Kickstarter

Our Rails to iPad Platform fuses the industrial and electronic ages using 100-year old scrap railroad steel to create a stand for the iPad. It's the first consumer-oriented product from the idea we've dubbed Rail Yard Studios. With thin slices of rail mounted on a chunk of eco-friendly hardwood crosstie, the Rails to iPad Platform is the epitome of sustainability.

How We Arrived at the Idea of Using 100 Year Old Rail and Crossties

Our idea was born of necessity and invention. As the economy slowed, so did the small railroad maintenance business we owned. Our crews needed something to do. 

We had watched as rail with raised letters reading CARNEGIE and TENNESSEE and dates back to 1898 was scrapped. It pained us to see that just as did to see our crew sit idle. We decided we were being presented with an opportunity to solve both problems.

We put together degrees in Industrial Design from Auburn University and Ohio State University, and came up with the idea of making furniture. 

As things evolved, we found a source of eco-friendly crossties – ties that had never been treated with creosote. These are beautiful pieces of hardwood - oak, hickory, maple, beech, and walnut. To make it even sweeter, the ties are culls - they have deep imperfections that make them unsuitable so they are set aside to be burned in the tie plant furnace.

Finding those virgin timbers that were a waste byproduct of the crosstie industry was a key discovery that allowed us to make the leap into creating one-of-a-kind custom furniture.

Building the furniture has been fun, and we will continue to do it.

But not everyone can afford a piece of custom furniture, and we had ideas for smaller, more mass-market items like the Rails to iPad Platform. We have the equipment to make a handful of prototypes, but not what we need in order to go into larger scale production, so we've turned to Kickstarter – and here we are.  

We'd like to get some sandblasting equipment, a larger bandsaw and if you flatter us with overwhelming support, we could go out and secure a waterjet or plasma cutter so we can begin doing some really wild and outrageous things with the steel.

As a backer of our project, we’ve got several different levels for participating - from the most basic all the way up to some of our custom furniture. 

We appreciate you taking the time to see what we have to offer, and look forward to working with you. 

If you want to know more about Rail Yard Studios, check out our website and our blog with behind the scenes coverage.