Last fall the local railroad (CN) replaced about a mile of jointed rail with welded rail on their line through town. Eight months later all the old rail, tie plates, spikes, etc. are still scattered haphazardly along the right of way, quietly rusting. With the high price of scrap steel, wouldn’t it pay to collect this stuff and sell it or even re-use the old rail somewhere else? Or does it cost more to handle and transport than it’s worth?
CN has stuff like that all over.