uses for rail

[Anonymous]

Hey all,

Im just curious about the uses of rail other than on railroad tracks. Where i come from its apparent in the days long gone that the railroad builders found all sorts of uses for pieces of steel rail other than its intended use. For example rail sections were used as the uprights for telegraph poles and as fence posts. Another use was for retaining walls with rails forming the uprights and then planks of wood or concrete fitted into the groove of the rail to build a wall. Most of this sort of stuff can still be seen today.

Was this practice ever used in the States?

[dknelson]

I am not sure I have seen rail used as telegraph posts in the USA but I do not rule it out. It would not surprise me to learn that each and every use you are aware of Down Under is (or was at one time) also done here.
The Chicago & North Western used old light rail as posts for the train order boards (semaphore type) at depots. The order board would be connected to the operator's bay by a series of chains and pulleys so the operator could raise or lower the signals while sitting at his telegraphy desk.
The C&NW also made some low lineside fences using light rail welded together -- short lengths driven into the ground, longer pieces making the fence itself. This was in areas such as parking lots where they wanted a very strong fence to keep errant autos and trucks from the right of way.
In high and heavy traffic areas, some grade crossings were literally paved with parallel lengths of old rail, so that it would never wear and never heave up or be tamped down. Of course, this would make crossing on a bicycle a real adventure -- and a highway snowplow could get ripped to shreds if it caught on a rail crossing of that sort.
I have seen lengths of rail driven into the ground around things like water hydrants -- again to protect against an errant auto or truck hitting the hydrant and causing a flood.
When the C&NW converted some old diesels into slug units, meaning the traction motors on the wheels of a motorless loco were powered by the engine of a parent locomotive, they weighted the slugs with a mix of rail lenths and wet cement.
Old rail was used for guard rails on bridges. Also, sometimes on tight curves where a derail was installed a length of old rail would be spiked at a diagonal so that a derailed car would be pushed even further to one side and not roll onto the main line.
Down in Jamaica (the island) I saw an interesting use for old rail. 20 foot lengths are driven into the ground on either side of the highways. When I asked our taxi driver what the reason was (and our taxi driver was also the principal of the local school and a highly educated man -- you never can predict things in Jamaica!!) he told us that the rail was to discourage the night time landing of light aircraft on the highways -- the planes belong to drug runners and they would quickly land on the highway, load or unload drugs quickly, and take off. The rail would rip the wings off.
Dave Nelson (with cousins throughout Victoria and New South Wales by the way)

[n2mopac]

Short pieces of rail make great anvils too.

Ron

[Anonymous]

I use a piece of old rail from the iron mining region in the Ramapo Mountain area of NY as a bookend. Most of that old rail was sold as scrap to Japan just prior to WWII where it found other uses.

Wayne

[joseph2]

I have seen them used as place of gates at cattle pens.The rancher digs a trench where the gate would be,then puts rails small side up lengthways over the trench.Tractors can drive over it,but cattle won't step on something so unstable. Joe G.

[Anonymous]

Cattle (livestock) guards are a favorite use.

[johncolley]

The suggested use of pieces of rail and planks to make retaining walls is good and same technique is used to build sand bins to feed the dryer before blowing the sand to towers for engine use

[Anonymous]

Beside the above I've seen it used as fence rail on a few military bases and mail box posts locally.

[Anonymous]

I use sections of rail spot welded together like a pyramid (6 pieces) for a curb out in the country. People who hit it really destroy the underside of their car and it just rolls back into place.

[Anonymous]

In the Florida Keys, after the hurricane destroyed the Flagler Railroad and it was rebuilt as a highway bridge, they used the old rails as guard rails for the highway bridge. They can still be seen on the old bridges today.

[Anonymous]

In my town they used old EBT and dinky train rails for gaurd rails, some of the older concrete structures that are falling apart you can see rails that were used like rebar!

[Anonymous]

I know of a stretch of road in a town in Western PA that runs parallel to some tracks along teh base of a hill. In the hillside, there are houses and there are garages dug into the hillside like caves. The actual structure of the garages are old rails cut into beams and columns.