Used railroad ties

[rettop]

Along the Indiana Tollway -southside-before Gary there is the company that has stacks of usable ties and an increasing stack of junk tie area, and rail lengths. Under the Skyway bridge on the westside of the river, Amtrak slows down for the lift bridge is a small operation that appears to be grinding up old ties. What is interesting on a recent trip to the Windy, I saw a frontend loader with a bucket of chips driving into a shipping container (on trailer axles); there were 3 trailers lined up by the loading area (might have been K-line containers)--for export to southeast Asia???Is this fuel for their electric generation or local cook stove use??? What happens to all the useless ties that don't make it to Home Depot and the landscaping business--are they being landfilled or what? Republic Services will not accept ties in Kalamazoo for their landfill operation!

[ConrailMan5]

Up along the CN Transcon they use concrete ties. Old ties just end up being piled up in big pits at various points along the ROW. also in the various towns, they are used as parking blocks. When CR took out the 2nd Main around Ypsi they just piled up the old ties and left them to rot. Huge stack over by CP ypsi up until a few years ago. 3rd thing I have seen done is there are people who sell them for like 5-10 dollars a piece. I think they come haul them for free at the railroads request. sometimes the bigger railroads will donate ties to non-profits (ex SMRS) for use. Those are the methods I have seen/ heard used. Woodchipping is a new one though.

[Doktor No]

CSX ships a lot of carloads of used ties up to the GLC in Cadillac where they unload and ship them to a burner in McBain...or was it Marion...anyway they make electricity out of them.
And here I had thought and posted last year that GLC was getting NEW TIES (i thought they were) but if they did they could have relaid the whole railroad by now.

[NYCMan]

Before I retired, I recall a big bally-hoo about creosote, the tar-like substance which ties are soaked in to waterproof them, being a carcinogen and being banned by EPA from all consumer uses. As I understand it, railroads cannot sell, or even give away, used ties for "consumer" use, such as landscaping ties, or to burn in the household woodburning stove or fireplace. Because creosote is on the EPA-banned list, used ties must be properly disposed of. But, as I drive around, I often see stacks and stacks of used ties alongside railroad lines which are simply rotting away, apparently awaiting their "proper disposal", yet I see those same stacks year in and year out. So, I guess, the EPA allows an extended time schedule for "proper disposal."

[Tom Train]

CN ships many carloads of used ties on every train to L'Anse for burning in the power plant there. They have done it for several years now, shipping them in gons and hoppers.

[Notch 8]

NS load their junk ties into for NS Top Gon cars marked NSSX:National Salvage and Service Corporation and they are hauled to a power plant in I believe Pennsylvania to be burnt at a power plant..