Hi all. Found this recently in North Carolina where an old line ran. There was a CW battle when the Union came to burn the trestle. The old line is no longer there but I've been hoping to find a piece of the old track. I assume this is from that era, but I know some of the older track is U channel not T like this. I also found one of the plates that attach the track to the tie.
The piece is a shade over 22 inches long. The height is approximately 3 1/2". The width of the bottom of the track is also 3 1/2". The weight is 30.4 pounds. So 1.38 pounds per inch. Approximately 50 pounds per yard. I know it would be impossible to be sure, but is it possible this track was manufactured in the mid 1800's? At some point I'm going to cut some cross sections off, but at the moment I don't have a tool for that.
Thanks.
A very definate possibility that's Civil War era vintage!
I've got a 3" section of rail I purchased at a train show cut from some rail that was unearthed in an old section of Norfolk VA during a construction job. That area dated well back into the mid-19th Century. My rail section is very similar in profile to yours.
Yes, that appears to be a version of pearhead rail, which is an iron-rail-optimized structure. Less snakelike to roll than typical bullhead or I-section with equipment of the time.
Looks as though optimized to be laid on longitudinal stringers like a stronger version of strap rail -- see the very small section. I am not a historic-track-construction maven, but there are people in 'history of technology' that do specialize in it, and could likely identify not only the rail's provenance but the track it was used in.
I seem to recall seeing somewhere that railroads began using rails with the year stamped or cast into them back in the 19th century - but maybe not as far back as the 1860's?
I don't think date stamping or makers marking was being done in the 1860's or earlier, that came later in the 19th Century when steel rail began to replace iron.
'Cobra, if you're looking in check this website, they've got tips for rust reduction and preservation.
http://www.railroadiana.org/
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Flintlock76 I don't think date stamping or makers marking was being done in the 1860's or earlier, that came later in the 19th Century when steel rail began to replace iron. 'Cobra, if you're looking in check this website, they've got tips for rust reduction and preservation. http://www.railroadiana.org/
Thank you sir. I'll check it out.
You're welcome! Lots of good information there!
It is certainly very old rail to be sure. I have a recollection that tie plates are a more "recent" development, closer to 1900 or so. Of course ties have a short enough life that when very old rail was raised to insert replacement ties they likely had tie plates inserted as well.
When the state of Wisconsin was rehabbing the former C&NW line between Sheboygan and Plymouth WI, the work crews found pear shaped rail which eventually it was concluded was from the original 1857 shipment of 15 foot stick rail from England, rail which sat on the docks in Sheboygan for a year or two before use because it had not been fully paid for. But eventually it was used, only to be dug out within the last 5 or so years. I think it was at most used as guard rails not running rails for some time, but nonetheless pre-Civil War rail was in place until 2015 or so. The railroad planner for the City of Plymouth kept a thin piece of the rail in his pocket and showed it to me during the ceremony for the rehabbing of the line.
Tie plates did show up late in the game. Those early rail sections were in the 30-45 # range (tiny stuff)
Dimensions given, using a table of current rail sections (usually mine rail) would indicate 40# rail (ASCE 4040) .... OTM for that stuff has not been rolled in forever.
An important question not asked by anybody else: where was this piece of rail found?
The piece called a tie plate by some posts is in fact a rail chair. These predate the use of fishplates. Where two sections of rail met, the chair joined them together, on top of one crosstie. The remainder of the rail rested on the crossties. Some early rail chairs were cast iron. An example is on display in the Richmond (VA) Railroad Museum; this one came from New Hampshire, with likely source being the Eastern RR line to Wolfeboro or its predecessors closer to Boston. Its last use was as a anchor for a rowboat mooring in the lake. A builders photo of a Maine Central 4-4-0 from Portland Locomotive Works in 1871 clearly shows iron rail chairs in use in the yard by the plant. The one you found is possibly made somewhat later, being a flat sheet of iron punched and ears bent to wrap around the base, and I would expect less expensive. Portland builders photos from later in the 1870s show early fishplates in use. The 1860 Poors Manual has an ad on page 630 for a patented rail chair. By the 1869 edition there is an ad at page 24 for Pratt's Patent Compensating Fish-Joint. At page 47 Phoenix Iron Co advertises double lip wrought iron railroad chairs., and the new patent suspension rail joint. At page 35 is an ad for Fisher's Patent Wrought Iron Rail Joints. Various trade journals of the 1840s-70s should shed more light on rail and rail chairs. Close inspection of early photos may show the chairs in use. As to a date appreaing on the rail web, I do not know, but can say I have a 3 foot section dated 1881 from St Albans VT; it came from the logging line East Branch & Lincoln in New Hampshire. Your pieces come from an abandoned North Carolina line. If you know what railroad it was, look for the annual reports to the stockholders. In the antebellam era these reports usually go to great length to explain the types of rail, sources, costs, and dates of intallation. Where strap rail or U rail was initially installed, it did not take long for replacement with "edge" or T rail. Lastly, keep your piece intact, as found.
JOHN C DECKER An important question not asked by anybody else: where was this piece of rail found?
Ah Mr. Decker. if 'Cobra's got a "hot spot" for relics he's not likely to tell everyone where it is!
Maybe a vague, general location, but I wouldn't expect too much more. No gold miner's going to tell the world where his "glory hole" is!
Per BandMfanVA's post, let me recommend the Richmond Railroad Museum heartily! Not too far off I-95 and well worth a stop if you're traveling through the area!
https://www.richmondrailroadmuseum.com/
It's the same kind of secrecy used to protect excellent fishing holes and first-rate mushroom troves. Make sure that nobody knows or sees where you're going.
Thanks to everyone for the additional info. The area is north of Greensboro, NC. I believe the line was the Piedmont Railroad. It may have been a CW/Relic hot spot at one time, but there isn't much left.
It hasn't happened for a while, but a joke around here in the Richmond VA area was if you saw someone running out of the woods with a metal detector, a shovel, and as pale as a ghost or screaming it was a Civil War relic hunter who found something he really wasn't looking for, like the remains of a hastily buried Civil War casualty!
A gent I spoke to at a local Civil War re-enactment told me the old-timers he met said it wasn't unusual for relics to turn up during spring ploughing well into the 20th Century, buttons, bullets, bayonets, shell fragments, cannonballs, you name it.
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