Ever wonder what happens to old boxcars or railroad ties that somehow don’t get used? Answers are tucked away on Willow Street near downtown Nashville, where some railroad materials end up in a museum and others become specialty furniture and a constantly changing array of other objects.

At Rail Yard Studios, 57 Willow Street, artisans craft furniture for homes and offices, bases for game tables and accessories such as wine racks and bookends, using railroad wood and steel from decommissioned rails. The same repurposed materials also become sculptures or serve as canvases for paintings inspired by freight-car graffiti.

“Traditional woodworking and metalsmithing techniques provide a foundation for what we do,” Rail Yard Studios owner and master designer Robert Hendrick says, “but at the end of the day, we wind up having to set aside much of the rules of thumb and add a healthy dose of ingenuity to how we make things.”

Hendrick’s own story contains elements of repurposing. He started out in information technology, co-founding and serving as COO for change:healthcare, Inc. beginning in 2006. He was CEO of Care Technology Systems from 2012 to 2015. And for 14 years spanning that career, he owned Railroad Services, a railroad-maintenance company.

Robert Hendrick points out a flaw in a rail tie that makes it unusable for its intended purpose but OK for his use.

-- Michelle Morrow | The Ledger

Hendrick, along with employees and friends, started making furniture out of railroad materials in the downtime between maintenance jobs. The furniture making was done in his parents’ garage at first.

The first piece, made about seven years ago, was a prototype desk, a “proof of concept” for his own consumption, he says. The first “official” piece was a glass-topped coffee table that looked like a miniature piece of railroad track, down to the granite ballast (gray stones) between wooden crossties and steel rail. The style remains relatively unchanged today.

“The railroad maintenance crew helped out a lot in the early days,” he says, adding RYS now has its own staff of seven employees. “The two different businesses offer support for one another on a regular basis – and they regularly vie for the available resources in terms of equipment, manpower and my time.”

“Industrial and reclaimed materials are very popular,” Hendrick explains. And there’s a lot of room for new products. One of the newest is a railroad-style base for sound-activated fire tables made right here in Nashville by Music City Fire Company. The flames of the fire pit flicker and dance to music of the owner’s choice.

Porter’s Friend Wine Rack (Rough Face) $249.

-- Michelle Morrow | The Ledger

“It’s been an awesome journey so far with Robert,” says Steve Paladino, president and founder of Music City Fire Company. His company has been collaborating with RYS for about two years, starting with initial conversations. Railroad-style bases are in production at RYS.

The sound-activated fire tables fit well with the rustic, railroad-themed bases as part of an outdoor entertainment system on a patio or in a backyard, Paladino points out. The fire tables can be used as sound systems without fire in hot weather and can be integrated with televisions as part of an outdoor theater system, he says. They were well received at this year’s HPBExpo, held in Nashville, showcasing hearth, patio and barbecue products.

The fire pits fit into what Hendrick calls the luxury entertainment segment of the furniture market, along with bases for billiards, ping-pong and shuffleboard tables. These products are popular, as are conference tables for offices, coffee tables and desks, he notes.

Another big hit is the billiards table built with components from Olhausen Billiard Manufacturing in Portland, Tennessee.

This 8-foot pool table is made from hardwood rail ties, a reclaimed train rail and spikes combined with Olhausen Billiards components manufactured in Portland, Tennessee.

-- Michelle Morrow | The Ledger

The collaboration between Olhausen & Railyard Studios has been a huge success,” says Brian Rosselli, vice president of operations for Olhausen. “The Railyard pool table was the best-selling table that we have ever introduced to our dealers at our annual trade show. The sales and interest in the unique nature of this product continue to be strong.

“Olhausen and our dealer network have been very pleased with the product and with the growing relationship we have established with Robert Hendrick and Railyard Studios,” he adds. “We are extremely excited to be introducing our new Railyard Shuffleboard table in July at our trade show in New Orleans, and we expect nothing less than continued growth and success with this partnership.”

Perhaps Rail Yard Studios’ most popular product, Hendrick says, isn’t furniture per se. It’s a wine rack that’s often used as a retirement gift and made from box-car flooring and cross sections of steel track.

It’s one of the first products Hendrick points out in a tour of RYS’s quarters. He gives a running commentary that includes railroad lore and terminology and describes the many products that started out life in the railroad industry. Letters on the side of a rail, for example, indicate the process used to make the steel. Numbers on railroad spikes tell when it was used.

“Box Cars in a Rail Yard” Wall art made from a steel track and old railroad wood.

-- Michelle Morrow | The Ledger

In the work area behind the offices, wooden components for game tables are stacked on carts and ready for assembly; more lumber is stacked in big shelves along one wall.

None of the wood has been treated with creosote (think of the distinctive aroma of telephone poles). Some planks came from the floors of boxcars that hauled steel coil. Hendrick also uses crossties that cannot be used on railroad projects because of flaws such as a crack or a side that’s not a perfect right angle.

“We used to try to cut the imperfections out of them, but now we leave them,” he says. They don’t affect the quality of the furniture but add a rustic character.

Back in the work area, another collection of wooden pieces will be assembled into a custom credenza for a railroad company in the northeastern United States. A photograph resting on the materials shows what the finished product will look like.

Some customers will drop by the studios to see a work in progress, Hendrick adds. He keeps other customers updated with photos of their project.

Customers tend to be confident, entrepreneurial, self-made people, Hendrick says. “For the most part, they have strong personalities and know what they’re after.” They want to make a statement through the design of the space they live and work in, and they want an environment that fosters and supports their goals and creative spirit.”

RYS’s employees also are a creative bunch.

“We typically aren’t looking for furniture makers,” Hendrick says. He finds that people who have worked on old homes have a good background for RYS’s projects because they know things aren’t perfect and they know how to adjust and how to make a project work.

The employees each bring a variety of skills to the job. One metal worker, for example, also has worked as a blacksmith, a welder and a pin-striper. Another metal worker is a former plumber.

“We’ve had to resort to unconventional methods for dealing with the repurposed nature of the materials we work with,” Hendrick acknowledges. “Ties are rarely straight or even consistent in size. The steel rails are worn - each in a different way - and where a rail may be one size new, it can be a quarter inch smaller after a century of use or even more challenging depending on if the wear is at the end of a rail or on a ‘curve-worn’ rail.”

So where does Hendrick see RYS going in the future?

“I think we’ll continue to do more in the entertainment-related part of the furniture world,” he says.

“I still jump in and get my hands dirty, especially on custom projects. I’ve worked with the materials so much over the years that I know what’s possible and what’s not, so when I dream up something different, it’s not unusual for one of the artisans in the studio to come ask how I envisioned doing it, and I wind up covered in sawdust with sweat in my eyes.”