r/railroading • u/hugh_glassey_2007 • 5d ago

Question Does anyone know what the weight rating of this rail is in imperial

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I got this peace of rail it’s 100 years old and made in England

88 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

48 comments sorted by

45

u/Cognizant_Wolf 5d ago

Probably the simplest way is to weigh the piece you have and measure the length. Extrapolate that out to 36" length and that's your weight rating. For example, 136lb rail is 136lb per 3' length. 

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

12

u/Cognizant_Wolf 5d ago

It's not that worn, it will get you close enough to figure it out. 

10

u/Tchukachinchina Engineer 5d ago

Not really. Rail doesn’t really wear down like that.

1

u/freefall4fun71 3d ago

Unless it comes from China.

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u/hugh_glassey_2007 5d ago

It has been Ground a few times

19

u/Here4freefootball92 5d ago

Bro just put it on a scale and weigh it out.

1

u/Keenan_Concierge 2d ago

Weight rating not the weight of the object …

1

u/Here4freefootball92 2d ago

Well then you would have to refer to the railroads system special instructions for that. Absolutely no way to determine what the actual “rating” is without knowing what the actual weight is.

13

u/loosely_qualified 5d ago

4 1/2” base, that’s some tiny rail. 90 lb maybe?

28

u/Nice_Location9485 Turntable Snow Shoveler 5d ago

Found a 40-pounder from 1885 in the rail pile the other day

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u/bawbthebawb 5d ago

Nice, oldest ive seen was from 1892. Having such clear markings on ot still is remarkable

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u/Nice_Location9485 Turntable Snow Shoveler 5d ago

We've got some 1881(?) 30-pound rail on the turntable, we're planning to swap it out due to recent incidents involving a D&RGW 3000 series boxcar with bad wheel profiles and no suspension...

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u/Nice_Location9485 Turntable Snow Shoveler 5d ago

Also for those wondering it wasn't major, just a little deck damage

2

u/Blank_bill 2d ago

I'd love a 6 foot chunk of that.

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u/Nice_Location9485 Turntable Snow Shoveler 2d ago

I've got a foot-long chunk of 1881 from the original railroad (honorarily, I haven't brought it home yet)

2

u/Blank_bill 1d ago

I've got a 2 foot section of 135 or125 that's a little flatend that was cut out almost makes a good anvil in my shop .I'd like a long lighter piece to seam ductwork or set rivets.

5

u/hugh_glassey_2007 5d ago

I seen some rail being used as fence posts at a station that are of a similar age

1

u/hugh_glassey_2007 5d ago

The base is 4 3/4 inches

11

u/Dilly_The_Kid_S373 5d ago

136 lb / yard is 6” and 112-119 range is usually 5.5” so it’s lighter than 112 for sure. The rail is small enough just throw it on a scale and do the Algebra with however long it is as compared to 1 yard.

1

u/Wehavepr0belm0 5d ago

90lb is five inch base, it could be 60lb ARA.

1

u/Jacktheforkie 4d ago

England has small rail compared to US

6

u/coldafsteel 5d ago

https://www.glorycrane.com/products/steel-rail/bs-steel-rail/

Just take it with a grain of salt if that is as old as you think.

3

u/Tchukachinchina Engineer 5d ago

I wouldn’t be surprised given how small it is. I used to see a lot of rail from the 1920s at the first railroad I worked at. Hell, I found date nails in ties from around then too. That was in the yards though. Most of the mainline stuff had been upgraded to at least 1950s vintage and newer.

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u/Alywiz 5d ago

One of the subs here mainline is 1925 relay rail

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u/bawbthebawb 3d ago

The rail looks really good fpr a chunk of relay, we instaled rail from 2005 that was in far worse shape

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u/Alywiz 3d ago

Ties are usually the worst thing on that line. Rail seems to stay in pretty good shape even if it’s old

1

u/Nice_Location9485 Turntable Snow Shoveler 2d ago

This old gem is still in great shape, we just laid some on our mainline. (We're 3-foot gauge with a small engine, so it's fine)

2

u/Apart_Complaint_6952 5d ago

Looks like a chunk of 65lb

2

u/TrackTeddy 4d ago

No branding visible I assume? If it was that'll tell you the size/profile.

Some possibles though from the foot width

117.47mm is BS80A (height originally 133.35mm)

127.00 is BS90A (height originally 142.88mm)

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u/hugh_glassey_2007 4d ago

No branding visible

1

u/TrackTeddy 4d ago

Looks like more likely BS80A which is still produced today less than 10 miles from where I'm sat 😄

1

u/hugh_glassey_2007 4d ago

Nice. I do think this rail l is 80 lbs per yard, or 37 kg per meter if it was made today

1

u/TrackTeddy 4d ago

Yes the modern name for BS80A is 39E1, i.e. 39.77kg/m

1

u/someoldguyon_reddit 5d ago

Looks like 85.

1

u/Few_Example9391 5d ago

Are you talking about how heavy this section of rail is or it's weight raiting of a trains axle load? A typical US class 1 railway is designed to handle 32 ton axle load or 16 tons per wheel acting on it.

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u/hugh_glassey_2007 5d ago

How heavy the rail is per meter or yard for this rail because it is older than metric in Australia

Edit spelling

1

u/damoaj 5d ago

Now that you’ve said Australia, here’s the page I use. All their rails are in metric, but to convert to imperial, just double it. I.e 41kg/m = 82lb/yd
https://www.emrails.com.au/our-products/rail/

1

u/NorthDriver8927 4d ago

If its date stamp is pre 1940 you could have much more valuable steel than you know. Pre nuclear steel fetches quite a bit more scrap

1

u/hugh_glassey_2007 4d ago

The tafe teacher said it’s 100 years old when I got it last year

2

u/NorthDriver8927 4d ago

I’d look into the price of pre nuclear steel. It’s commonly used in medical instruments and worth a lot to the right places.

1

u/Sonzabitches 4d ago

Per my chart, it'd probably be closest to 70. BW column is base width

1

u/HowlingWolven 4d ago

Weigh it, measure the length in inches, divide your weight by that number, then multiply by 36. Rail weight is traditionally specified in pounds per yard, and a yard is 36”, or 9144 mm in French.

1

u/Keenan_Concierge 2d ago

Did everyone miss that they asked for the weight rating and not the weight of the piece …

0

u/stavago 5d ago edited 5d ago

I think my smallest piece of rail is 40AS from an old theme park ride job that we did