The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-01-07
RAILROAD NEWS.
Santa Fe's Mammoth Timber
Treating Plant Completed.
Has a Capacity Of Ten Thousand
Ties a Day.
LARGEST IN WORLD.
lis Located at SOmerville, Tex,
and Cost S25O,OOO.
Gossip and Matters Of Interest
D-s7.G Hs-oToc
IN WORLD.
Gossip and Matters Of Interest
in Railroad Circles.

With a capacity for handling 1O'VOo
ties a day, the new tie and timber treat
Ing plant of the Atchison, Topeka d
Santa Fe Railway company at Somet-
vile, Texas. viii be ready for operation
during the early days of February. rms
Is the largest plant of its kind in the
world Including the storage yards
where the material is piled for season.
ing it viii have cost the company SzoV.-
600 when completed. Between 20O ana
$50 men VIII be needed to operate the
plant and they viii work under the i'm
mediate direction of a. NJ. Smith, OF
Somerville, the superintendent. 1t mas
been constructed under the personal
supervision of E. o. Faulkner, manager
OF the tie and timber department Of the
Santa Fe system, whose headquarters
are here in Topeka.
Creosote oil, a product Of coal tar,
and which is claimed to be the best
wood preservative known is to be used
at this plant and not only the ties but
all timber used for construction and re-
pairs on the Santa F'e system, such as
piling and other bridge material VIII
be treated with it ana the life of the
timber win hereby be more than dou-
bled. over million gallons OF the
CreOsOte oil Will be used at the plant
during the year, and as this amount IS
a bout One-thirG of that product which IS
produced in the United States IN
year the Santa Fe company has been
compelled to contract for the greater
part of its supply from abroad. This
is to be brought from England ana Ger
many in tank steamers to New Orleans
and Galveston and these steamers VIII
be loaded back with fuel oil from Port
Arthur. 1t is only THROUGH the new pro-
cess to be employed at the plant and
the large scale it is to be operated on
that it has been possible to use creosote
as preserYative for ties. Under Ordi-
nary treatment with creOsOte it cost
more to treat a tie than the original cost
of the timber. but under the new pro-
cess the cost of treatment has been re-
duced OEe-half, and as ii more than
doubles the life of piece of timber its
practicability from q financial stand
point alone is evident.
This tie treating plant consists of FIVE
huge steel cylinders, each 1872 feet long
and six feet two inches In diameter.
These cylinders have doors at both ends
and the material to be treated is run in
them on small trans Each cylinder has
a capacity of 625 ties. When they have
been filed with ties the doors are
closed ard air is forced in under a
pressure of Is pounds to the square
inch CrOsote oil is then admitted into
the cylinders under the same air pres
sure until they are fun. which
the pressure pumps continue at a pres
and force the oil into the wood.
kept up until all the oil has been forced
into the timber that it is possible to get
there. This part of the process takes
about two hours. When it is compile
ted valves are opened and the oil re-
naming Is let out into an underground
tank by gravity. Upon the pump pres
sure being removed the compressed air
in the wood cells of the timber expands
and forces out the LIQUID creOSOte which
would cfI0arsr-iun remain in the to
work itself out in time A vacuum IS
fbou created in the cylinders so as to
bring away the loose oil around the
ties Then the doors of the cylinders
ere opened, the trans and their loads
removed and the cylinders are ready for
another charge. 1t takes about five
hours to complete the treatment of each
charge.
with the aid of creCsote as a pre-
eervative," said Mr. Faulkner in dis
GUESSING the new plant and the treat
meHt of the timber I'VE more than
5ouble the life of the urtreated mater
ial This is not only an economy to
the railroads but it helns materially to
lengthen out the timber supply in the
country at large. 1t rs estimated that
the steam railroads alone use in ordi-
nary repairs and renewals 115 million
cross ties each year. This timber does
rot represent any Of the material used
for bridge or ear construction. Allow
ing an average of 100 ties to the acre,
which is probably a little high. it means
that over 100000 acres Of timber land
IS cleared each year to furnish these
ties alone. So doubling the life of rait>
road ties through this preservation pro-
cess will tend to prOlong greatly the
timber supply in the country.
Beyond any question timber preser-
walton is with us to stay and on ac-
count of the increasing prices of ties
and other timbers the railroads gener-
silly throughout the country are show
ing an increased interest i'm the ques-
"The Santa Fe was the pioneer in tie
treating and timber preservation in
this country. A plant was established
for treating ties for the mountain divis-
ions in Las Vegas IN 1888. Chloride of
zinc was used then and is used there
now The ties treated there that year
numbered 211. 600 and We're the first ties
treated in America as a regular prOpo-
sitfon and outside of experiments BY
1894. ten years later. the number OF ties
treated there and also by other roads
who went into wood preserving for
themselves BROUGHT the figures up to
Oil Of0 while in 1904 the total ties treat
ed i'm the United States alone amounted
to 1875 O0. This plant at Las Vegas
has now three cylinders and we also
have a two cylinder plant at Belmont.
Ariz. Chloride of zinc is used to treat
the ties at these plants. 1t is an excel
lent Dreservative. but being a salt ties
treated with it do not give satisfaction
when they are laid in localities where
there is much rain or the atmOsnhere is
humid. When a tie trea ted with this
substance gets wet the chloride sort Of
melts and runs out of the wood But
ties thus treated give good satisfaction
ln the mountains and deserts where
there is little or no rain and the atmos-
phere IS dry.
eve have also inaugurated a system
Of keeping track of the life of the ties
and timber we treat When a treated
tie is put in the track or a piece of
timber in a bridge a timed nail with
figure on the head is driven into it.
This figure represents the year in
which the wood was treated and a rec
ord rs kept. so when the same material
IS taken out for cal some time in the
F74ttIre an examination of the nail shows
when the timber was treated and thus
we can tell how long life service has