Wood ties absorb and disapate impact shocks, concrete ties do not. If you do not have properly constructed subgrade fill, stay away from concrete ties. Concrete ties make poor switch ties and track machinery stuggles to lift and/or line them. Ballast gets crushed or pulverized faster by concrete as opposed to wood.
Creosote is bad stuff in its original state or in new ties. After 25-35 years of normal life, most of that has disapated and gone back into nature (no longer in the tie). How used ties are handled and disposed of, going place to place, is largely due to local interpretation and practical understanding. In SE Colorado, we had people burning the stuff in home fireplaces.
Used to be that there was competitive bidding to pay the railroads to buy and remove the used ties, now the railroads pay the contractors to pick up and remove ALL of the ties. Getting the contractors to pick-up all the broken ties, splinters and pieces continues to be a problem. Frequently older ties are intact only on the top few inches where the hard/sharp ballast can’t chew-up the wood that is being held in place by the ballast and “locked-up” (round gravel is a capital bozo no-no, doesn’t lock-up anything)
Concrete ties are a special breed of concrete material (harder than conventional concrete) encapsulating highly tensioned steel cable and holding steel fastening attachments for clips that hold the rail. If the cable fails or the clip connections are destroyed, the concrete tie is useless. Most non-derailment failures are center broken ties. Many wind up in parking lots as tire bumpers/curbs or as rip rap.
In one of KP’s Sunset Route posts he had photos (probably long lost) of some new ties that were cut to build a retaining wall for a signal bungalow. It showed that the preservative had only penetrated about 1-2”.
On his 3rd Main for the Cajon Pass thread his photos showed BNSF using wood ties across bridges that were pre-stressed concrete due to the flexibility.
There was a story about the issues they are having with concrete ties as there is not a good secondary market for them. The story showed a fence being built with them that was not quite as appealing as one made with wood ties.
My father’s boat building business was located close to the 4 track main line of the NYNH&HRR in Connecticut and he would on a regular basis talk with a ROW supervisor and the pulled ties would be dumped on the long bank of railroad close to our boatyard. Those old ties would be essential to building the long docks which were planked with timber salvaged from a massive Erie Railroad carfloat my father had bought and beached at another site. Railroad scrap was a basic element of our business infrastructure! A number of years ago, CSX did a major tie replacement effort on the two track line used by the Lake Shore Limited which I used to frequent from Syracuse to Chicago and I recall the large piles of pulled ties which were later sorted with the usable ones baled and the rest piled for other disposal. Perhaps the creosote ties from my youth had better penetration because they lasted for many, many years in service as dock material. Several years ago, I read that in India, there was a company making railroad ties from plastic trash with very good service comparison to sound treated wood ties. Now that would be a great product here if it is cost compeditive. One man’s trash is anothers treasure.
Down here in Florida, I have rented construction dumpsters a few times.
The first item listed in the “NOT ALLOWED” section is railroad ties. You can put almost anything non-liquid in a construction dumpster, but not railroad ties.
Typical - Irrational fear of something no longer there (New ties are loaded with creosote placed under heat and pressure; old ties have no to considerably less as the excess has bled off)
