Hi Folks: For my first post here, a question on steel types for RR applications:

Today I came across an enormous heap of scrap RR track parts: anchors, e-clips, bolts & nuts, plates, spikes (please see pic). I read one gentleman's post favoring the clips as decent quality for blades, but can someone kindly tell me how this rates to the 5160 spring steel I've used a few times for forging blades?

If given the choice, would you rather work with automotive suspension coil or any of the stuff depicted in this scrap heap?

Thanks much!

Check the prior question below yours on the chemistry of steel Also check the blueprints for more information.

Thanks for the pointer - I read the post below and many others, including the blueprints. There's a lot of information there but not a bottom line opinion on how good any of this metal is for blades.

What I'm really hoping for is an opinion of the e-shaped clips and anchors as blade material. How does either compare to coil spring?

Thanks again

I ended up forging that anchor into a machete-of-doom (1/2" stock is a little unnecessary for any blade unless you intend to draw it out into a longsword). Unhardened it could cut deeper into scrap pine than a hatchet that was lying around the shop (crosscut, not rip) and the steel proved to be water hardening, so I'm going to try and oven-temper it and see how it works after that.

I've been impressed so far, but good luck if you don't have a striker or a power hammer. It will probably all make perfectly nice blades (except rr spikes, not a fan of those personally) it's probably up to what is available and closest to your end product. Springs are great for their consistent width and (if a leaf spring) straight shape, I've personally never had the patience to straighten out a coil spring with other material available.

Sorry, kind of rambled off there. I think the best answer is if it hardens with water or oil, give it a shot and see how it goes. Masonry tools work well as stock also.

Be aware that the pile in the picture is not scrap but reclaim material. Material is gather like this when track is renewed or replaced and then forwarded to companies to be sorted and damaged material scrapped out. We operate a center like this in Newton Kansas that sorts several rail cars full per week (about 150tons).

The material is graded and either delivered back to the RR for reuse or sold for relay material. Alot of this material looks new or would grade as new.

This is like most things. If you ask, you will probably get more material than you can use. If you are caught tresspassing and taking material the penalities can be high. There are three guys doing jail time in Virginia for taking a length of rail that was placed to repair a road crossing. They had chained it to their truck and drove off. The railroad police simply followed the drag marks. Railway Police are also enpowered to operate across juristictions and state lines.

And to answer your question the e-Clips are probably the best starting material since the carbon content is about .80% the same as common rail.

nitewatchman

Thanks for the feedback and the warning. Although I don't know where to turn for permission to take some of this material, I'll seek permission.

Since you mention up to 0.80 carbon, I'm assuming this might be simple carbon steel as in 1080. After some reading, this appears to be slightly less corrosion resistant than 5160 but otherwise a real good blade material.

BTW, I wonder what the hell those guys in VA wanted with a long piece of track? I can see a short piece being used as an anvil, but there seem to be very limited applications of a long rail that had to be dragged away, unless they wanted to try to sell it as scrap metal (?)

I have seens scrap rail used for many things
Gate crossings
gravel screens to screen out rocks
I suded several pieces welded side by side to make a treadle hammer anvil
The guild of Metalsmiths made a chime that was america the Beautiful and O Canada was played on at the ABANA 2002 conference.

As for the clips carbon content.
They need to be some type of spring steel as they are held on by tension.
Some of he track that comes through my town is dated 1906 so it had to be 10XX as there was no alloy steel till after WW2 in general use.

I have converted some of them into punches and damascus. Most were about 1" square and differrent shaped than the present 1/2 circle out of flat bar

Rail in the US is still a simple steel, typically anything made since 1980 is basically .80% Carbon, 1.1% +/- Manganese and .24% Chrome. Newer rails made since 2000 can have .90% Carbon identified with the rolling mark HCP or HE and 1.00% Carbon identified with the rolling mark OCP or HEX. Both have .24% Chrome added to improve hardenablity. All rails identified with the rolling markes HH, HE, HCP, HEX or OCP are heat treated after rolling and the hardness varieds from 352 Bhn to 430 Bhn and has a pearlitic structure. The 1.00% Carbon rail are Hyper-Eutectic Steels and are difficult to force into Martensite and require a very rapid quench which may result in cracking. They are designed to transform into pearlite and avoid undesired martensite.

Rails used in Canada are sometimes true low alloy rails with the Chrome content ranging up to .6%. Internationally there are several rails with a high Vanadium content and some with the addition of Boron to create a Bainite Structure.

Rails made before 1960 can be almost anything including mild steel. Some rails made in the 20's and 30's were AISI 1035.

nitewatchman