On Tue, 26 Aug 2014 07:20:27 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Wednesday, August 20, 2014 8:16:13 PM UTC-4, Ignoramus14649 wrote:
On 2014-08-20, Paul Drahn wrote:

I want to pull rails up from the ground. Otherwise I would have to dig

rocky ground just to get to the nails. It would be expensive.

I talked to a couple of people. My neighbors at the warehouse are

railroad people, and I asked one scrap yard who knows railway

scrapping.

They both told me that it should be easy to pull out and I should

first just try the bobcat. I have a Bobcat S300.

If that does not work, I will try a hydraulic puller. We built one

today for this job, maybe it will come up again. I will see how it

works out and maybe will post a video.

I took time off in college to earn money to continue college. Worked at

a local paper/pulp mill. They had a spur rail road running from the

mill, across town to the main rr line. I worked a few weeks on the

maintenance crew. Heavy, but interesting work.

Their rails were the standard 90 pounds per yard rail. Probably what you

have. You will most likely have to cut them at least in half to put on

your truck. Be careful with fire!

I may have to cut them even more to take them down safely. With a

torch this is not difficult.


Good luck and would love to see the video!

I am all psyched up about it.

And I guess you have the rail jacks and crowbars and everything. I saw where someone was saying that the easiest way to cut hardened steel like all that is to anneal it with heat 'till red hot, then cool it while buried in ashes, then take a band saw or something to it pretty easily.

(I just don't what KIND of ashes are used, though)


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-- http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...lworking-tools


To anneal something the thickness of a railroad rail with an
oxy-acetylene torch would use more $$ worth of gas than the scrap
value of the steel.

An abrasive saw isn't going to care much about the hardness of a rail.
It's not that hard to begin with. New rails can be as hard as 43 Rc
(400 Brinell), but old rails were softer. They work harden a bit but
they are still retty soft under the top skin. I ground a piece down
into a really rounded blob, like a big auto-body dolly, and it took a
lot of grinding with my big Milwaukee grinder, but it would cut OK
with an abrasive saw.

If Iggy only has to cut longish sections to remove it, O/A cutting is
reasonable. And that doesn't care if the steel is hard or soft. If he
needs shorter sections that he can handle himself, it might be more
cost effective to use an abrasive saw. You'd have to try it to be
sure.

--
Ed Huntress