Railway Preservation News :: View topic - Help with identity of a 'rail brand'

Railway Preservation News https://www.rypn.org/forums/

Help with identity of a 'rail brand' https://www.rypn.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=47191	Page 1 of 1

Author:	Dennis Storzek [ Fri Jan 27, 2023 9:44 pm ]
Post subject:	Help with identity of a 'rail brand'
This is a long shot, I know, but sometimes the amount of obscure info that comes to lite here amazes me. I was contacted by a gentleman at IRM who is collecting specimens for a display of 'rail brands', the mill marks rolled into the web of rails. In addition to about a dozen samples of steel rail used in various places on the campus, the earliest of which is dated 1886, he has three pieces of wrought iron 'pear head' rail, and one piece of wrought iron early "T" rail. The pear head rail is unmarked, but the "T" rail is faintly marked U D 71. The origin of the rail is impossible to trace, as it was saved years ago by a member who found it supporting some sort of industrial equipment in a building in Chicago. Is anyone familiar with this mark? Photo below, the faint mark has been enhanced with paint.

Author:	Bad Order [ Fri Jan 27, 2023 11:05 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Help with identity of a 'rail brand'
I can't help ID the initials, but I want to say I am always on the lookout for small cross-section, ancient railroad rail. I view it as an arcane hobby. I've found some what I think is 55#. It's the smallest I've ever found here in our yard and environs. There are no markings left on it, so I went by measurement and weight. Another thing I find when scouting the area are the compromise bars... I've found some 55<>60 bars. Things like that are very far and few between. All the interesting sections of rail and the old, odd comp. bars I've given to our rail museum, and they're on display there... to hopefully encourage the odd visitor to ask questions about them.

Author:	Dennis Storzek [ Sat Jan 28, 2023 6:45 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Help with identity of a 'rail brand'
The first decade after IRM moved to Union in 1963 was a good time for rail collecting. The railroad industry had made their peace with 100 ton capacity cars, and that prompted a revision of the standards for customer spurs... no longer was dinky rail sections allowed. Meanwhile, a lot of gravel pits in this area had played out, and urban expansion made the land valuable for redevelopment. Many of these pit locations had light rail trackage that was now only good for scrap, but it cost money to take up track. It was easy to secure donation of the rail in return for its removal, and 'rail parties' were a regular occurrence in those days. Below are pics of some of the samples Rich has found around the campus.

Page 1 of 1	All times are UTC - 5 hours [ DST ]
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/