Patent ID: 6981452

Claim:
A method of unloading elongated rails from a railcar traveling on track on a railway bed, said method comprising the steps of: feeding a first rail on the railcar into a thread box having a power operated drive for transporting the rails through the thread box and onto the railway bed; operating said drive of the thread box to transport said first rail through said thread box and onto the railway bed until said first rail is unloaded from the railcar onto the railway bed; feeding a second rail on the railcar into said thread box, said second rail being disconnected from said first rail; and operating said drive of the thread box to transport said second rail therethrough while propelling said railcar away from the first rail along the track at a speed sufficient to maintain said second rail substantially end to end with said first rail, thereby unloading said second rail from the railcar onto the railway bed with the first and second rails positioned on the railway bed substantially end to end and disconnected from one another.