Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1901 — MILLIONS OF RAILROAD TIES. [ARTICLE]

MILLIONS OF RAILROAD TIES.

How to Make Them Uat longer a Problem Kail road Men Can’t Solve. It is Impossible to estimate, except vaguely, the number of railroad ties in use in the United States, but a single road, the New York Central, replaced 1,800,000 ties with new ones last year, the Erie 400,000 in New York State and 900,000 on Its whole line, the Del-aware-Lackawanna 150,000, and other New York roads in like proportion. On all the roads of the country fully 75,000,000 new ties are required for renewals, extensions and additions each year, and this entails a vast use of railroad materials. Is a steady drain upon the available lumber supplies, and costs, moreover, a large sum for labor and hauling. Much Ingenuity has been expended on projects for retaining wooden ties longer In use than Is possible at present The standard American railroad tie Is nine feet long by eight Inches deep and eight inches wide, and a fairly hard wood Is required to prevent the rails from sinking and from becoming displaced. Oak, chestnut, locust and cedar are the usual cross ties. Many attempts have been made to treat the ties so as to prevent decay of the wood. Some years ago the crossties used on the Reading Railroad were notched where the rails crossed them and their ends dipped in coal tar. It was supposed that the tar would preserve the ends from decay. Since then another process by which the ties were saturated with a solution of zinc has been tried, but It was found too costly. A railroad tie costs about fifty cents, and It is customary to add twenty-five cents for the labor of putting ties in position, or seventy-five cents for each new tie. Any plan whereby the duraties may be Increased without undue expense will be welcomed by railroad men, but so far the problem remains an unsolved one.—New York Sun.