A question about Railroad cross ties

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

I have been a train fancier most of my life.  Interesting machines. But I have wondered how is the 

rail held in place . I know the cross tie is usually hardwood,  the rail is held by the spike. 

But I questioned driving the spike into the cross tie and would such a large piece of metal

not cause the wood to split.  How do they do that? 

[Perro Del Diablo]

Like big nail drives into wood. The ties are big enough to handle spikes like 10 penny in 2x4

[Eyesa Horg]

I've seen many ties with a "c" shaped staple so to speak on the ends to keep it from cracking/splitting. The spikes are also a bit in from the ends. Maybe the creosote helps with lubing the spike as well. Just guessing.

[Sedalia Dave]

The Spike is like a cut nail.  When properly oriented to the grain of the wood the edge cuts the fibers as it is driven in. It has greater holding power than a round spike and is significantly less likely to split the tie than if the spike was round.

 

Why square nails are superior

[Pat Riot]

The creosote treatment helps and what Sedalia Dave said is true as well. The spike is started with the bit in line with the grain.

 

 

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

I think the creosote softens the fibers a little making them less likely to tear, the stone bed (ballast) provides resistance on the outside, when your home project splits there is no such resistance, and ,as others said square nails and square spikes cut the wood.

[Pat Riot]

Charlie, actually there is also a tie plate involved in holding the rail to the tie. The plate helps align the spike when pounding it in.

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/RTVV2WCH9Y4DwQqs8

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/i7cr7UjbPELDvvQEA

 

For some reason I can’t post photos the way I used to without saving them to my phone...annoying! Thanks Google and Apple...ya #%&@s

[Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795]

They're using cement ties as well

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

29 minutes ago, Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795 said:

They're using cement ties as well

Worldwide ties are made of cement, recycled plastic and tires as well as wood.

[Assassin]

5 hours ago, Four-Eyed Buck,SASS #14795 said:

They're using cement ties as well

Concrete, cement is a component, along with sand, and aggregate. They also add fly ash, along with other compounds, for additional strength. My wife used to work for Nortrak, they made concrete ties and other parts. If the spikes were pointy they would split the tie and weaken it. since the are wedge shaped and driven against the grain of the wood they tear through the wood rather than split it. Old carpenter trick is to cut the point off of a nail and it will tear the material rather than split. 

[Bugler]

10 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Charlie, actually there is also a tie plate involved in holding the rail to the tie. The plate helps align the spike when pounding it in.

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/RTVV2WCH9Y4DwQqs8

 

https://images.app.goo.gl/i7cr7UjbPELDvvQEA

 

For some reason I can’t post photos the way I used to without saving them to my phone...annoying! Thanks Google and Apple...ya #%&@s

Totally correct from an old gandy dancer..........

Bugler

 

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

Thanks guys. Learn something every days. You guys are great. 

[J. Mark Flint #31954 LIFE]

Works best when you whack em with a steel-nosed hammer on a four foot switch handle, just raise it back til' it touches your heels 

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Slightly off topic, but related ~ look for the date nails on old railroad ties.

 

They'll have a two-digit number indicating the age of the tie.  Kinda fun to find ~ I've pulled a bunch out of old ties I've used for landscape projects.   

 

Date Nails

 

[Muley Gil SASS # 57795]

Back in my cop days, every few years or so, a part time, off duty job would come up that paid pretty good. It was guarding railroad crossings while the cross ties were replaced. Old spikes were scraped, but the tie plates were reused. They had machines that would raise the rails so that new ties could be set in place and a machine that would hammer the new spikes into place. But they still had spike hammers and a gauge so that the rails would be set 4 foot, eight and one half inches apart.

[Utah Bob #35998]

2 hours ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

Slightly off topic, but related ~ look for the date nails on old railroad ties.

 

They'll have a two-digit number indicating the age of the tie.  Kinda fun to find ~ I've pulled a bunch out of old ties I've used for landscape projects.   

 

Date Nails

 

Yeah, The Florida East Coast Railroad track used to run through my jurisdiction. They had been tossing their old ties in the woods since 1898/ Found a lot of really old date nails. Don't know what I ever did with them. Also the telegraph lines ran along the tracks route and we found lots of those old glass insulators.

[Pat Riot]

Don’t look for date nails on active tracks. That would be trespassing and railroads are definitely enforcing it these days.

[Utah Bob #35998]

16 hours ago, Pat Riot, SASS #13748 said:

Don’t look for date nails on active tracks. That would be trespassing and railroads are definitely enforcing it these days.

Most of the racks  where I lived replaced the wood with concrete ties. I wonder how they date those?

[Pat Riot]

2 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

Most of the racks  where I lived replaced the wood with concrete ties. I wonder how they date those?

There is a code that tells what the month and year of manufacture were but I don't recall the details. Concrete ties last for many years unless damaged and then they must be replaced.

 

Interesting. I was trying to remember the markings on the new ties we had installed up north and I knew we had CXT ties. They now use RFID chips in the ties for tracking.

https://www.lbfoster.com/en/market-segments/rail-technologies/solutions/concrete-ties