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Wood ties vs Concrete Ties.

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Wood ties vs Concrete Ties.
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 7:49 AM
Is their a modeling co. makeing HO track out of Concrete tie track instead of the Wood tie track?
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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 8:07 AM
Atlas has Code 83 flex track with concrete ties.
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  • From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
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Posted by cacole on Tuesday, September 14, 2004 10:03 AM
Peco makes flex track with both types of crossties. Where you're going to run into difficulty with concrete ties is finding turnouts and crossings, if you need them. Even prototype railroads usually use wood crossties for turnouts and crossings because concrete can't withstand the stresses caused by wheels going through the frog.
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  • From: Milwaukee WI (Fox Point)
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Posted by dknelson on Thursday, September 16, 2004 8:32 AM
The July issue of MR has an article about laying perfect track and one shot shows I think micro engineering concrete tie track.
Dave Nelson
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 16, 2004 3:39 PM
But is Concrete better than wood or not?.......(?).
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 16, 2004 9:06 PM
Concrete is more modern -- most railroads are switching to it (or have switched to it), especially for higher-speed lines. But it depends on the time period you're modeling. I don't think concrete ties came into widespread use until sometime in the late 70's, or even later.
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Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, September 16, 2004 9:26 PM
Thank you all.
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Posted by Tilden on Friday, September 17, 2004 11:28 AM
Concrete weight about twice as much as a regular wood tie. Thus, seldom used on turnouts due to the need for extra long, therefore heavy and unmanagble, ties. Also, I've had track crews tell me the concrete ties do not last as long on curves.

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