Ties: Tip and a question

[Anonymous]

I am preparing for another painting run and wanted to paint some plain ties so I could lay them next to the track when ballasting is done. I had lots of Atlas code 100 ties but for one thing, they were only textured on some of the top and for another the texturing that they did have was pretty crappy. I decided to rough them up a little with a fine sanding drum on my Dremel. Now they have really fine scratches that look a lot more like scale wood grain. A great way to make those plastic ties look more wooden.

My question is this: when ties were left by the side of the track, being leftovers or whatever, were they left in stacks or singles, and parallel or perpendicular to the track. Any help here would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Reed

[FJ and G]

I usually see them stacked perpendicular.

I model in O scale and use lauan, as it has a pronounced grain.

Ties are usually left before construction project (new ties) or after as single ties if the project is small. If the project is big, the ties are loaded into an MOW gondola and used as fill or for erosion control. Ties just left sitting after construction are frowned on by management, but it depends on how lax they are.

I'm not a railroader but I've seen this question answered before and have observed what I wrote as well

Dave Vergun

[Anonymous]

I have seen new ones stacked perpendicular to the tracks in neat piles, usually at some sort of staging point or landing. The old ones are usually thrown as far down into the ditch as possible...

Andrew

[cacole]

Most railroads today are required by law to clean up their old ties, rail, spikes, and other items, so they have a tie crane that goes along and picks up the old ties, puts them on a trailer in stacks of 4 wide and 4 high, and they are then banded. The tie crane dumps the banded ties to the side of the track, and another, larger crane comes along and picks them up for disposal.

[Don Gibson]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bnnnboy

I am preparing for another painting run and wanted to paint some plain ties so I could lay them next to the track when ballasting is done. I had lots of Atlas code 100 ties but for one thing, they were only textured on some of the top and for another the texturing that they did have was pretty crappy. I decided to rough them up a little with a fine sanding drum on my Dremel. Now they have really fine scratches that look a lot more like scale wood grain. A great way to make those plastic ties look more wooden.
Reed

EXCEPT Atlas plastic ties only represent the top section of each tie - the part one presumably see's sticking out of the ballast. REAL ties have square cross-sections and any pile alongside the track should represent this. The MAIN criticism of Atlas and Peco track has been the unrealistic appearance of their ties.

IT'S so inexpensive to buy some WOOD TIES (Woodland Scenics) and stain them brown black. I don't even use plastic ties to fill-in spaces between Flextrack ends, since wood slips under the track easier.

[Anonymous]

Check the SP standards book for several configurations of tie stacking. I have made several stacks as you describe for my layout and I agree with Don on buying the wood ties. Mirco engineering sells bags of wood ties for $8.00. Stained and stacked they look great...

Guy