Railroad ties

[rugatika]

Does anyone know what the deal is with old railroad ties that are lying beside the tracks? Can these be picked up by anyone? Do you need permission from CN?? Just curious if anyone has any info on this. Thanks

[heybert]

Don't know if there's any thruth to this, but I was told that if you call them and volunteer to take them, you have to take all of them. Good and bad.

[elkhunter1234]

I know at CP Rail, we can't tell you that you can have them, but we won't go looking for them if they go missing...

[Kev]

Years ago we purchased some for $2 each. Can't remember who we contacted though.

[Deerme]

The portion of the track from each outer rail to the fence line is called the "right of way" and is considered private property, hence removing any material from it without permission is classed as theft, regardless of whether the tie(s) in your example are of no further useable service to the particular railway. Vehicles or persons on the track or right of way not associated with railway operations are trespassing as well as as such can be charged for that.

Do yourself a favour - look up the Public Relations numbers on the 'net for the railway that operates the track and have them put you in contact with the particular track supervisor of the area. They will in turn give you a release form allowing you to remove the ties between certain dates from certain locations without fee. They will most likely give you access to ties that are well away from any active operations to lessen the chances of you having an unpleasant contact with on-track equipment.

If you can make a couple of phone calls and get the ties you would like for free, why risk your life doing otherwise? With 17,000 tons of train behind the engines I can see you but I may not be able to stop in time. It's not worth it.

[Okotokian]

Uh, that seems like pretty good advice Deerme... Do it legal like... LOL
or just buy the ones from the garden place.

[pintailslammer]

Rug

Be carefull with those ties. From what I've been told there are changing the kreasone that was used in them from years ago. They are not not to be used in residential areas because of health concerns. They somehow contaminate the ground. Just what I' ve heard though:huh: Could also be bs:rolleyes:

Also make sure you have decent gloves on . You definetly dont want one of those slivers of wood in your skin. You can get serious infection from them


PIN

[rugatika]

about that too Pin. Seems to me I've heard something about that stuff. Might be best to stay away from any future problems.

[scooterj]

I now work for a railway repair company and am on the lines every day:love: Every day I see someone approach and ask about ties--The legal way to do it is to phone CN and ask permission, they will give you an answer and a number right away... We also stock alot in our yard, and they are for sale in lots from 1 to thousands, whatever you want, and they are @7.00 each for good ones, of course the boss is open for some dickering, and I know he lets them go for $5 with little argument.PM me for a ph number. The creasote is toxic, but I haven't heard about the local rules about landscape use. Do not get caught taking them from CN lands, they are cracking down on theft right now, and the penalties are stiff
http://http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/scooterj/grcache044.jpg
http://http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v218/scooterj/grcache037.jpg

[Setscrews]

[QUOTE=scooterj;60329]I now work for a railway repair company and am on the lines every day:love: Every day I see someone approach and ask about ties--The legal way to do it is to phone CN and ask permission, they will give you an answer and a number right away... We also stock alot in our yard, and they are for sale in lots from 1 to thousands, whatever you want, and they are @7.00 each for good ones, of course the boss is open for some dickering, and I know he lets them go for $5 with little argument.PM me for a ph number. The creasote is toxic, but I haven't heard about the local rules about landscape use. Do not get caught taking them from CN lands, they are cracking down on theft right now, and the penalties are stiff

I know this post is old, can you still get a guy hooked up? Nothing builds a solid shed foundation like ties.
Thanks!

[Redfrog]

I built hundreds of retaining walls. Often the homeowner had RR ties or access to them and because they were cheap wanted the walls built from them.
We refused to build anything with ties.
They are toxic with the creosote and other chemicals.

From a practical POV they are terrible to work with. Black goo on everything. Most are split, that is why they are being replaced. They are all different widths and thicknesses.

If you want timbers, use PT 6X6 Or 6X4. Anything structural stay away from landscape ties.

[densa44]

Scoot is right about the creosote, if you get some don't burn them.

[fish gunner]

danger will robinson danger. I recommend you stay away from railroad ties, cancer on a stick. when the temp gets up in summer they leak, black crap, if you have pets they get covered. they kill any saw used to cut them. they stink to the heavens. there dimensions vary rendering them useless for any accurate work. my 02¢ leave them where they lie.

[Lornce]

My neighbor used ties for edging a garden, killed the soil around the ties we removed them and took them to the dump, we had to put them in the toxic chemical area, sows you hos nasty they are.

[great white whaler]

its true ,,i got a sliver in my finger 30 years ago,ended up in hospital with a severe infection,very toxic ....my 2 cents.

[petew]

Creosote coating ties is a known cancer causer. You don't want them at home, or in the garden your food comes from.

