# Forum Home Renovation Retaining Walls  Recycled Railway Track

## silentC

Does anyone know if it's possible to get hold of old railway track and if so where you would get it from? I'm thinking of using it as posts in a retaining wall.

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## SilentButDeadly

Hey Silent.......I'd wager it all goes to Simsmetal these days.  You could probably use downgrade I-beam though and it'd be cheaper (less steel) than railway track...

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## silentC

OK thanks for the tip on Simms metal. Apparently they don't sell it to the public. Try a smaller recycling yard she said...  :Annoyed:  
I've priced I-beam, way too expensive, even if I can get 2nds at half price. Back to the drawing board on this one I think.

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## Ashore

> retaining wall.

   Wouldn't that be a retraining wall  :Biggrin: 
There is a fair bit just lying in the bush around the old mines outside of cesnock and kurri getting it and cutting it up could be a problem , :Blush7:

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## SilentButDeadly

Yeah thought that might be the case with Sims. 
The 100UC 14 universal column is what is usually bandied about for retaining walls but with a new price approaching $60/m these days...... 
Even a recycling place would probably sell you that at well over $30/m.... 
And because railway track weighs more than the UC.......$$$

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## silentC

I think 100UC is is what he priced for me. They wanted $700 for a 12 metre length. My wall is about 70 metres and goes from 2 sleepers high in the centre down to nothing at the ends. I figure I would need 58 posts at 1200 centres, ranging from 800 down to 400, so three lengths would do it at $2,100. Then I have to buy the sleepers at about $600 or so. Factor in concrete and sundries, probably looking at no change from $3,000. 
On the other hand, I can get hollow lock-a-blocks for $4.50 each. They're 300x200, and I'd need about 300 so about $1,400. $100 worth of crusher dust and the job is done. 
The cheapest I think will be timber posts and sleepers.

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## Uncle Bob

Slightly OT, but a friend of mine made his own concrete crib wall It was big around 40m long and 4m high. He brought a mold (I think) and poured all his own cribs. Took him over a year to complete.

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## silentC

Concrete ain't cheap these days either!  :Smilie:

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## SilentButDeadly

Why not use the sleepers anyway and tie them together with 20mm galvanised rod physically or chemically anchored into concrete footings? Just thread them over the rod - the rod itself will bend a bit so it'll be 'adjustable'. When the wall is assembled, cut the rod off, use a thread cutter on the end and whack a nut and washer on it.  Then tighten up.  And backfill.

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## sundancewfs

you can buy second hand track. Some of those machinery and plant type magazines have companies advertising it. We used it a strainer posts for fencing on the station I worked on.

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## Terrian

> Does anyone know if it's possible to get hold of old railway track and if so where you would get it from? I'm thinking of using it as posts in a retaining wall.

  overkill to the max  :Smilie: 
Wrong profile for sleepers to slip into I think. (judging by the tram tack I have here)
Also, train track is bloody heavy, as in real bloody heavy ! (as in something like 50kg per meter or more)

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