railroad track weldability?

[LarryO]

When sections need to be hand welded on site, they use 309L-16 rods in Australia.

[Donald Branscom]

Many years ago some railroad rail was available at some scrap yards, and making small anvils from it was very popular. You may see one of those anvils at a yard sale .

It is very heavy.

[spotsineyes]

Rail road Track is NOT Manganese, It is High Carbon Steel. ...

Dave S.

http://www.keytometals.com/page.aspx...ite=kts&NM=244

This is the web page that this image comes from:

[OilfieldWelder78]

Re: Railroad Track Weldability

Manganese. Rails are manganese steel.

Rail road Track is NOT Manganese, It is High Carbon Steel. To effectivly weld on the Ball of the Rail you must 1st Fre heat the Ball of the rail to 900F or if you have a Digital Therm. 1000F Prior to welding. E7018 is NOT a high Carbon rod, If the weld is made to a cold Rail, The weld will break off. You can get High Carbon Rail from any Railroad Contracting firm or welding shop. The Manganese you find on Railroads are the Cast Manganese Blocks that are on a SGM "Self Guarded Manganese" Frog where 2 rails cross eachother, Or in most instances they are RBM "Rail Bound Manganese" For welding the Inserts & Points of a frog, Manganese rod is used at about 300A & Then Ground Down to profile.

Thermite Procesures of High Carbon Rail is done the same temps, Cut the rail to a 1.50" opening, There is a Clay Mold & Steel Frame that fits to Make for a casting Mold, after the Molds are set & Fit, The Opening is fit w/ a propane high BTU Torch & Preheated to 1000F+ There is a Crucible "charge that contains Steel, Very Little manganese, & the Charge, The Crucible is lit w/ a High Temp sparkler. Once the Pour is Made & Proper time has elapsed, The forms are broke down, & All the clay is Sheared offf & Then a Profile Grinder is set on the Rail to Form the weld evenly & Then the weld & Rail is covered to let the weld cool Slowly, also a Thermite weld Cannot be made if the Rail ends Have Bolting hols in them, That is a Fracture Point & It will break.

Hope that sheds a little light on High Carbon Steel welding of Rail & Thermite Rail welding Procedures.

Also If You Scrap for a living, Dont waste your time w/ Manganese Inserts from Railroads, 99% of the yards in the states will NOT Accept it for its a Toxic Material for Scrap yards & They will leave it on your trailers, However if you have the Permits, Rail is HIgh $ at Scrap yards, But BEWARE, FRA & FBI May just Pay you a Visit!

Take Care Guys

Dave S.

[welderman23]

Try this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermite

I'm a bit of a pyro and .....

of course you are. ant body that will buy an electric box that burns stuff together (or just burns it up) is a pyro

[Mr Bigs]

I usually move them around with the forklift.

I worked in the subways for a while an we loaded the work train with material we needed for our jobs. One day their was a small section of track in our way and I tried to move it with the Pettibone and almost broke the forks off. I had no idea that stuff was so heavy.

[Sberry]

I usually move them around with the forklift.

[Mr Bigs]

I don't recall the process name but on the subways here we cadweld the third rail but it is a similar process on the actual running rails.

[nfinch86]

nfinch86- Canadian Weldor :

Sberry, HI; Looks Very Strong, BUT A MITE HEAVY !!!! ..... Norm :

[Sberry]

something made from it.

[WyoRoy]

my point exactly.

Yep, and gives away as much as you need if you ask. Union labor to load steel scrap in lengths that the scrap yard has to cut down for shipment and sale doesn't make the transaction worthwhile for the RRs. They would be just as happy if I came and carted all their excess rail away for free as to have to pay employees to load, drive to the scrap yard and get a pittance for the product.

[Sandy]

Manganese work hardens. High manganese content makes railroad steel a good choice for ripping/plowing in cobbly rocky or abrasive soils. At least as far as the ripper surface is concerned. The maganese hardens with each impact to the point where it becomes brittle and flakes off (at whatever level be it visual to macro) and exposes new steel only to begin the hardening process over and over again. Not sure how the overall shank would hold up with extreme bending twisting and torsion. It might get progressively more brittle also, then snap before it wears out ?? Too many different operating conditions and soil types to make blanket statements.

Another unknown is the fact it's used railroad steel to begin with. You don't really know the age nor service duty it endured before you put it into use.

[TerryL]

Used for rippers in Sudbury

I saw a show on the TV. A site in Sudbury is using the rail tracks as rippers on their CATS to break up slag. Said the slag was wearing the rail tracks down within a day. Also said the railway tracks were the hardest perhaps best they could get. The CAT had many patches on the blade from where the slag abraded through. May have been Monster Machines???
The store bought rippers they were using would only last a few hours.

[ctrhenry]

The RR sells their scrap sections to them quite regularly

my point exactly.

[WyoRoy]

legally all R.R. rail is property of a rail line and none is commercially available even in scrap yards. likely what you can find is crane rail. which is the same but different.

If you show up at a scrap yard with sections of railroad track the FBI will come to see you.

Hmmm...must come from the part of the country you're in. RR rail is readily available here at the local scrap yard. The RR sells their scrap sections to them quite regularly. If I had a use for it, and I don't, I'd head down to the office of the Roadmaster at the depot and talk him out of as much as I need out of his scrap pile prior to the next load going out. Haven't needed to do that since needing a couple of yards of the stuff for weight when I had to drive my old Ford van back to Minn. mid-winter to pick up my mother-in-law after she recovered from surgery for a brain aneurysm. The rail is useless for anything of a structural nature as it is quite limber...place both ends of a section of rail a foot and a half above the ground and 15' apart and it will sag to the ground in the middle...makes it easy to do curve re-lays. Running a ribbon rail train of 1/4 mile sections...50-80 sticks...is quite entertaining. You get to watch the rail pliantly follow the grade changes and curves as you go down the track.

They used to wire-feed and grind the switch points and frogs when they wore out, but I believe there were problems with health issues in the manganese welding process and now the weld and grind work is done quite sparingly.

Except for making nice bookends in short sections I'd leave the rail for better alternatives out of the scrap yard.