Railroad Ties

I use them for corral posts. There are numerous different grades and types of wood. If you get the good heavy ones, they will out last you, the light weight ones,aren't worth putting in the ground.
 
Ties will last a long time on top of the ground on gravel. Plant them in the ground and they don't last long. Not worth the trouble for post.
 
Problem with railroad ties, is that they are made of what lumber men call cants. Cants are the center of the tree, that you can't take another usable board off of. The center of the tree, about 2-4" or so is the softest wood in the tree, and contains every knot, that ever grew into a branch, on the tree. They are good at soaking up creosote, though. Before I used a tie, that the railroad has pulled up as it is no longer safe, I would go to the woods, or a local sawmill, and buy a black locust post, for the corner. Untreated they last 30-40 years, if you buy them 8' long, they can be turned over, when they rot off!
 
Nick,
ups stopped here Thurs.
parts all made it, but they had a rough ride, not much left o the box. The pickup tube was there, but the end was squashed. Easy fix, and I will install a screen on the end of it.
Thanks again,
Loren
 
I saw a person use them for a foundation for a cheap shed. Believe it or not, termites were eating them. I"ve seen termites eating treated lumber too.

Yes, I"ve seem people use ties as corner posts. Keep in mind, nothing made from wood will last forever in the ground. The electric company replaces their poles, even posts on a pole barn will rot at ground level.

George

George
 
My dad used railroad ties for all his anchor post. This is back 40 years ago and I still have one in today. The railroad ties back then were not creosoted but were boiled in a tar that last much longer.
 
Some ties are better than others. I got some once that had been used on a spur into a coal mine. They apparently were not treated for a long life span, and after about 10 years in the ground started needing replaced. If you start out with a tie that you can barely lift one end of, and is so nasty with creosote that you hate to touch it, you'll get a pretty good corner post. I've got a few in the ground that were all I could do to stand on end, and they've been there a long time. Everything reverts back to dust eventually though.
 
Fawteen, In 1970 Dad bought 300 Cross-ties for $.25 ea and the man Delivered and stacked them. In March of 73, we started a large fencing project on the place.
We used the Cross-ties for Corner post. Set up in a Double-H fashion set mostly at 4.5 to 5 ft deep!. Our longest run was 3/4 of a mile. Full Suspension Fence. Meaning the Corners hold the entire pull, with only steel post in-between. This year the fence is 40 yrs old and and still doing the job it started 40 yrs ago. 10 yrs ago we went down the fence retying every wire to every post. Only real maintence that had ever been needed on the fence. The Cross-tie Corners just a strong as the day they were put in. Just 40 yrs older.
By in large the Cross-ties have serves our place well. Our soils run from Calachie hills to a Houston Black Clay Derivative soils. Mostly well drained. Most folks Do not expect a fence to last so long, but most of ours have. I bought a bundle of 20 about 22 yrs ago. That set was used on a crowding alley. Don't know where they came from but that set has not fared as well as the Ties we bought back in 1970.
Personally I like Cross-ties better than Cedar post, But not as well as 3 in pipe! If your soils is salty then pipe is not a good solution.
Hope this helps!
Later,
John A.
 
I have never built a fence in my life, but I have had a hand in replacing roughly 300k cross ties on the RR. Back when I first started we were replacing ties that had date nails from the 30's, 40's, and 50's that where still sound, but had been adz'ed so much they where unsafe. Right before I left System Production to work locally we where replacing some ties that were only 7 years old that where rotting. Granted these were in low, poorly drained ares, but your gonna do worse to a fence post. And last a lot of the newer ties look good from the outside but are rotted on the inside. Hope this helps
 
Thanks for all the feedback, folks!

These will be replacing cedar posts that were put in 20-ish years ago and are rotting. My ground is 6 to 10 inches of good loam over clay, blue marl and pin gravel, so the holes generally make pretty good wells.

Since that original fence was built, I've started using a bigger auger on the digger, and back filling with screened gravel instead of the glop that came out of the hole. The theory is that it will drain better and cut down on the frost heaving the posts.

I have to REALLY work to get down past 3 or 3-1/2 feet on most holes, that's when I hit the pin gravel and you might was well try augering through concrete.

I'm on the wrong side of 60. If they last 20 years, I'm not going to be the one replacing them..."8^)
 
I have used old RR ties for corner post in the past. They worked well for me in my wet clay. But this was years ago so I know nothing about the newer ties they use today.

