Railroad Ties

[W. Gray]

Railroad ties have always been made of wood in the United States because of the ready availability of harvestable trees. In the early days when a new road was built, local contractors near the right of way cut the trees and hauled the necessary 3,000 ties per mile by horse to the end of track for the railroad to use. The contractor would cut only one side of the "tie" to make a flat surface and leave the rest of the tree round.

In later years, tie manufacturers would cut the ties to a standard seven inches by seven inches by nine feet and preserve the tie for as long as possible by creosoting it. These ties, though, would still rot where spikes are placed, causing an eventual replacement.

Railroad companies had special nails made with large heads that contained the current year stamped thereon. One nail per tie was placed in the end of each tie when it was dropped down so that the road maintenance people could note the age of the tie when it was replaced.

Some residents of Howard were known to have walked portions of the Howard Branch examining the ends of each tie looking for nail heads with a different year in order to extract and add that nail to their collection (which is, of course, against the law).

When I was assigned to Europe in the 1960s, the European railroads used concrete ties across the board, which they called sleepers rather than ties. Wood sleepers had been cost prohibitive for many years in Europe because of the lack of forests for harvesting.

As wood has become more and more expensive in the United States, American railroads have started in recent years to exclusively use concrete ties in some areas.

However, some roads are now beginning to use plastic ties. That may sound a little difficult to believe but the plastic tie is the same size as a wood tie and is a mix of shredded plastic bottles, shredded shopping bags, shredded trash bags, etc., along with a percentage of shredded tire material to produce a tie that has the same strength and resiliency of wood.

A plastic tie has a serial number embedded in the end during the construction process so its age can be monitored. These ties accept standard spikes, do not rot, and are not subject to insect damage. A plastic tie's life expectancy is several times that of a wood tie.

[Marcia Moore]

Removed.