# Rusty Rail - Time to Clean



## Pete Chimney (Jan 12, 2008)

I have often wondered how long it would take, i.e. number of trains or cars, to remove a medium layer of rust from unused rails.

Is there any data or does anyone have experience on how fast rust is removed by passing wheels on a train?

Thanks.


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## Burl (Jan 2, 2008)

I live near two shortlines, and I have noticed even short, infrequent trains leave a shine on the rail head. Maybe if you could ever get a heads up on a movement, you could do a before and after comparison.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Pete;

Also, if there is any kind of a grade, then the sanders will come into use. That will add a shine in a hurry. But I have noticed that any kind of train traffic tends to shine the rail heads. Lighter vehicles such as hi-rails and speeders may not add much of a shine.

Regards,
David Meashey


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## Mike Toney (Feb 25, 2009)

In G scale, if I let my battery powered train run most of the day, I will start to get shiny spots on the weathered brass rail heads. Mostly in the curves first, which are R1, but in the straight sections as well, never full polishes the railhead like real trains, but it will over time. If G scale had the weight to wheel tread width ratio that real trains did, the rails would probably polish up faster. With real trains, even just a light engine will put a slight shine to the rail as it goes along. Mike


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## Tom Lapointe (Jan 2, 2008)

*If the rail's shiny, the line is BUSY!*

This time of year, I typically do a 22 ~ 24 mile bike ride workout twice a week on the Blackstone Valley Bike Trail in RI; the Woonsocket, RI end of the trail is a 20-minute drive from where I work in Franklin, MA. For about half the trail's length, it parallel's Providence & Worcester's mainline; at one point, a grade crossing for the entrance to the Woonsocket Water Treatment plant narrows the distance between the P&W main & the bike trail to maybe 10 feet (for most of the time it parallels the P& W, the distance varies between 20 ~ 30 feet). The P&W rail is VERY shiny! - I think they run every day or nearly so (although I think most rail traffic there is after dark). The P&W track is jointed rail but very well maintained, frequently see new replaced ties on rides (think they're allowed up to 45 MPH). An 8-foot high chain link fence separates the bike trail from the active trackage. At one point where the P&W crosses the Blackstone River on a plate-girder bridge, the bike trail crosses on a bike bridge built on existing granite piers that were left in place when the New Haven single-tracked the formerly double-tracked P&W main in the 1950's when the P&W was under lease to the New Haven. Just south of the parallel bridges, the bike trail crosses the P&W at grade, complete with a rubber crossing & its own dedicated flashers & gates. I've had a few occasions where I wound up riding parallel to 30 to 100+ car P&W freights pulled by up to 5 units (interestingly including offline locos from Norfolk Southern & CP - 6 axle modern GE's, along with some of P&W's 4-axle GE's!). I get my exercise & railfanning in at the same time! 

 Tom


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