Proposed Creosote Ban?

Ken the bill is stupid, spendging $720 000 in ties alone vs $82 000 per mile. These politicians are braindead.

Brain dead is a given.

What are the relative life expectancies of the three types of ties?
Wood?, Plastic?, Concrete?

Wood about 25 year and they can be changed 1 out of 5 ties every 5 year so cost is spread out.

Plastic or composite ties are 50 years plus and same as wood tie replacement just bad once or cyclical, they can be mixed with wood.

Concrete ties last about 60 years if traffic is low, but in wet or wrong ballast conditions bottom gets chewed up and ties break at rapid rate..
When Concrete ties are used all ties need to be replaced with Concrete , you can't mix them with wood or plastic.
With Concrete ties weighing over 200 pounds the insertion of ties needs to be done with mechanised equipment that shortlines do not have. It realy ads to cost if outside contractors need to be brought in, and a BIG investment has to be made with a long time depreciation.

What will this mean for Mr. Creosote?


"Just a wafer-thin mint?"

"Get me a bucket."

Train Lawyer the state would provide direct funding to shortlines so they would be involved.
most shortlines operate on New Jersey state trackage.

For your reading enjoyment - a good article about the state of the art in plastic ties and a mention of a New Jersey player (hmmm, in Middlesex County, no less) in the manufacturing of the ties. Maybe pdman had something there in his observation of political motivation

http://www.plasticstechnology.com/artic ... 04fa3.html

Anybody hear about how the plastic tie testing on the BR&W is going?