Cast Iron Rail?

[R.K. Maroon]

I found some old rail in the dungeon. It is very soft -- easier to bend then you would think practical -- and has a grey cast. I am thinking it may be cast iron. I will brush up on the particulars of the spark test and grind a sample to verify (or not). The question is, has anybody heard of cast iron rail in O-scale? I am thinking this would actually make good rail for flat car loads -- very realistic looking to my eye.

Jim

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I thought cast iron was brittle stuff.......but using it for loads sounds like a great idea!

[R.K. Maroon]

Good point -- maybe its simply low-carbon steel. Or maybe its been annealed. Or both. Will grind and report back.

[ScaleCraft]

Old friend of mine told me steel rail is what they used to use. That and the cast iron driver tyres on steamers, you'd pull out drawbars.'
However, used to eat the flanges off lead drivers, so they would regularly swap driver tyres out.
St. Paul....probably prior to the December of 1941 festivities.

[bob turner]

Yeah, steel. You can still buy steel rail from Jay C. My outer loop is steel. Keep some oil on it if, like me, the elements are close by.

Dave is right. Cast iron drivers on steel rail is like traction tires.

[R.K. Maroon]

Our club layout has several hundred feet of hand-laid code 148 steel rail. It was salvaged from a layout in the Seattle area and landed in ScaleCraft Dave's garage. He offered to our club for the price of shipping. We love it. I don't find nickel-silver nearly as attractive, and we have never had a problem soldering it, even though it was a bit rusted from age. We use a wire brush wheel on a dremel to clean it up, a nominal amount of flux, and a 60-watt minimum iron with big tip (the thermal mass seems to help).

I guess I should rename this thread "Wrought Iron Rail", as that was what I was thinking. However, the spark test seems to verify that it's just mild steel. Here is the rail compared to standard steel rail:


The soft rail in question is on the right. It looks too old to be Code 125, but it is. The second-hand Code 148 steel rail as used on the club layout is in the middle. The Code 125 rail on the left, which we also use on club layout for secondary tracks, is from RIght-o-Way (Jay Criswell, current proprietor).

The sparks from all of these more or less match the on-line images of mild-steel. Here is the Code 148 regular steel:



Here is the soft steel:



There is some difference, but this was not a controlled test. Although I am told it is important, I did not take steps to make sure that the pressure put on each rail was the same (hard to do when holding your phone in one hand to take a photo). As best I can tell from on-line sources, the straight sparks, long tails, and single "fork" at the end of some of the tails are all signs of mild steel. The more forks, the more carbon, and mild steel does not have much carbon.

Some may find the video link below of interest. The talking head drones on for a while, so maybe skip ahead to the chart at 1:55. Once the tests start, mild steel comes first. Note also wrought iron at 5:00, which is very similar to mild steel. That's not much of a surprise, as mild steel is essentially wrought iron with a small amount of carbon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D094eBa4S7c

The more I think about this, the more I want to say that the grey soft rail is simply hot-rolled steel, and the shiny rail is cold-rolled or maybe drawn. Cold rolling or drawing work-hardens it and gives it a finish. Jay might be able to tell us if there are other alloys added to the shiny rail to give it that nice finish (and might explain the slight differences in the color of the sparks). Or maybe it's a trade secret.

Jim

[Jay Criswell]

I wish I knew more about the steel rail but Lou and I didn't talk about it much.

The following is what I think I know. Going clear back to '63 the rail, offered by Right-O'-Way (ROW), was made by numerous manufacturers. I say this because I have a huge file, containing hundreds of documents, showing all kinds of communications between Gene LaVancil and Lou Cross with said manufacturers. Most was done domestically but in later years in Britain. Sheffield to be precise.

I still have quite a bit of steel rail with the dull grey finish. I believe it was made in the US. I also think is was just rolled. Hot or cold? I don't know. When talking steel the newer steel rail was all Lou was selling and I assume it was preferred by the buyers. I say this because otherwise it would be gone. The newer rail is rolled and drawn. Once again, my belief is, this creates the shiny finish. It also makes for a more accurate and consistent profile. I've been told it also makes for a straighter rail. Is this really true? I don't know. The old rail, not drawn, looks just as straight to me. All is low carbon steel. 12L14 (Ledloy)? Maybe.

We will have a few miniature displays, showing steel rail next to nickel silver, at the March Meet in Lombard and OSW in Santa Clara.

I have noticed some of the NS rail, brought in years ago, has a yellowish tint. Luckily none of the newer rail displays this color, well, at least not to my old eyes. One thing I do like about the steel and some of my NS is the availability of getting it in 6' lengths. Typically, shipping is a little more but laying it is easier.

Iron Rail? I don't think so. Could be wrong. It's an opinion based on nothing. Lot of that going around these days.

As a side note, Lou was using steel rail on his layout and when asked why he said, it's cheaper and I have a lot of it. Some of that rail had been there maybe 20 years and I saw very little rust. Did he spend time cleaning cleaning the rail? Nope! Very little.

Enough rambling for now,

Jay

ps I still believe, only steel really looks like steel.

[ScaleCraft]

Steel Rail Anecdote:

I was (am?) a dealer for #1 gauge track. 25 years or so.

Before the owner and Ramos of Micro Engineering collaborated on tooling to draw rail, they produced and sold steel rail.
I think both scale sizes, 215 and 250, but it may only be one of those.

Fellow on the California Coast wanted to build a railroad. Did not want the aluminum rail we had started making, insisted on steel, You know, if it walks like a duck and all that.

Tried to talk him out of it, to no avail.

Laid his railroad out.

Inside two years the web on most had rusted away, leaving the base spiked down (rusted spikes...before we went to blackened stainless) and the ribbon of the rail head.

I mean, what's more prototypical than steel rail outside in 1:1 Mother Nature, anyway?

[ScaleCraft]

The soft rail in question is on the right. It looks too old to be Code 125, but it is. The second-hand Code 148 steel rail as used on the club layout is in the middle. The Code 125 rail on the left, which we also use on club layout for secondary tracks, is from RIght-o-Way (Jay Criswell, current proprietor).


Jim

.125 rail is old H0. I saw a LOT of that growing up.....TruScale. My Uncle's pike was TruScale and .125 steel. We ended up with the track and ran it in various configurations for decades.