Railroad ties left behind

There are two small piles of ties lying next the BNSF tracks near Spanish Lake park and they have been there for over a year so why doesn't BNSF get rid of the old ties?

Supertrain is reborn in MSTS.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Railroad ties left behind [View All], bradhig, 05:00 PM, Feb-01-04, (0) RE: Railroad ties left behind, shoskins, Feb-01-04, 05:16 PM, (1) RE: Railroad ties left behind, heffed, Feb-01-04, 05:28 PM, (2) RE: Railroad ties left behind, andrewpickell, Feb-01-04, 05:52 PM, (3) RE: Railroad ties left behind, bradhig, Feb-02-04, 00:20 AM, (4) RE: Railroad ties left behind, JonN, Feb-02-04, 01:20 AM, (5) RE: Railroad ties left behind, FURX, Feb-02-04, 01:27 AM, (6) RE: Railroad ties left behind, Swissie, Feb-02-04, 03:32 AM, (7) RE: Railroad ties left behind, ACRHumanResources, Feb-02-04, 11:28 AM, (9) RE: Railroad ties left behind, andrewpickell, Feb-02-04, 01:45 PM, (10) RE: Railroad ties left behind, heffed, Feb-02-04, 05:42 PM, (13) RE: Railroad ties left behind, CGW409, Feb-02-04, 06:05 PM, (14) RE: Railroad ties left behind, Braindead6, Feb-04-04, 05:00 PM, (19) RE: Railroad ties left behind, Gecko, Feb-08-04, 03:03 PM, (22) RE: Railroad ties left behind, buzzbenz, Feb-02-04, 10:25 AM, (8) RE: Railroad ties left behind, FireDragonLightning, Feb-02-04, 03:02 PM, (11) RE: Railroad ties left behind, bradhig, Feb-02-04, 03:02 PM, (12) RE: Railroad ties left behind, WabashJae, Feb-02-04, 08:12 PM, (15) RE: Railroad ties left behind, buzzbenz, Feb-02-04, 08:54 PM, (16) RE: Railroad ties left behind, WabashJae, Feb-02-04, 10:21 PM, (17) RE: Railroad ties left behind, robertlearmont, Feb-03-04, 07:28 PM, (18) RE: Railroad ties left behind, SouthwestChief, Feb-04-04, 05:40 PM, (20) RE: Railroad ties left behind, Magick_maker, Feb-08-04, 00:17 AM, (21) RE: Railroad ties left behind, John 136 6000 GO, Feb-09-04, 11:08 AM, (23) RE: Railroad ties left behind, rdamurphy, Feb-09-04, 11:25 PM, (24) RE: Railroad ties left behind, johnf, Feb-10-04, 03:38 PM, (25)

Conferences | Topics | Previous Topic | Next Topic

Maybe they're hoping they will just disappear on their own, i.e. become used for landscaping purposes in someones' yard!!

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

>Maybe they're hoping they will just disappear on their own,
>i.e. become used for landscaping purposes in someones'
>yard!! Of course, if they catch you taking them, you'll go to jail. -Jeff

Union Pacific fan.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Why move something until you know you need it. Ties aren't like loaves of bread...they last a bit longer Moving stuff costs money, which affects the bottom line. Railways leave stuff everywhere because it is cheaper and who knows when they might need to replace a tie in that area.Andrew Pickell
RTC Trainee
Centre for Rail Training and Technology

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

I heard ties are bad to use as yard decorations because of the chemicals used on them can stain clothes.

Supertrain is reborn in MSTS.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON Feb-02-04 AT 01:45 AM (EST)

>I heard ties are bad to use as yard decorations because of
>the chemicals used on them can stain clothes.Not only that, the creosote leaching into the soil can be bad for certain types of garden plants. The wild grass and weeds on and near tracks don't seem to mind it, though...EDIT: Putting railraod ties in a vegetable garden is also a bad idea, since if the creosote leaches into the soil, it will become part of the produce as it grows (even if it does not harm or kill the plants). You don't want to be eating creosote any more than you want to be drinking lead from tapwater...
Jonathan Nikiforovs.
Milepost 180, CP Belleville Sub.Repainter for Yonder Locomotive Works.