[bessiedog]

Back in the day..
Dad made me hand saw a tonne of these things for landscaping and garden barriers.

Between that and all the crap ive handled during my construction days... im dead man walking according to you guys...


Another info wayy to late experience....... damn.

[elkhunter1234]

I've worked for CP for 30 years and have handled 10 of thousand of ties, and i will never have one on my place... they are bad news.

Jim..

[wwbirds]

There was a big pile near here several years ago and I went into the rail yard to see about buying some. guy told me $2. each so I told him I would pick the ones I wanted and he said no you have to take them off the top with no selection. He said they used to burn them but with environmental concerns they now had to pay to have them picked up. told them I wasn't interested in the split or damaged ones so would not buy any if I couldn't pick the good ones.
He called me 3 weeks later and said I could have them for nothing only if I agreed to take them all.

Took me 4 truck loads but I got them all home. have used them for everything from driveway retaining walls to holding the gravel and screen in place around the pheasant pens. the ones we couldn't use or give to the neighbors farms were made into permanent blinds along the sloughs and tree rows so the birds would get used to flying over them 11 months of the year.
Rob

[Sushi]

Creosote...great stuff:

acenaphthene
acenaphthylene
anthracene
benz[a]anthracene
benzo[a]pyrene
benzo[e]pyrene
benzo[b]fluoranthene
benzo[ghi]perylene
benzo[j]fluoranthene
benzo[k]fluoranthene
chrysene
coronene
dibenz(a,h)anthracene
fluoranthene
fluorene
indeno(1,2,3-cd)pyrene
phenanthrene
pyrene

[Abby87]

I reported a little bridge over a creek, made with ties years and years ago. They tore it up and later built a new one. Those ties in water are deadly to fish and wildlife.

[elkhunter1234]

"neighbors farms were made into permanent blinds along the sloughs".

Not sure what the environmental guys will think about that... examples like that are the reasons why CP Rail does not give ties to anyone any more, Liability issuses have come back to bite them in the butt on more then one occation..

Jim..

[Abby87]

"neighbors farms were made into permanent blinds along the sloughs".

Not sure what the environmental guys will think about that... examples like that are the reasons why CP Rail does not give ties to anyone any more, Liability issuses have come back to bite them in the butt on more then one occation..

Jim..

agreed, I wouldnt be admitting to that. I have a friend whos a biologist and he says they have removed alot of bridges and such made of ties due to the chemicals and such in them and how they can harm fish and wildlife.

[Kim473]

There is a pc of land about Yellowhead trail and 38st in edmonton. They used to do the treating of ties there. Its been vacant now for over 15 years because of the creosot. Will probly be vacant for another 15 years. Very bad stuff.

[70chevy]

There is a pc of land about Yellowhead trail and 38st in edmonton. They used to do the treating of ties there. Its been vacant now for over 15 years because of the creosot. Will probly be vacant for another 15 years. Very bad stuff.

Another pc of land is just south of Cayley,old post treating site.It has been vacant now going on 30 years.Enviroment Can has been doing ground water analysis for many years now and it is still heavily contaminated.Bad stuff indeed

[colin455]

Our local landfill rejected RR ties from landscaping as they were too toxic. They had to bring them to where I worked at an Oilfield Industrial Class II Landfill. It wasn't cheap.
I'll use regular timbers, thank you.

[twofifty]

Few years ago CP was shipping old ties to an EPA-approved incineration facility,
in Pennsylvania.

[wwbirds]

the railways were concerned about burning them and polluting the atmosphere but the many other problems were not widely known. I doubt I even bothered with work gloves to handle them but perhaps because of the goo I wore them.
too late to tear up a driveway retaining wall that has served us well for so long.
The permanent blinds are in the tree row which is double fenced and away from the sloughs so the cattle cannot get to them (although they did knock a few ties down using them as a scratching post a few years ago when someone left the gates open)

On alkali soil many of our corner posts and braces on the farm were made from used switch ties 40 years ago and are stil solid.
Bottoms are all white from soaking in the alkali in many places including the permanent blinds.

[Rocky7]

I bought a bunch of used ties for retaining walls. Drove rebar through to knit them together at the 90º corners and 4ft. rebar as anchors on the bottom rows. Nobody died. It's pretty solid wall. We just couldn't afford the stone or new ground-treated timbers at the time.

You'll want to wear old gloves and overalls, tho. And I'd suggest getting a cheapo chainsaw so you don't have to your good one on them. Be sure to treat the cut ends.

Obviously, you wouldn't use treated ties where you're going to grow something to eat, but our flower beds and shrubs sure like 'em and I like the look of them. And I know I'll be dead before they rot away, so I won't be heaving them around again.