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I Forge Iron

Railway track hot cuts


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I thought folks might enjoy pics of these two hot cuts I made from two 7" long pieces of light gauge railway. Jumping them up under the power hammer to fatten it up & square it was probably the hardest bit. I'm not really the sort of person to get out the calculator & start working out mass & where to neck in for the hardy shank so I'm pleased to say that in both cutters my guestimations were bang on & the shanks' lengths are exactly the depth of my hardy. Non tapered shanks, made to fit my hardy which is a hair under 40mm square. No grinding, just a tickle with a file.DSC_1928.JPGDSC_1927.JPGDSC_1929.JPGDSC_1930.JPGDSC_1932.JPGDSC_1934.JPGDSC_1949.JPGDSC_1951.JPG

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More like 1070-1080, high manganese.  1018 would be rolled flat after just a train or two...

Can anyone post the spec for various types of rail? I'm on a different computer now and haven't transferred my files on steels used for X, (and no they are NOT a Junkyard Steel list, they are specs for various products rather than guesses!)

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The light gauge railway I use is various ages according to when it was laid & pulled up for replacement so I don't think there's a guarenteed constant in steel type.

The stuff I used for these is the newer track with a larger profile. It's strange stuff because it drills very easily with a cordless hand drill, as easily as mild steel, but seems to hold an edge on cutters.

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I just redressed my upright railtrack anvil with a hot cut built in. not sure how well it will fare. It is from the Loraine Street Railway. Later renamed the Cleveland, Lorain & Wheeling, it would be absorbed by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in 1909. 

manganese steel (mangalloy) was created in 1882 and was used widely but not much info on who used them for rails. Mangalloy is funny stuff.

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Hello Guys;

Railways are usually 0.7 to 0.8 % Carbon steel; with lots of maganese. i'll add a picture of the various grades in use in europe.

Without a power hammer; that seems verrrrrry hard. I know the steel doesn't move well under the hammer.

 

 

railway_grades_composition.jpg

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