Ferroconcrete sleepers

A variant fastening of rails to wooden sleepers

A railroad tie, cross tie, or sleeper is a rectangular object used as a base for railroad tracks. Traditionally, ties have been made of wood, often heavily creosoted or, less often, treated with other preservatives (for more information on wood preservatives see lumber), but steel has also been used and concrete is now widely used. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 134 KB) © 2003 by Tomasz Sienicki File links The following pages link to this file: Railroad tie ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 134 KB) © 2003 by Tomasz Sienicki File links The following pages link to this file: Railroad tie ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1280x960, 307 KB) welded rail joint (de: geschweißter Schienenstoß) My own photo taken 28-jun-2005 File links The following pages link to this file: Rail tracks ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1280x960, 307 KB) welded rail joint (de: geschweißter Schienenstoß) My own photo taken 28-jun-2005 File links The following pages link to this file: Rail tracks ... Railroad or railway tracks are used on railways, which, together with railroad switches (points), guide trains without the need for steering. ... A tree trunk as found at the Veluwe, The Netherlands Wood is derived from woody plants, notably trees but also shrubs. ... Creosote is the name used for a variety of products: wood creosote, coal tar creosote, coal tar, coal tar pitch, and coal tar pitch volatiles. ... A preservative is a natural or synthetic chemical that is added to products such as foods, pharmaceuticals, paints, biological samples, etc. ... Lumber is the name used, generally in North America, for wood that has been cut into boards or other shapes for the purpose of woodworking or construction. ... The old steel cable of a colliery winding tower Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon content between 0. ... The most common form of concrete consists of Portland cement, construction aggregate (generally gravel and sand) and water. ...

Ties are laid on top of sand, gravel or heavy crushed stone - called track ballast. They are laid across the grade at intervals of about two feet. The steel rails are then laid atop the ties, perpendicular to them. If the ties are wood, then cleats are laid down and spikes driven through them into the ties to clamp down the rails. The rails are held on wooden ties with rail spikes. For concrete ties, steel clips (for example the Pandrol clip) are often used to fasten the rails. After this is done, additional ballast is then added to fill the spaces between and around the ties to anchor them in place. Patterns in the sand Sand is an example of a class of materials called granular matter. ... Gravel being unloaded from a barge Gravel is rock that is of a certain grain size range. ... Sedimentary, volcanic, plutonic, metamorphic rock types of North America. ... Concrete sleepers laid on Ballast Track ballast, consisting of gravel, cinders or other aggregate, forms the trackbed upon which railway sleepers are laid. ... Two unused and one heavily corroded spike. ... The old steel cable of a colliery winding tower Steel is a metal alloy whose major component is iron, with carbon content between 0. ... Full M1 Garand clip A clip is a device pushed into the magazine of a firearm to load the magazine in one action. ... track Rail tracks are used on railways (or railroads), which, together with railroad switches (or points), guide trains without the need for steering. ...

The ties then act as anchors and spacers for the rails, while providing a slight amount of give to accommodate weather and settling. The ties are "floating" in the top of the ballast. Failure of a single tie is generally insignificant to the usability and safety of the rails. A datenail was implemented and coded by the railroads to identify the age of the railroad tie (that was usually laid down in sections) by hammering it into the railroad tie after installation for maintenance purposes. A typical mile of rail contains approximately 3,000 ties. Datenails were tagging devices utilized by railroads to visually identify the age of a railroad tie. ... A mile is the name of a unit of length, usually used to measure distance, in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ...

In recent years, wooden railroad ties have also become very popular for gardening and landscaping, both in creating retaining walls and raised-bed gardens, and sometimes for building steps as well. Traditionally, the ties sold for this purpose are old ones taken from rail lines when replaced with new ties, and their lifespan is often limited due to rot. Some entrepreneurs sell new ties. Unfortunately, due to presence of wood preservatives such as coal tar, creosote or salts of heavy metals, railroad ties introduce an extra element of soil pollution into gardens and are avoided by many property owners. In the UK, new oak beams of the same size as standard railroad ties, but not treated with dangerous chemicals, are now available specifically for garden construction. They are about twice the price of the recycled product. In certain places, railroad ties have been used in the construction of homes, particularly among those with lower incomes, especially those residing near railroad tracks, including railroad employees. They are also used as cribbing for docks and boathouses. A gardener Gardening is the art of growing plants with the goal of crafting a purposeful landscape. ... Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including but not limited to: living elements, such as flora or fauna; natural elements such as landforms, terrain shape and elevation, or bodies of water; human elements such as structures, buildings, fences or other material... Structure in the foreground is called a mud box - a kind of retaining wall built to hold the flood waters in check. ... A preservative is a natural or synthetic chemical that is added to products such as foods, pharmaceuticals, paints, biological samples, etc. ... Coal tar is the liquid by-product of the distillation of coal to make coke. ... Creosote is the name used for a variety of products: wood creosote, coal tar creosote, coal tar, coal tar pitch, and coal tar pitch volatiles. ... A magnified crystal of a salt (halite/sodium chloride) In chemistry, a salt is any ionic compound composed of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions so that the product is neutral and without a net charge. ... The term heavy metal may have various more general or more specific meanings. ... Loess field in Germany Soil horizons are formed by combined biological, chemical and physical alterations. ... Water pollution Pollution is the release of chemicals, physical, biological or radioactive contaminants to the environment. ... // Use of the term In common usage, property means ones own thing and refers to the relationship between individuals and the objects which they see as being their own to dispense with as they see fit. ... Species See List of Quercus species The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of several hundred species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus, and some related genera, notably Cyclobalanopsis and Lithocarpus. ... In cryptanalysis, crib is a sample of known plaintext; the term originated at Bletchley Park, the British codebreaking operation during World War II (WWII). ... Dock can refer to several things: Places for the transfer of people and materials to, from, or between different forms of transport or working with transport: A maritime dock. ... Boathouse Row on the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, USA. Rowing boats stored inside a boathouse in Israel. ...

See also

• Koppers
• Rail chair