400 



TIMBER RESOURCES FOR AMERICA'S FUTURE 



Table 232. — Number oj crossties laid in replace 

 merit per mile of track maintained, and period in 

 which annual replacement would have accomplished 

 full replacement, Class I railroads, 1940-55 



Year 



Ties per 

 mile ' 



Full re- 

 placement 



period, 



at current 



rate 



1940 - - - - -- - --- - 



Number 



121 



131 



135 



128 



135 



124 



106 



105 



104 



85 



86 



82 



86 



85 



66 



69 



Years 



23 



1941 . 



21 



1942. __ -- __ 



21 



1943- _- - .- .-- 



22 



1944 



21 



1945- --- --_ - 



24 



1946 - - - . - - 



26 



1947 



27 



1948 - -- --____ _ _-- 



27 



1949 



33 



1950 .-- - 



33 



1951 - - -- --- 



34 



1952 



33 



1953 ------ - 



33 



1954 



43 



1955- 



41 







1940-55 average 



103 



28.9 



1 Based on reported number of ties in total mileage of 

 track maintained. 



Source: U. S. Interstate Commerce Commission. Sta- 

 tistics of Railroads in the United States (annual issues 

 194U-53); Transport Statistics in the United States (1954, 

 1955). Washington, D. C. 



per mile of new track laid in 1955 was 2,580. 

 Assuming that this relationship of mileage laid 

 with crossties to total mileage continues about 

 as it has been, and that closer spacing will be used 

 in the future, the average number of crossties laid 

 in new track by 1975 may be around 2,600 per 

 mde and by 2000 it may be around 2,650. On that 

 basis, the number of crossties that may be laid in 

 new track is as follows: 



1975 tOOO 



Miles of new track that may be laid 1, 500 2, 000 



Average number of crossties per mile 2, 600 2, 650 



Indicated demand, thousand ties 3, 900 5, 300 



Average volume per tie, board-feet 42 46 



Volume of ties, million board-feet 164 244 



All the crosstie data presented above include 

 both sawed ties and hewn ties, but only sawed 

 ties are classified as lumber. In the last 50 years 

 hewn-tie production has decreased very rapidly. 

 A Forest Service field survey found that 10.2 

 million hewn crossties were produced in 1952. 

 It is expected, however, that before 1975 all cross- 

 ties will be the sawed variety. 



Switch and Bridge Ties Also Will Be Required 



The volume of switch and bridge ties laid an- 

 nually shows considerable variation from year to 



year (table 233) . In general, the requirement for 

 switch and bridge ties tends to parallel that for 

 crossties. The 1940-55 trend in volume of switch 

 and bridge ties laid per crosstie laid (in replace- 

 ment and in new track) indicates a moderate 

 increase : 



_, Board- 



Year: feet 



1940 3.51 



1941 3.33 



1942 3. 19 



1943 3.02 



1944 3.08 



1945 3.26 



1946 2.61 



1947 3.27 



-. Board- 

 Year: feet 



1948 3.61 



1949 3.84 



1950 3.50 



1951 3.60 



1952 3.51 



1953 3.71 



1954 4.04 



1955 3.61 



Assuming that volimie requirements for cross- 

 ties and requirements for switch and bridge ties 

 closely parallel each other, the latter will increase 

 5.9 percent between 1952 and 1975, and 33.4 

 percent between 1952 and 2000. Appljdng these 

 percentages to 1952 consumption (128 million 

 board-feet) the indicated requirements for switch 

 and bridge ties are 136 million board-feet by 1975 

 and 170 million board-feet by 2000. 



Table 233. — Volume of switch and bridge ties laid 

 annually, 1940-65 



[Million board-feet of ties] 





Estimated 



Laid in replacement 



Laid in 





total 

 volume 





new track 



Year 







by Class I 





laidi 



By all 

 railroads ^ 



By Class I 

 railroads ^ 



railroads ' 



1940 



172.5 



157.0 



145. 6 



15.5 



1941 



179.6 



155.0 



144. 6 



24. 6 



1942 



180. 8 



145. 



136.9 



35.8 



1943 



158.0 



133.0 



124. 1 



25. 



1944 



167.7 



147.0 



137.8 



20.7 



1945 



161. 1 



140. 



130. 5 



2L 1 



1946 



138.7 



113. 



106. 2 



25.7 



1947 



141. 6 



115.0 



108.2 



26. 6 



1948 



157. 6 



128. 



119. 9 



29.6 



1949 



137.8 



115.0 



107.8 



22. 8 



1950 



124.7 



105. 



98.4 



19.7 



1951 



125. 3 



99. 



92. 8 



26.3 



1952 



128.2 



103.0 



96.9 



25. 2 



1953 



132. 7 



106. 



99.8 



26.7 



1954 



111. 5 



91. 



85. 3 



20.5 



1955 



104. 8 



84. 



79. 1 



20. 8 



' This estimate does not include a comparatively small 

 volume laid in replacement in intrastate railroads not 

 required to report to the U. S. Interstate Commerce Com-, 

 mission. It also does not include a small volume laid in 

 new track by railroads other than Class I. 



2 An estimate based on 1940-55 average ratio of track 

 mileage maintained by the Class I railroads to total track 

 mileage operated. The Class I railroads maintained 94.4 

 percent of that total. 



3 As reported to the U. S. Interstate Commerce Com- 

 mission. Statistics of Railways in the United States 

 (annual issues 1940-53) ; Transport Statistics in the United 

 States (1954, 1955). Washington, D. C. 



