Size of Rail used in branchlines?

The life cycle of a piece of rail typically goes like this:

MAIN LINE - SIDING - BRANCH LINE - YARD TRACK - SCRAP

That life cycle could surpass 50 years.

Branch line track may be the same size/weight as the main line, but the ball of the rail will be thinner due to wear and rail grinding over the years.

 I saw a date of 1956 on the rail while waiting to recrew a train on Wayne Branch today ,just outside of Kenova WV  .

 We brought 15,000 tons over it today.

I have a thread going on the re-rail of the Old Montour RR, Westland Spur, here in Pittsburgh. It was interesting to note that the Rail,(140 lb), was made in the US in 1967 the year I graduated from high school.  A long time ago as Rich mentioned.

Here are  interesting rail pictures, Western Marland Scenic RR May 2007 near the Brush Tunnel.

Wow great photos...hmmm time to be replaced..

Very interesting. The photos appear to show a "top layer" coming off.

I always thought rail was just one huge chunk. Am I mistaken?

Rail is all one piece. The ball of the rail in those photos has "de-laminateed" due to wear and rust over the years.

That rail is ready to be scrapped.

Often times, the branchline trackage would be lighter rail than the mainline.  Mainline rail is often 140lbs or so.  Get down to logging railroads, you could find 60lb rail (or less).  It's all down to how much money they wanted to spend, how fast they wanted to go, and how heavy the loads were traversing the trackage.    Want heavier and faster?  It's going to cost you.

Considering some of the steam engines I've seen at Peach Creek, I'd say it was pretty decent rail, but probably not mainline standards either.  Also, as Rich said, it would have likely been upgraded at some point over the years with rail that was no longer up to mainline tolerances, but perfectly acceptable for a branch.

Kevin