Framing Lumber

[Sonny]

You didn't have a relative (non-employee) to go collect them? Folks look for old glass panes, as that, also, for new cabinets and such.

However, such a waste if they trashed them.

Sonny

[Leon]

Lew passed away earlier this year.

[notbob]

As it should be.

xcFalse salvage practices have made some "employees" rich. I've seen this shady practice evolve into a major scandal at one govt weapons lab. 8|

nb

[Dave in SoTex]

Lew passed away earlier this year.

I know, Leon. I was being facetious. ~ :o)

Dave in SoTex

[John McCoy]

"Dave in SoTex" wrote in news:pfblz.18877$ [e-mail]:

In that era they probably went to the landfill. Today companies are more aware of the value in scrap, and will sell anything that's valuable enough to justify the effort.

John

[Ed Pawlowski]

Yes, but they will also destroy defective product so it cannot be sold at the local flea market for pennies and returned to a legitimate store for full refund.

[Dave in SoTex]

"Dave in SoTex" wrote in news:pfblz.18877$ [e-mail]:

In that era they probably went to the landfill. Today companies are more aware of the value in scrap, and will sell anything that's valuable enough to justify the effort.

Working in accounting for much of my tenure I saw many a bill for truckloads of used rail ties, usually $1.50/each.

Dave in SoTex

[John McCoy]

"Dave in SoTex" wrote in news:hXVlz.59375$Cu5.46358 @fx36.iad:

Those get incinerated today, they are toxic waste (much to the annoyance of the railroads, who have to collect them up and haul them off, instead of selling them where they happen to be taken up).

John

[Leon]

That probably depends on where you live, in Houston you can often find RR ties at lumber yards.

[John McCoy]

Leon wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Possibly if they've been in the ground long enough for the creosote to leach out (or they weren't treated to begin with). Most of Texas is pretty dry, so there's likely a supply of ancient ties which isn't the case in wetter parts of the country.

In general, tho, used ties are collected and incinerated. As I said, this is a great annoyance to the railroads (back when I worked w/ railroad folk, it was one of the hot button issues they liked to complain about).

John

[Leon]

Yes, they are pretty much clean to handle with a trace of creosote. They still last for decades as landscape timbers.

[Dave in SoTex]

The summer of 1969 I got summer work as a laborer at Southern Pacific's creosote plant located on the west end of Houston's Englewood Yard, practically under Lockwood Drive just north of I-10. Hottest damn summer I can remember often topping 100 degs. Laborer often meant stickering green ties for air drying, essentially building "towers" of stickered, cross-stacked ties that involved a fork lift as well as a couple of us laborers atop the growing stack to position and space those ties with three-foot long hand hooks. You sweated constantly which meant you likely were wiping your face with the back of your gloved hand which meant you couldn't avoid imparting some of those chemicals on and around your face. My face soon began peeling in various places and continued to do so all that summer. And, we handled treated bridge and switch ties using the hand hooks to drag those along runners then bundling them [usually two over two] and banding them for shipping readiness. That facility is long gone now. When I left the railroad in 1994 most of Southern Pacific's treated ties came from the Kerr McGee plant in Texarkana. I still haven't figured out why the U.S. rail industry has never began converting to concrete ties as has most of Europe.

Dave in SoTex

[DerbyDad03]

About 8 years ago our offices moved from a downtown building to an office park in the suburbs.

The "Mahogany Row" furniture (72" glass topped desks, 72" credenzas, matching bookcases, etc.) was showing its age, so it was announced that any employee that wanted the furniture from their own office, and had the means to move it themselves, could take it home.

Many of us ended up with some pretty decent looking home offices. In some cases, the employees didn't want their furniture, but "deals were made". They came in on the moving day and with help from other employees, took their furniture "home". Once the furniture left the building, management didn't care who actually ended up with it, it just had to be removed by the employee that it was assigned to. One guy furnished home offices for himself and 2 of his sons.

[Markem]

They have a cheaper alternative, plastic ties from recycled plastic waste.

[Leon]

YEAH! I spent most of the summer of 1969 in Harrah OK. I recall as kids sitting under the patio cover and watching the thermometer reach

110 degrees F. We spent a lot of time in the cellar to stay cool.

Actually somewhere near Wharton TX there are concrete RR ties being used.

[John Grossbohlin]

In New York ties (and telephone poles) can only be reused for industrial purposes... i.e., as ties or telephone poles. These items cannot be repurposed for landscaping, bulkheads, parking lot posts, or anything else.

[John McCoy]

Markem wrote in news: [e-mail]:

You haven't looked at a railroad recently. Most mainline trackage is concrete ties now, and has been for probably 20 years. Lightly used tracks are still wood because it's cheaper to install than concrete.

Recycled plastic ties have been tried. They've had problems with fastners creeping and other issues. They're also more expensive than wood. Mostly they're used in wet places where wood ties don't last as long (especially places were replacing ties is difficult, like in tunnels).

John