railway ties-where do they come from?

[Capitalrail]

What kind of wood is used for ties in North America, and where are these trees harvested. I heard that there is a large plantation in Kentucky that grows only trees to be used for ties. Is there any truth in this?

[Anonymous]

Dunno about the Kentucky plantation, but usually ties are made of hardwood trees of many types, oak being preferred. There are softwood ties as well, but they don't last nearly as long. Most ties are made of cheaper grades of wood and often are made when the wood can't be sold for a higher use such as structural lumber.

There are many tie plants located throughout the U.S. and generally they draw on local timber to keep costs down.

LC

[Anonymous]

My great-grandfather used to make railway ties by hand. I don't know much about it though.

[mudchicken]

Oak Hardwood Ties are for Switches and curves

Fir (Softwood Ties) used in tangents and yards

Cull ties find their way into yards

http://www.rta.org/
http://www.rta.org/two_tier/tie_guide.htm[;)][;)][;)]Should answer the basics for you!

There are tree plantations in multiple places in the country that supplie the railway tie industry and the railroads.....

[tree68]

I guess that rules out the tie fairy and gnomes.....

[edblysard]

Same place they harvest the bread bag ties?

Ed

[jeaton]

Nice link, but I couldn't find any information on where the ties are sewn. Thought it was sweat shops in Singapore.

Jay

[Mookie]

oh dear...another good topic right down the tubes...[sigh]

Frivolous Friday and the moon is new!

[mudchicken]

Aw c'mon mookster .... something had to become of all those 2" x 2" x 18" trees with the pointed ends that I planted in the ballast section over the years! Geez![:-^][:-^][:-^]

[tree68]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Mookie

oh dear...another good topic right down the tubes...[sigh]

Frivolous Friday and the moon is new!

Oops! [:I] (But it's fun)

Lot of good info though. Well worth the forum space!

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tree68

I guess that rules out the tie fairy and gnomes.....

Larry,

I thought we had established that Gnome was in Alaska,
but pardon me; where do tie fairys come from[?][:)]

Oh,I'm a native born Kentuckian,but I've never heard of such.(but that really doesn't mean anything)

[Anonymous]

Sad thing is that they don't put "tie tacks" in anymore. Tie tacks were these little galvanized nails with the year of installation. I used to collect them.

Trying to drive a spike thru a knot in a new oak tie was more than enough to shake my fillings out.

[mudchicken]

date nails ..... stopped that practice in 1969....Look at stamped end of tie, tells you more anyhow...

[louisnash]

WearyErie

You say you used to collect date nails?
Do you still have any in a collection?
If so please contact me by email if you're interested in selling.

Thanks
Brian (KY)

[edblysard]

Same place the shoe fruits come from, San Francisco....

Ed

QUOTE: Originally posted by locomutt

QUOTE: Originally posted by tree68

I guess that rules out the tie fairy and gnomes.....

Larry,

I thought we had established that Gnome was in Alaska,
but pardon me; where do tie fairys come from[?][:)]

Oh,I'm a native born Kentuckian,but I've never heard of such.(but that really doesn't mean anything)

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tree68

I guess that rules out the tie fairy and gnomes.....

isn't the tie fairy related to the sock fairy, you know, the one that makes one sock disappear from each load of laundry?[;)]but seriously, be careful what you say about Gnomes, some people are pretty touchy about that subject[:-^][:-^][(-D]

[cstaats]

Weyerhaeuser has a big lumber facility at the Port of Longview Washington. You can see it as you drive across the Lewis & Clark bridge into Oregon. There are stacks of ties curing in the yard. I would guess it is douglas fur.

[BNSFNUT]

I worked at a saw mill in the late 70's and we got a contract for some ties and if I remember we used oak. The company that I worked owned 5000+ arcers of hardwood trees and we also custom hardwood on order,
I liked it when we cut hardwood, as this mill was probley one of the last steam powered sawmill in comercal use in this country and I could make lots of steam with hardwood slab and saw dust.. I finaly quit when it got to dangerous to work. About 81 or 82 my fears came true. The boiler blew and killed the fireman.