A&K Railroads 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.