Railroad Tie Dimensions And Spacing

Thickness width and length specified are minimum dimensions for green ties.

Railroad tie dimensions and spacing. It is possible to trade off tie spacing for the size of tie for the weight of rail. A railroad tie crosstie american english railway tie canadian english or railway sleeper british english is a rectangular support for the rails in railroad tracks generally laid perpendicular to the rails ties transfer loads to the track ballast and subgrade hold the rails upright and keep them spaced to the correct gauge. Standard spacing is 19 5 inches on center. In theory of course sleeper spacing should be irrelevant to track gauge.

Rails however are not all identical because of milling and may very in size up to 12 inches wide and nine inches tall. A standard railroad tie is nine inches wide and seven inches tall. To a lesser degree the type of tie matters on main track either wood or concrete. Types of wood for ties.

The gap would be 12 inches. Although there are other sizes a typical railroad tie is 8 1 2 feet long 9 inches wide and 7 inches thick. That s a tie spacing of about 21 inches. Dry or treated ties may be 1 4 thinner or narrower than the specified sizes.

Narrower and shallower ties were cheaper. Nominal cross section dimensions are 7 x 9 although larger ties are specified by some railways. Size categories for 7 6 crossties 1 of wane allowed 20 square 7 x 8 allowed 3 1 1 3 1 dimensions ties shall be 8 0 8 6 or 9 0 long as specified by the customer. The primary use for switch ties is relegated to turnouts thus their name.

The most noticeable differences in the appearance of the different types of track come from the ballast quality the size of the rail and the spacing of the ties. What wood species are used for ties and where did that wood come from. Railroad ties are traditionally made of wood but. This post will focus on tie spacing and how secondary track differs from main in appearance.

See the comparison of grade and industrial grade ig ties here. Switch ties switch ties figure 3 3 are commonly hardwood species usually provided in either 6 or 12 increments beginning at 9 0 up to 23 0 in length. When a grade of a railroad tie is specified does grade refer to the quality of a tie or its size. Railroads ties what do real railroads do.

What is important to the engineer in minimising the total track cost for a given weight of locomotive.