The funniest thing happened to me to as i was walking down the railroad tracks looking for metal. Out of no where a cop showed up and said "You knows its against the law to be by the railroad tracks." I said "oh sry I was looking for metal for blacksmithing." By me saying that i did not get fined or anything because he is a blacksmith in his free time. I thought it was hilarious .

That is funny, congrats on the lucky save!

I live on the tracks up where they dont really care how much steel they drop.. so I walk the tracks all the time. I had no idea it was illegal though.. thats news to me.
Im fortunate enough to be out in the boonies where no coppa comes out.

Does it matter if the steel or iron you are working with is rusted? Also is there a way to get rid of rust

vinegar removes rust.....learn to love rust....it doesnt matter to the forge tho

The rust makes no difference, one heat and it is gone. See if you can hook up with the cop and maybe forge some hot steel.

thats pretty sick. i who woulda guessed that the cop was a practicing blacksmith. if that happened to me in Long island i'd say thats some rediculous chances. i live right next to my town railroad so i go raiding spots all the time, never been caught.

We did a slope paving job for the BNSF railroad in 2004, and the inspectors told us that tresspass on railroad property is a Homeland security matter. I did get some good steel from that job, unfortunatly I left the coupling knuckle behind.

I can understand why; we had some problems over here a few years ago with kids derailing trains (or nearly doing so) with concrete paving slabs on the rails. Kinda hard to enforce though.

Homeland Security big time! Mega tons of highly toxic chemicals go on the rails right through some of our biggest cities! They are a bit more relaxed in the country where sabotage is just a commercial problem.

Remember too that the "Rail Road" police have a lot of powers that the local cops would drool for from back in the days of the big strikes and the "Robber Barons". Best not to get caught!

I was basically very suprised that the cop was a blacksmith. so I best be carefull but me and him might hook up and do some blacksmithing I really don't know his name so I do not know if I can get in touch with him I will see tho.

Did he have a pocket full of rusty spikes?

ever see the guy on ebay who sells spike knives...engle I think his name is...he claims it is theft to pick up rr spikes from the tracks. you must obtain some kind of salvage license.
i bet it is a distance you must keep from the tracks...we have a bike path that runs right alongside of the rr.

Thomas, what "powers"? I've always wondered when I see the BN Police vehicle if he can give me a speeding ticket or not. I always pull a nice wheelie past him to see if he's interested in chasing me and he never does... Just kidding, but I have thought about it. It appears to me that their "powers" are limited to the protection of a railroads property, employees, and passengers and possibly some jurisdiction over interstate / foreign cargo.

From the Code of Federal Reg's

WAIS Document Retrieval

the way it reads is a rr cop can do anything any cop in the state can do in or around rr property and or matters off the the property. he prolly doesnt need warrants or probable cause on rr property....he can prolly beat the crap outta ya with out as much of a problem as a cop. Same with postal inspectors....they got some pull too

Some of you guys don't seem to understand the definition of theft.

Here's a news item from a month or so back.

Chicago train track sabotage suspected - Crime & Punishment - MSNBC.com


I hope this wasn't any of you guys!

I've walked the track and picked up spikes laying on the ground. There are plenty that have never been driven. I doubt any of us have anything to worry about. Just good 'ole boys picking up "trash".

I only learned about the legalities after carting off 27 spikes and some odd pieces from a local freight line. I can see where they're coming from, but 1. I do not mess with established hardware, and 2. they ain't coming back for that stuff.

Well it's sure a lot easier for them if they can say *anybody* with a spike is guilty rather than having to proove that you pulled it. There are several laws done pretty much the same way in places: street signs, manhole covers, etc.

I don't use RR steel for much and the local tracks get a lot of both rail and human traffic as they run due north from down near the border; so generally I get *given* more RR stuff than I can use by other folks.

the below is quoted from eBay - engelfamilyforgeartisanknives.

As the material quoted is copyrighted I have reworded the quote and deleted the copyrighted material.
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He only uses brand new rr spikes that he buys from the manufacturer. He suggests that you always ask the seller to provide documentation that they obtained the spikes lawfully. He says that removal of a stray spike without a salvage permit is theft, and removal of a spike from an active rail is an act of terrorism.

ever see the guy on ebay who sells spike knives...engle I think his name is...he claims it is theft to pick up rr spikes from the tracks. you must obtain some kind of salvage license.
i bet it is a distance you must keep from the tracks...we have a bike path that runs right alongside of the rr.

I used some spikes for another project I did a while ago....I got them from a rr employee. When he brought the spikes over he said "they aint as easy to get as years ago" he said not to ever try and pick them up.
as far a walking down the tracks....we have tons of rr track...I live near Reading PA ....Reading Railroad ...monopoly .... they put all these trails down the tracks...you can make to Valley Forge on the bike trails...there is lotsa junk laying around at all the old stops....they are working tracks too, right aside of the bike paths...cool ride