Guys,
I would hesitate using a tie plate to hold a rail anvil, for the main reason that the distance between the spike holes or between the shoulders if you find a double shoulder one are such that it is designed to allow the rail to slide on the plate to relieve expansion due to temperature changes. This is to prevent heat kinks in the summer and sheared track bolts in the winter.
Also I would hesitate using them for another reason, the surface where the rail sits is tapered to tilt the rail inward when installed (2-5 degrees), so your anvil will no longer sit level, unless of course the stump is not level.
In regards to Railroad track as an anvil, I have major qualms about using it because of safety concerns. At the museum we mainly use old rail that has seem many a wheel rolling over them. The ends tend to have many cracks and chips in the running surface. This is mainly due to the fact that it has been work hardened by the 10-15 ton loads (per wheel) that have run over it. Some of the pieces of rail that we have re-used have had chips up 3 inches across by 1 inch wide missing from the edge of the running surface. By the pocket left in the running surface the piece could have been at most 1/32 thick, imagine the damage that could be done if that released under the impact of a hammer at waist level. If you really want to use track for an anvil, please make sure it is a piece from the middle of the rail and not the end, also the whole piece after you are done shaping it needs to be annealed to remove the stresses and work hardening in the metal. Another thing to keep in mind is that due to the changes in metallurgy and quality control over the years, try to only use pieces that were manufactured after the 1950s. Rail older then that have a history of piping due to inclusions and stresses not relieved at the rolling mills. Piping will cause the head of the rail to split off down the length of the head, if your lucky it will either show up in the end of the rail or blow out through the web before the head releases. Piping is when the stresses create an internal crack that over time opens wider, till it finds an edge, in some cases it will actually form a hollow cavity as material moves around the crack.
Just some major concerns from someone that sees the problems with used rail every weekend.
Rich Cizik
MoW Foreman
Blacksmith Shop Co-Head
Ct Eastern RR Museum
Willimantic, Ct 06226
Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum