TREATMENT OE RAILWAY TIES IN ENGLAND. 



The information given below ia taken from a paper on '- English Eail- 

 road Track,'' by Mr. E. E. Russell Tratmau (Transactions of the Amer- 

 ican Society of Civil Engineers, June, 1888). The matter referring to 

 the Great j^orthern Railway (of Ireland) was taken by Mr. Tratman 

 from a highly interesting paper, " Description of a Oreosoting Yard 

 for Railway Purposes," by Mr. W. Greenhill, read before the Institution 

 of Civil EugiDeers of Ireland, in May, 188G ; the paper contains very 

 full particulars, in detail, of the plant and process, results of tests, 

 cost, etc., and is especially interesting in that it describes work done by 

 a lailway company in treating timber for its own use. 



The ties aie usually of Baltic red wood, 10 by 5 inches Iby 9 feet, spaced 2 feet 9 

 iuches to 3 feet center to center. They are almost invariably creosoted, with about 

 7 pounds of oil per cubic foot. Some roads have the creosoting done by contract, 

 others have their own plant for the work. Among the latter may be mentioned llie 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and the Great Northern Railway (Ireland), bo'h 

 of which have very large and complete plants, and pay careful attention to the im- 

 portant point of tie preserving. [See also paper by Mr. John Bogart, M. Am. Soc. C. 

 E., entitled " The Permanent Way of Railways in Great Britain and Ireland; with 

 Special Reference to the Use of Timber Preserved and Unpreserved," and read No- 

 vember 20, 1878. "*] I do not think enough practicat attention is paid in this country 

 to the question of preserving railroad ties, and some points in the matter may be 

 learned from English practice. 



Usually the ties arc of rectangular section, but on the Midk.^nd Great Western Rail- 

 way (Ireland), they are preferred of half-round section, except where the bearing-plates 

 (bed plates) are used. Mr. Price says that for heavy traffic ho would prefer sleepers 

 11 hy 5^ inches ; be uses, however, sleepers 10 by .5 inches, 8 feet 11 iuches long, always 

 creosoted. The following is from the company's specifications: The timber is to bo 

 of good sound Baltic redwood, free from shakes and other defects, well seasoned and 

 dry ; 90 per cent, of both rectangular and half-round sleepers to have not less than 7^ 

 inches diameter of heart-wood, and 10 per cent, not less than 7 inches at both ends. 

 On one side the rectangular sleepers to have 50 per cent, sharp edges down to 9 inches 

 surface, and 50 per cent,, not less than 8 inches, and on the other side all edges to be 

 sharp. The rectangular sleepers. are to be grooved and bored and the half-round 

 sleepers to be grooved, in accordance with the templates which will be supplied by 

 the engineer. After being grooved and bored they are to be placed in a receiver and 

 thoroughly impregnated with the best creosote oil (an equal mixture of light brown 

 and black oil) under such pressure and for such time as shall entirely fill the pores 

 with the liquid. The sleepers are not to be creosoted till they have been stacked in 

 the contractor's premises for at least three mouths after inspection by the engineer. 



* Transactions, Vol. VIII, page 17, January, 1879. 



49 



18689— Bull. 3 4 



