The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1886-12-09
RAILROAD TIES.
RELATIVE LASTING QUALITIES OF
DIFFERENT KINDS OF !, WOOD.

An Industry which the Railroads Have
Made and Fostercd-The Original
Hewed Article Still Considered tho
Best There Is. s..E .'..
s'We have our fruit season, nut season,
and various other seasons, but this is the
railroad tie season." said Roadmaster
Donoghue of the Illinois Central. 1.-THE
season commences about Oct. 1 and ends
in April and May. From this you are to
understand that during this period our
busy time lasts" ssSSA-.
- sHow long does a tie liye?' -.
"The average life of tie Of course
depends as much upon what it is made of
as the life of a man is generally gauged by
his habits-it is all in the stuff that is in
it. The best ties Are made of burr and
white oak-that is, of the material most
available ties made from that sort of
timber are the best. Honey locust out
lasts anything we put down, but we can
get but little of that. Along with the
burr and white oaks we will place post
oak, and place the average life of tie of
that material at seven years.
TIFF LIFE OF A TIE.
II might say, too" continued the road
master, THAT the life of a tie depends
much ON the ballast in which the timber
is imbedtled. l have had ties remain
sound for fifteen years in cinder and
rock ballast. They last a long hime also
iii gravel-as long as ten years. In Or
binary earth ballast they become worth
less after seven years of service"
"What about the difference between
hewed and sawed tiesi"
"Well, there is in the life of ties at the
very least three years difference, and that
in favor of those that arc hewed, and I
will give you good reason for this fact:
Sawed ties are made of timber that can
not be hewed and that has been shook
timber that is blown down by storms
The saw leaves the crcases around knot
so exposed that the water gets in there
and so remains. The creases of the saw
also make little cutters, dis it were, which
hold the water and which of course causes
he tie to rot. In all my experimental
that covers a long term in the various
branches of rOadmaking-I never knew
u sawed tic to lie as long as the one which
is hewed. We buy ties of two classes,
first and second, and are now paying
from 33 to A cents for the former and II
cents for the second. For sawed ties we
pay by the thousand feet-$14 per 100.
Switch ties are always sawed. A set of
switch ties contains 1850 feet, and costs
us S52. All ties arc closely inspected.
About twice month / do this work.
The ties are hauled to tho track and
ranked (piled up), and take a squad of
section men by whom the ties are all re-
handled, and so as each one is turned
over it is given its class and marked on
the end-two dots for second class, one
dot for first. Tics made Of red or
water oak we throw out entirely, ac-
cepting them ut no price. Ties arc paid
for as often as twice q month, the money
being paid through the station agents of
the company, who are furnished funds
for that purpose. So far this season we
have shipped about $4,000 ties. Just
now they are being sent north to build
the double track between kankakee and
Chicago and also Freeport for use in
building the new road from Freeport to
Madison, Wis"
TIES FOR ONE MILE.
'How many ties does it take for one
mile of road, Mr.. Donoghuc?"
"Twenty-siX hundred. We watch tho
road closely, and as the old ones become
useless we take them out aud put in the
new. We do not commence on a mile
track or O section of track and put in
ties, beginning at one end, but our aim
is to keep up uniform sorndness from
one end of the road to the other Some
roads adopt the plan of skipping ties in
spiking the rails to them, but / find this
impracticablc and dangerous. Every
tie should be spiked on both sides of the
rail. Old ties are taken possession of by
the section men, who convert them into
firewoCd.
''ries are hauled to us frequently
from u distance of fifteen miles from the
track, eight or ten ties being the average
load.
cites are just as much of a commod-
ity almost as wheat or corn. There are
few general merchandise dealers along
the line who do not trade for ties, and
they all make good profit. In the first
place they have a profit on their goods
and will sell a tie for an advance Of ut
least five cents on what they paid for ties
in trade. We are now loading and ship
ping away almost as fast IS we receive
them"
On account of the extensive use of
trestles in bridging over low places by
railroads the pile business has also grown
in great proportions. These are cut
from huge logs, barked and hauled to the
track. They are generally abont eight
cen iuchcs through. thirty feet long, and
one of them delivered on the car costs
So. 30 The ties on this sort OF structure
arc all sawed, and cost $14 per 900 feet.
Tie and pile makers make but little
expert chopper cannot get
ont more than fifteen tics I'm q day. He
gets II cents each for these, 80 that he
would make only $l.65 per day, and it is
the tie trader, not the maker. who coins
rIe moncy.-Cnlcago Tribune.