Offered here is a heavy 3 ¼” wide, 2” long, 3 ¼” tall section of “pear rail” railroad rail.  The iron has been cleaned and coated and remains very well preserved. This piece was recovered from an unknown location.

The first railroad track widely laid in the United States was made of wooden stringers, running in the direction of travel, with a flat iron bar fastened to the top, called strap iron. This served until the locomotives began to grow in weight, crushing the wooden stringer and the iron bar. Only a very few of the poorest roads (like the Winchester & Potomac) were still using strap on their main lines by the time of the Civil War.

The replacement for strap iron was either U-rail, Pear-rail, or T-rail.  Called a “Pear Rail” due to its shape.

Weight 2 lbs. 5 oz. [ld] [ph:L]

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