scrap rail

[morseman]

this topic may have entered many times before but I've missed it and am curious. I've noticed many sidings and tracks along the main lines that haven't been used for a long time and aparently going nowhere. Why aren't these rails picked up and sent to a foundry to be melted down and reused or sold as scrap which would provide the railroads with revenue ?

[Randy Stahl]

They will be torn up if in fact they are not used or useful.
Randy

[Anonymous]

Another potential reason for not removing rail is to preserve the corridor. I am not sure of the proper legal procedures, however, before a line is removed the railroad must have approval to abandon the line. Do not know if this applies to industrial spurs. Keeping the rail in place precludes anyone from assuming the ROW is abandoned and the railroad would loose rights to it (easement VS direct ownership) Think of BNSF and Stampede pass or UP and Tennessee Pass. Stampede has been placed back in service and rumors have it that Tennessee soon will. If the rail was pulled putting it back in service would present almost insurmountable legal and physical problems.

[dldance]

the cheapest place to store the rail until it is scrapped is in place.

dd

[mudchicken]

Missed the obvious here.

An awful lot of those unused tracks are the result of some contractual aggreement that is still in play. Until that contract is terminated, the track stays. Roadmasters often remove switches & frogs with the caveat that the switch goes in if service resumes.

(As in the problems with road crossings, the industries howl and whine like banshees when the railroads bill 'em for repair costs)

mc

[dknelson]

Sometimes there are problems with permission to abandon service and sometimes tearing the rail out means the railroad no longer owns the land, which can be an inconvenience. Some right of way deeded to railroads is not sold outright but is either just an easement or is conditionally deeded -- so that if the land ceases to be used for railroad purposes it reverts back to the original owner or to those who inherit from him
This has happened from time to time and the wills that were probated back in the 1800s have to be dug out of the courthouse and studied to see who owns the land now.
On the other hand, local taxes sometimes differ based on whether there is rail on the land or not so at times it is very much in the RR's interest to rip out track.
Dave Nelson

[ericsp]

I remember when they replaced the rail on the Fresno Line (it runs from Elvis Tower in Sacramento to Bakersfield, I do not know the extent of the replacement) it seems like the old rail sat beside the tracks for about a year. This extended for many miles.

[BR60103]

I think that sometimes the customer may have paid for the siding.
I remember watching one place as I commuted where an aggregate (gravel) company gradually covered over its rails with piles of various grades of gravel.
Also, I know of a number of places where the siding is in place but the switch has been removed.
Also, having watched the process over many years, I noiced that the railroad will often remove the frog first and remove the points and rest of the rails a long time later.