"A crictic is a man who creates nothing and thereby feels qualified to judge the work of creative men. There is logic in this; he is unbiased - he hates all creative people equally." - Lazarus Long

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Their was a HUGE pile of ties on CSX near where I live, and there were signs attached to them that said "DO NOT MOVE PROPERTIE OF CSX TRANSPORTATION"Pretty serious, considering they hauled them off.......and I don't think it was a safety issue. Creosote maybe, but nothing deadly.-Jeffrey

Courteous Future Engineer
NKP 2-8-4 #765. www.765.org
Chessie System Historical Society. http://moosevalley.org/cshs/
My Website; www.xanga.com/csxd765

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON Feb-02-04 AT 03:33 AM (EST)

Hi guys,>>I heard ties are bad to use as yard decorations because of
>>the chemicals used on them can stain clothes.
>Not only that, the creosote leaching into the soil can be bad for
>certain types of garden plants. The wild grass and weeds on and near
>tracks don't seem to mind it, though......which is why Swiss RR's are now strictly banned from selling off used ties to private people. Ties are - were - very popular for landscaping yards and garden patios, until health reports pointed out that the chemicals on them carry a high risk of causing cancer. No joke, our laws were amended in this sense in early 2003, old wooden ties now have to be treated as hazardous waste after their replacement. Which costs RR's quite some money where they could earn a little extra coins before (by selling off used ties regularily to a seemingly never saturated market of house owners and family gardeners).Lukas a.k.a Swissie

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

This was discovered a bunch of years ago...Which is whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy companies are going with concrete ties Stuart D. Guberman
Chief Operations Officer
Atlantic Coastal Railway
http://www.atlanticrail.com
P32 & Electric MU Engineer
MTA Metro North Railroad
http://www.mta.info/mnrPresident, The ACR (Virtual) LocoWorks

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Pressure treated wood ties are also replacing the creosote ties. A lot more economical.Andrew Pickell
RTC Trainee
Centre for Rail Training and Technology

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

>Not only that, the creosote leaching into the soil can be
>bad for certain types of garden plants. The wild grass and
>weeds on and near tracks don't seem to mind it, though... Funny creosote story:The guy who built Scotty's Castle in Death Valley bought a huge number of old ties from the railroad. He figured he had enough firewood to last him a lifetime.However, the first time he lit up, he discovered ties treated with creosote put out huge amounts of very black smoke. (big surprise there huh?) Not something you want to light indoors, and also hard to put out. So, out in the back he has huge stacks of railroad ties that he didn't know what to do with.-Jeff

Union Pacific fan.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Nastiness of creosote aside those things are also heavy muthas as well.
Our truck dock at work was built just a tad deeper than it should have been therefore not only our own truck but any semitrucks making delivery are below dock height,we tried to solve this using pressure treated wood and they'd last months(from the beating of trucks all day)figuring that if they could withstand the weight of a locomotive they could certainly handel trucks,I suggested to the boss to buy some ties from a landscape supply yard, just 4 of those ties had our company van sitting on the secondarys(and the nose heading just a bit skyward)not to mention they were serious nut busters to wrestle into place.Gary S

42 year old future curmudgen(Hey you kids get offa my lawn!!)

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON Feb-04-04 AT 05:01 PM (EST)

They aren't the best things for landscaping, but they make dandy fence posts. I have them all over the farm.Jim

"Windows Dummy Books are over my head"

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

I'm like you, I used the ties for fence posts -- never made the horses or livestock sick when they chewed on them. However, and unfortunatly, I made the mistake of using the "new and improved" wood perservative on some posts around our barn, The horses loved the taste of the stuff and I had a large vet bill $$$$$$ The vet told me the copper naphthenate used in the new stuff was causing all kinds of problems, and the pressure treated wood contains arsenic. The Govt.struck again !!!

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

> near Spanish Lake parkSpanish Lake Park????
Where the heck you live at in StL? Sounds like you're up in my next of the woods!------ BUZZ

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Heh, CPR left a pile behind my house. Guess the won't be needing them again, as the ties have slid to he bottom of the incline.

Jay
http://www.s95019297.onlinehome.us/

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

North St Louis County in Columbia Hills.

Supertrain is reborn in MSTS.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

I'm next door in Hazelwood.

