The Enduring Tradition Of Recycling Railway Rails And Rail Ties
Recycling used rail ties and railroad rails began as a salvaging and recycling “given” long before going “green” with recycling revived in popularity in the most recent decades. One currently functional railroad rail recycling company started operations in 1959 when its 19-year-old founder, Kern Schumacher, heard about thousands of railroad ties about to be removed from the Oakland Bay Bridge. Kern obtained the help of a salvage specialist and the two of them were soon co-owners of the largest supply of used rail ties in the nation.
Businesses like Kern’s have likely been around since the very beginning of railroads-or really soon after. Perhaps a railroad was built into a nice, thriving mining town that soon turned into a deserted ghost town. Then what? Then along comes an innovative person who can see the opportunity in the recycling. But to what purpose would these used railway rails and rail ties be put?
Used railway rails and used rail ties still in excellent shape have historically been-as they still are today-reused in the creation of brand new railway lines. Used rail ties have often been used to build houses and to build cribbing for boathouses and docks. Used wooden rail ties, in recent times, have become very popular as landscaping and gardening material-for retaining walls, decks, raised-bed gardens, staircases and steps, stepping “stones,” walkways, flower boxes, and borders-and for corrals, chutes, and fences. These used rail ties are also highly utilized in creating art and furniture.
In recent times there has been an increase of concern over potential health issues because of the wood preservatives that are still present in the used rail ties, namely coal tar, creosote, or salts of heavy metals. Some jurisdictions in the world have gone so far as to prohibit the use of chemically treated rail ties when there might be regular contact with human food or skin. Companies that sell used rail ties typically grade them according to their retention of preservatives, marking the ones with higher levels of preservatives as appropriate for reuse in laying new railway lines, and the ones with low levels of preservatives as most appropriate for landscaping.
Some businesses that provide railroad materials salvage, year after year travel the world in pursuit of buying and recovering the maximum number of miles of track. This increasingly earns appreciation from this increasingly recycling-conscious society. Railway companies also appreciate their ability to recoup investments when they have a need to relocate portions of their railway lines. Some salvage companies own specialized railway equipment that enables the dismantling and the relocating of railroad ties and rails from very challenging lines through tunnels, around curves, up grades, and over bridges. It’s comforting, in our ever-increasing “throw-away” society, to know that there is for sure one long-lived industry that has stayed recycling minded.
Learn more about rail ties. Stop by akrailroad’s site where you can find out all about obtaining railroad rail and other railroad products.
