standards and safety. I know, I am a Signal Inspector. The Federal Railroad Administration calls the shots.

Scrappers are very careful about accepting RR stuff, because some folks are not that picky where they pick it up or possibly take it out of the track. With the price of copper we have quite a time with wire theives too. It's all a safety issue that scrappers don't want to deal with.

How's that?