A&K Railroad Materials, Inc. began in Oakland, California when a young man with unusual business savvy recognized an opportunity. It was 1959. Nineteen-year-old Kern Schumacher learned that thousands of railroad ties were about to be removed from the lower deck of the Oakland Bay Bridge. He persuaded a Bay-area salvage expert to help him organize the A&K Tie Company. Kern soon found himself co-owner of the largest supply of used railroad ties in the country.  More than fifty years later A&K Railroad Materials is a leading supplier of new and used track materials. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, A&K has sales offices and a network of storage and distribution facilities strategically located throughout the United States. Together, these offices and inventory locations maintain an extensive and comprehensive inventory of new, relay, and reconditioned rail and track materials across the nation.