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I Forge Iron

Old way of cutting railroad rail


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In this video a couple of civil war re-enactors bend a rail just with a large bonfire. YouTube - Sherman's Neckties

After looking on the internet I found this site that sells track chisels. http://www.rrtoolsnsolutions.com/catalog/TrackTools14.asp#79

Would they be the same chisels that we are talking about?


Actually, the one I have looks more like the regular cold cutting tool shown above the track cutter except that it would take a regular full length double jack handle.
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  • 9 years later...

In the early 1970’s while working as a gandy dancer for the Rock Island Line, the boss would have us score the rail with a cold chisel and then he would run ice water over it for 5-10 minutes and one hit with a spike mall and the rail was cut clean as a whistle.  We did it numerous times when replacing rail after a derailment.  Worked every time. 

Edited by JWB
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