Originally Posted by
Cangooner
Do you know anybody who works with the railway? My family has a cabin on a lake near Kenora that is beside the main CNR line. Most of the original cabins were built there in the 20-40ss by CNR workers, and a good majority of the families there still have rail links. You wouldn't believe the quantity of rail material that has 'fallen off a train' at or very near to the lake. Lots of cabins rest on foundations of ties, have CNR dishes and cutlery in the kitchen, plenty of rail jacks to raise cabins for foundation repair, etc... etc., etc... There are also quite a few bits of rail kicking around the place, used as everything from bookends to door stops to anvils. I suspect most of those goodies were liberated many decades ago as I'd be willing to bet the companies are much less tolerant of such things these days. But if you know anyone with old connections like that, they may know where there is a piece kicking around.
So I'm not suggesting that all rail employees have sticky fingers, just that if you know people who know people, a chunk of rail might find its way to you. :)
(for the record, my Dad is retired RCMP so our property is a loot-free zone :) )