My dad asked me weather rail was made of steel or cast iron. I didn't know so I thought I would ask on here. So, is the rails them selvs made of steel or cast iron?
Oh yes. Now I remember something from the history channel. The cast rails would "snake head". Snake head means they shoot up and a train come along and it takes out the wheels on that side of the train... AND THEN SOME
In the 1960's I was working for the Mop and on the run between Conway Springs, KS and Larned, Kansas. The last several miles of the run (Radium to Larned was over pure steel. Apparently the entire branch was laid with this, but it was being taken up and sold to Gillette Safety Razor Company. I don't remember experiencing broken rails, but the even joints would drive you crazy.
Three of our local NWA group were in Colorado last month (after operating at Rick's) and got to tour the former Colorado Fuel & Iron steel mill. Later called Rocky Mountain Steel and now European owned. We got to see steel made and rail rolled in adjoing mill. Two hundred tons of 3200 degree molten steel in a crucible is an impressive sight. 18" long 12" diameter billet made 160' of 155 lb rail. They make their steel entirely from scrap and recycled material. A little bit of justice for scrapped cars to go into rail! A rail crew stays busy, 24-7 I guess, stuffling strings of beat-up gons onto four tracks for the magnetic crane and shuffling empties out for pickup. Plus a few transfers of gons with billets to the rail, pipe and bar mills. Not quite the variety of activity in the days of coal and ore, when multiple crews would have been required for the facility.
I think that "snakehead" rail referred to the the very early rails that were mostly wood with an iron "strap" atteched to the rail top. Tom
Yep, you're right- should that iron strap go up thru a car floor, whever was in its way would get hurt-or worse. And even after railroads switched to steel for rail, it's rather interesting that some slang phrases like "bending the iron" or "high iron" lived so long.
My engineer, who used to be the track inspector for the Hardtner branch confirmed this. Now it's me and him that run whats left of the Mop from Conway Springs to just short of Alameda. New track was built sometime around 2001 to connect with the Hutch Southern a couple of miles to the west. Around that time the rail was also relaid with 112# rail from just east of Conway Springs by the cemetery to the junction that was created with the HS. Codeman
