Creosote

[rrnut282]

Give a NIMBY in inch of information and they'll soon be your ruler!

I LOVE the smell of creosote in the morning.[:)]

[jchnhtfd]

Good news/bad news: as Mudchicken notes, creosote is still the main type of tie preservative -- for the very simple reason that it works, and the process used to treat the ties is well proven, and nothing else out there works anywhere near as well. The bad news is that the stuff contains a raft of compounds which EPA has deemed are hazardous, which is why RTI and AAR are looking for something else. I've yet to see a problem with a right of way becoming 'contaminated' from creosoted ties, but the older yards where they were treated usually wind up as hazardous waste sites, which is a fate worse than death. The newer treatment facilities don't, though -- no hazard there, so far as I know, other than the fear factor for the NIMBYs (yeah, that crowd again...)

[mudchicken]

Creosote is still used as the main type of tie preservative. There are alternatives being actively investigated such as glass sillicate, but nothing has panned out yet. The Railway Tie Institute (RTI) and AAR are funding new investigations. Power poles are treated with borate solution (why deck timbers are green at the lumberyard). Borate however is more expensive and less effective because it still allows air voids to feed bugs and start the decay process, just it does it a bit slower. The idea is to fill the voids completely and eliminate air that aids the decomposition process.

[louisnash]

I don't know if this subject has been done before, but I am asking again anyway.

I thought that I had read somewhere that creosote is no longer used on railroad ties. Is this true? What do they use to treat them now. I don't even think that the newer power line poles are treated as well.

We were having a discussion at work today about it and I was certain they were treated another way, but with what/how?

Thanks
Brian (KY)