"Trains are holy, blameless creatures"- Crow MST3K
Jae

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Jae,I grew up in Florissant - now i live in Riverview. Used to work at Henze's, if you know where that is Bradhig,I'm sorry, i'm drawing a blank on Columbia Hills... I thought i knew North County pretty well too! ------ BUZZ

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Never heard of Columbia Hills either...North County is littered with tiny townships so I'm not too suprised I haven't heard of it. I stop in Henze's on occation while I wait for my ice skates to get sharpend next door at Fischer's. I have only been living in Hazelwood for about a year, I lived a little closer to the NS in Ferguson for the other small portion of my life.

"Trains are holy, blameless creatures"- Crow MST3K
Jae

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON Feb-03-04 AT 07:29 PM (EST)

Ask the track maintainer about them. That's how I got the crossing gate, crossing planks, signals, ties, and a switch.Google, Google, Google
Always remember to use it!

Howdy!

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

I believe that any new use of creosote has been banned in the US. I wanted some for my outdoor layout to give it that rail yard smell, and to preserve some buried wood. Unfortunately it is no longer available for sale from anyone I had to use a product that is similar to creosote called Jasco (Black). What a pain it was to find the black variety. Green is all over the place, but black had to be custom ordered. And the creosote smell went away very quickly. Too bad, because that real railroad smell was neat, even if it only lasted a few days.

Matt

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/fdoti/index.html

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

LAST EDITED ON Feb-08-04 AT 00:27 AM (EST)

It's still in use, just a different mix.Creosote is made from injecting a kind of Tar into the wood through high pressure. (yes, I am over simplifying it). This tar containes things like arsenic and a few other poisons, but is pretty much harmless when you get down to it. (what's the odds you'd eat a railroad tie)What's limiting them is the number of companies that produce them. I know of two, and one is in florida off of a CSX line near Starke. The other is in Mississippi.EDIT:Let me add, that a reason that black would be hard to find from a modeler standpoint, is profability.Inorder to pressure treat ANYTHING, it requires something called a "boiler."(since it's how REAL ties are made, I'll explain)Ties are loaded onto special rail cars, resembling a flat car made of expanded metal (think sturdy chicken wire or grilles). These cars are then rolled into a long tube that resembles a locomotive boiler. Along with the ties, sometimes telephone poles, and even smaller items like fenceposts and a few other types of things, are loaded. It depends on the size though. Next, a heavy door is closed on one end (it's only open on one actually) and then dogged down. Once it's latched completly, the inside is pumped full of the heated cresote tar mixture and allowed to sit for a few minutes. Then, compressed air is forced into the tube, pushing the cresote mixture into the pores of the wood. At the same time, the whole tube is heated, climbing to almost 1000 (yes, that's right) degrees inside. There's no fire because an inert gas is actually used, not really air. (no boom).After cooking for about a day or two, the pressure is released, and the excess is pumped off. Then, once everything has cooled of its own accord (sometimes taking another two days,) the door is opened and the new treated ties are removed.

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Interesting description of the pressure application of creosote. I think there must be more than one form of creosote, since I can remember from my childhood days in England that we applied creosote to our garden fence by brush. This was done once in a while to preserve the wood. That was a long time ago, back in the early fifties.Oh yes! another memory, which links to some of the earlier posts in this thread. My Dad used to get ex-London Underground ties for use as firewood. One of my chores was to help saw these into suitable length logs which where then split. This was used primarily for kingling, since it was put into a coal-buring stove or fireplace. Dad got these either free or very cheap (he worked for London Transport) delivered to the nearest station (Sudbury Town - for those who know the London Underground).CheersJohn

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

Quite simple...Money!It costs more to pick them up than they're worth! Why bother?Rob

Alert | IP

Printer-friendly page | Edit | Reply | Reply With Quote | Top

creosoted ties are a nasty problem, I know for fact that in Arizona the Grand Canyon RR has a few piles that they are not allowed to move off their property because of environmental protection laws. Also finding a waste treatment site that will take them can be difficult. Perhaps that is why these ties continue to sit. Creosote is a highly carcinogenic and will leach into the plants in your garden.

john fowlis

Alert | IP

[ Home | MSTS Forum | MSTS FAQ | File Library ] Copyright © 2004 by Nels Anderson. All Rights Reserved.