A crowd gathered on May 10, 1869, to witness the driving of a ceremonial golden spike connecting the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroad lines to complete the Transcontinental Railroad. Once completed, the Transcontinental Railroad revealed a modern engineering marvel.

One of the primary effects of railroads on farmers is the decrease that railroads bring to farmers’ transportation costs. Most obviously, it becomes cheaper to transport crops to the cities and ports. In addition, farmers can buy and transport industrial goods back to farms, including farm equipment and cattle.

Today, most of the transcontinental railroad line is still in operation by the Union Pacific (yes, the same railroad that built it 150 years ago). The map at left shows sections of the transcon that have been abandoned throughout the years.

Passengers shared benches and if they did not have traveling companions they were paired up with a partner, which Stevenson called “chums” to share a plank on which to sleep. They prepared their own food except when there were stops along the way.

As far as fare went, short trips charged 10 to 15 cents per mile. The cost for the 2,812-mile journey from Tipton, Missouri, to San Francisco, California, was $200, and that didn’t cover the $1 meals. Passenger train travel during the 1880s generally cost two or three cents per mile.

If you buy them online, used railroad spikes cost ROUGHLY (it will fluctuate) $. 80/spike to $1.30/spike – this doesn’t include shipping. Buying in bulk will get you a lower per unit price and will generally save you money on shipping.

So, there is no chance I can get free railroad spikes? You might be able to get them for free, but not by just taking them. First make sure you contact the owner, which in most of the cases is the railroad company that operates there (not all the time), they might be willing to just hand them to you for free.

Railroad spikes are driven through that tie plate and into the railroad tie, securing the track to the tie. On average, there are about 6,400 plates per mile of track. These plates, depending on the design, weigh anywhere from 25 to 35 pounds.

Utility Scrap List. Scrap metal yards are forbidden by state law to accept these items at our facilities. Common utility scrap includes materials such as: Railroad track materials or railroad equipment such as railroad spikes, angle bars, tie plates, signal housing, control boxes, switch plates, or rail tie junctions.

Additionally, can you sell railroad spikes for scrap? Yes, they can be sold. Most scrap dealers are required to maintain records of ID of anyone they buy from. They are not brass- they are mild steel.

Often I hear that “you should only make knives out of the HC Spikes” “HC stands for High Carbon” and “HC spikes make great knives”. It is generally accepted by most sources that anything from 0.3% Carbon to about 0.6% carbon is considered a “Medium Carbon steel”, and anything above 0.6% carbon a “high carbon steel”.

You can weld it with 6010, 7018 or 12018 or you can weld it with SS. There is not enough mass in a Rail Road spike to justify much time and effort in preheating it.