? When they rip up track... ?

[Boyd]

Within a month it looks like they will sign the deal to sell the land under the Minnesota Zephyrs tracks to the county,, which will then likely be sold to the state of Minnesota for a  walking/biking trail. The Zephyr runs until December 31. Other people are interested in buying the Zephyrs building and I'm sure they will find someone to buy the  train which will  have to be trucked out of here.

When they accept bids to take out the 6.5 miles of track,, will it be one company that takes out the rail  and ties? Or will one company bid for the rail for resale or scrap (income for the Zephyr) and another take out the ties (expense for the Zephyr)? I don't know what poundage of rail it is. Late one day a couple of weeks ago I saw 1913 on the side of one rail.

I'm sure this will be a big project. Are the ties now considered hazardous waste? 

[mudchicken]

Probably will be a package deal. The number of No. 2 relay ties and on down to splinters will have some say in the matter. The rail and OTM will have to pay for any drawbacks and/or environmental issues addressed by STB and the state. (MN has a reputation about being pedantic to the extreme which may drive down any salvage incentives.)

[inch53]

Back in the 80's when the NYC Cairo line was abandoned and bid off for salvage rights. It was sold in 10-mile sections for track ties and roadbed. There were still the old telephone poles, phone boxes, signals and wire; these were also bid off the same way separately. A friend of mine bought 50 mile of poles and such, told he made more money off the insulators and signals, than every thing else.

After the rail, ties and that were cleared off, what was left of the ballast n ciders was sold [I hauled many a load of it]. When all was that was worth salvage was gone, the row went back to the original land tracks and back into the county tax base [which made life interesting figuring all that out.

This was long before the EPA regs and walking paths, but I imagine the process is still bout the same.

[cacole]

The San Pedro and Southwestern line was recently removed between St. David and Naco, Arizona, a distance of approximately 40 miles.  The rail and ties were stacked to the side and tagged with a warning notice that they are the property of a railroad salvage company.  Smaller items such as tie plates, spikes, joint bars, etc. were policed up with a truck-mounted magnetic crane and hauled away.  All garden supply dealers here sell used railroad ties to anyone who wants to purchase them, so that's where the majority of them will probably wind up.

The right-of-way is going to be turned into a Rails-to-Trails corridor under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service because the majority of the land is within the BLM's San Pedro River National Riparian Area or is U.S. Forest Service land.

The salvage contractor graded the roadbed, which had been ballasted with copper smelter slag its entire length, and it looks like a lot of people have been driving trucks and ATVs down the right of way. 

[Boyd]

Taking all into consideration,, when they get bids to rip up the track, will the bidder be paying money to the Zephyr or the Zephyr paying money to the (winning) bidder?

[mudchicken]

With the price of steel being what it is, probably the former.

[vlmuke]

they had an intersting boneyards afew weeks ago they showed how RR recycles the ties into fuel for power and the rails sent to a place in chicago heights that rerolls them into steel sign posts and garage door track I'm sure they will repaat it soon

[grampaw pettibone]

Back in the '80s, I worked for a municipal government. We had a fire prevention seminar, with a film about the manufacture of fire hydrants. It was said that the majority, if not all, were made from recycled rails exclusively.