Marking on side of railroad track

[archiemjm]

Hello, 

I looking for some help to figure out what some markings mean on the side of a railroad track. I recently found a few track segments while out on a survey.  It looks as if the it says "S...NTON      3     96" The letters between  the "S" and "T" could be C, R, A, but it’s too corroded to tell with any great certainty.  Did Scranton, PA ever produce railroad track.  Do you guys have any other idea as to what these marking refer to? Information about a manufacture or date would be most helpful.  The rail should date from 1890-1940's.  Click on the link to see the markings

photostream

Any information is helpful!

Thanks, 

MJM

 

[pajrr]

Hi, Scranton certainly did make railroad rail. The first steel "T" rail (modern rail that you see today) was produced there starting in 1874. On your piece of rail there would be Scranton, and a year that the rail was made. The 96" would be the weight of the rail. Rail was made in 39' lengths. The weight is the weight of the rail PER YARD. The result is that your rail weighs 96 pounds x 13 yards (39') = 1,248 pounds. In modern times, welded (a.k.a. ribbon) rail is rolled in 1/4 mile lengths and welded into 1 mile long rails on site. Modern heavy duty mainlime rail is normally 132 lb. A 1 mile length of 132 lb rail weighs 232,320 lbs. (132lb x 1760 yards) The heavier the rail the bigger the load it can carry. In early times 90lb would have been considered heavy. Today, that is about the lightest rail you will find in regular service. I have an abandoned railyard near my house. It was an Erie Railroad facility. The rails in the weeds are 80lb made in 1912.

[timz]

Anybody heard of 96-pound rail?

[rcdrye]

timz

Anybody heard of 96-pound rail?

 

I was thinking the same thing.  I think the mill name and date stamp are usually together, with the weight and section type in a different place.  I'm familiar with AREA 85, 90, 100 and 115 lb sections.  If the rail hadn't been renewed since the 1940s, a date of 1896 is not at all crazy.

I have found a listing for ASCE 95 lb sections dating to 1940.

[cx500]

I would assume that "8 96" likely means it was rolled in the 8th month (August) of 1896.  The rail weight would follow the date but is not visible in the picture.  Checking my photos of late 19th century rail in Canada reveals a variety of ways were used to indicate the month in that time frame.

John

[Firelock76]

According to Robert Selph Henry's book "this Fascinating Railroad Business" (1943) by the time the book was published rail markings looked like this:

11228  RE  OH TENNESSEE 1939 /////

Decipher the above...

11228 = 112 pounds to the yard of No. 28 section

RE = American Railway Engineering Association Design

OH = Open hearth steel

Tennessee =  Birmingham District Mills of the Tennessee Coal and Iron Company

1939 ///// = Fifth month of the year 1939.

On the other side of the rail would be seen something like this...

63345  E  17

Which translates as this rail was rolled fifth from the top rolled from Ingot No. 17 poured from heat No. 63345 of the mill who's name is on the other side.

If the rail was manufactured under a controlled cooling process there's be a CC marking and if the ends were hardened by heat treatment there'd be a additional marking of CH.

The seven rail mills in Mr. Henry's time were at Pittsburgh, Bethlehem, Buffalo, Indiana Harbor, Gary, Bimingham, and Pueblo.

Anyway, that's how it was by the 1940's.   At that time 112 pound to the yard was the most commonly laid rail, 131 pound was used on the heavy duty lines.  The Pennsylvania Railroad had the heaviest, 152 pound rail in the heaviest duty sections.

As an aside, up to several years ago the rails in front of the Ashland, VA train station, former RF&P now CSX, had 1940 manufacture dates!  Pretty cool to see!

I can't account for 96 pound rail, seems like an oddball size.  Possibly it was custom made?  Maybe for an interurban or trolley line?

 

[BigJim]

Firelock76

I can't account for 96 pound rail, seems like an oddball size. 

I think you will be surprised at what size rail was made. I'll try to get down to VMT today and take a picture! Until then, here is a photo of a piece of 60 lb. rail given to me that came from the Virginia & Tennessee Ry.

BTW, that photo from the OP, I couldn't tell what that was other than some concrete. You got a better photo?

[BigJim]

Here is the rail size display from the VMT of what was used on the N&W Ry.

[Firelock76]

Thanks for that photo post Big Jim!  It's fascinating to see the evolution of rail, from the U-rail to the present day.

By the way, I saw youuuuuuuuu reflected in the display glass!  Almost (but not quite) blew your cover!

[BigJim]

Don't know what happened. I didn't delete the photos! Anyway, they're back. Now how do I delete this post?

[Firelock76]

Don't bother to delete, but if you ever figure out how to do it let me know.

If I remember right, U-rail goes back to at least the 1840's.  That one old hunka iron you got there!

[BigJim]

Firelock76

If I remember right, U-rail goes back to at least the 1840's.  That one old hunka iron you got there!

YAHTZEE!!!

[archiemjm]

The piece of rail is associated with a gold/silver mine mill site.  The rail could be for a small tram that was used to transport small loads of ore. It was unlikely the rail would have been used for a train due to the location of the mill.  Would that then explain the 96 lbs rail?

Thanks for your information!

 

[BigJim]

Excuse me?

[Firelock76]

archiemjm

The piece of rail is associated with a gold/silver mine mill site.  The rail could be for a small tram that was used to transport small loads of ore. It was unlikely the rail would have been used for a train due to the location of the mill.  Would that then explain the 96 lbs rail?

Thanks for your information!

 

 

It could, but then again despite all our suppositions that  "3  96"  might just mean the rail was made in March of 1896.

I guess we'll never know.  Maybe there's some things we aren't MEANT to know. :)