Does anyone have experience of protecting cast-iron from further
deterioration in a damp environment?
My colleages and I are considering creating a public display of a short
length of plateway track, using original cast iron Outram rails. Most if not all of
these rails were taken many years ago from an underground quarry, where they
had lain in permanently damp or wet conditions, partly or wholly buried. For
something like 25 to 30 years they have been stored in an uncontrolled
environment (an old stable block), under cover and more or less dry.
The proposed new location will be underground once more, but possibly a less
hostile environment, basically 'dry', but at a temperature of about 10 degrees
C, and in a damp atmosphere. The proposed location is more or less akin to a
damp cellar, and part of a sand cave complex open to the public a few weekends
a year.
Does anyone have experience of what we might treat these rails with in order
to prevent them from deterioration? Some of the rails are heavily pitted, and
have encrustations of limewash, mud and rust on them.
Thanks.
Peter Burgess
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