In fact ever since they made the creosote wood treating plant about 5 miles from my house a super fund cleanup site and had to incinerate 20 acres of land the state has really cracked down on the use of creosote.
For me since it is listed on the restricted use pesticide list I just as soon find something else to use so my kids do not have disposal problems later. Right now the local landfill will not take them and you are not supposed to burn them.
But its your land and kids so do as you feel best.

Quote from EPA
The Agency considered the potential risks to public health posed by Creosote (and the other heavy duty wood preservatives) along with the benefits resulting from their use. As a result of this evaluation, the Agency determined that the use of creosote as a wood preservative chemical met the statutory standard for registration provided that certain risk mitigation measures were implemented. These modifications required that Creosote be classified as restricted use pesticide, workers were required to use certain protection/protective clothing and equipment and Creosote use was restricted to non-residential use sites. These mitigation measures are noted in the Federal Register January 13, 1986 (Vol.51, No. 7).
 
I've seen termites eat the old arsenic and the newer AC2. Ask any termite pest control, they will tell you the same.
I've seen termite have lunch on wood chips too.
 
I would say they are worried about car pollution. Its the reason for all the computer controlled stuff on a car gas engine; or the use of DEF with a diesel engine.
Just like creosote they weighed the benefit against the risk. We can not do with out cars or trucks or planes until we come up with something better. So they tried minimizing the pollution end.

With creosote there is no way to reduce the pollution end and the benefit is greater than just doing away with it totaly. So they just regulate who can use it now to try and cut the risk to the public down.

Creosote is just like many of the spray chemicals farmers use. The benefit out weighs the risk for many of these chemicals but on the other hand you do not want every home owner to have access to them. They are safe when rules are followed but it is just eaiser to limit who can buy said chemicals than to train every soul on earth how the use them.
 
They're not allowed to sell genuine creosote-soaked used railroad ties.

What you're buying is a railroad tie-shaped object. A chunk of wood roughly the same size and shape as a railroad tie.

The only way to get "real" railroad ties now is to steal them off the rail grade while they're replacing them. They usually dump them along the track and the come along later with the machine to replace them.
 
Perhaps where you are that is true.

Here, they tore out 100+ miles of abandoned rail and turned it into snowmobile/atv trail. Every lumber yard in the area has multiple lifts of actual railroad ties.

You just need to tick off the yard guy and pick through them to avoid the rotted ones.
 
That's the only thing we have used for the last 40 years. Have had to replace very few. Even built a barn using the longer switch ties. Wish we could find some more switch ties. Many, many places sell the 8 footers around here.
 
(quoted from post at 16:38:54 05/07/13) That's the only thing we have used for the last 40 years. Have had to replace very few. Even built a barn using the longer switch ties. Wish we could find some more switch ties. Many, many places sell the 8 footers around here.

I got some standard length ones and some switch ties for a project. I have the double hernia scars to prove it, LOL. But that was twenty years ago.
 
(quoted from post at 07:27:35 04/29/13) They're not allowed to sell genuine creosote-soaked used railroad ties.

Just bought some real creosoted ties from the "local" Menards last friday. They weigh about 200lbs and have all sorts of busted off RR spikes and other hardware left in them.
 
Nope, these are actual RR ties. Some are quite beat up and split open etc. They all have the holes and markings where the track plates were attached. You have to pick through them to find good ones.
 
In 1975 I bought 50 ties from the railroad off of a thirty mile stretch of railway that was being "upgraded". I paid 50 cents each and picked them up off the side of the right of way. Yes, I had to do extra work, but I got to choose the ones I took. My dad and I had just gone together on ten acres of bare land and were looking for anything cheap to use for posts, landscaping, and anything else one might use them for.

I learned a couple of things: Those things are heavy! But...In my case they have lasted virtually forever. I ruined some good clothes picking them up as they were coated/soaked in what amounted to asphalt looking material. Each weighed maybe 150 pounds or so. We used three on each corner of the property and maybe half of them in other fencepost applications. Four of them got used as a foundation for a 6 by 8 foot well house. As far as I can tell, none have rotted away or been eaten by anything.

I did make myself a promise to never buy another cross tie as long as I live. It was a good buy and a good decision at the time though.
 
(quoted from post at 09:27:35 04/29/13) They're not allowed to sell genuine creosote-soaked used railroad ties.

I think you are going to have to tell that to the feed mill, they got piles and piles of them, $9 each. No, they are not stolen....
 
(quoted from post at 11:35:17 04/27/13) Has anyone used them as corner or anchor posts for building fence?
I have used them and cut-off utility poles. The utility poles lasted much longer.
If you saw the end off a crosstie you will probably see raw untreated wood. Also, the spick makes a hole that allows some insects and water to enter.
 

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