Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1915-03-19
PRESERVATION OF TIES
MATTER tlAs BECOME IMPoR-
TANT 70 RAILROADS.
Chemicals Called to Aid in Lenqthen
ing the Life of Indispensable
Unit of operatTon-How
the Work Is Done.

The tree question is of serious i'm
port to the railroads of the country.
Our forests have for many years
been stripped of their trees at an
alarming rate, and as consequence
the price of logs in the rough and
lumber, dressed and undressed, has
advanced by leaps and bounds. Some
of the railroads have endeavored to
meet the situation by planting trees
along the right of way, but with in
different success. Many of them have
to buy ties from along the lines of
other roads, but up to the present
time the Baltimore & Ohio has been
able to secure a suff1ciency along its
own route, not, however, at anything
like the favorable prices which OBJ
tanned ten or fifteen years ago. Hence
the motive in conserving the timber
belts by practicing greater economy
in the uses thereof, and to preserve
by the injection of chemicals that
which they are forced to buy.
The annual requirements of the
Baltimore & Ohio for renewals alone
are 100000 ties, which involve for
this one item of track maintenance
an expenditure of approximately
$1,500,000 a year for the material de-
livered at the nearest siding to the
woods from which it is cut. The tie
par excellence is of white oak, but
the red oak family is largely used
and the preservation system used at
Green Spring, Md, enables the COM
pany to employ large quantities Of
pine, beech, gum, maple, elm and ash
These latter woods have hitherto
been considered too fragile and the
period Of their longevity too brief to
warrant employment, especially I'M
der heavy traffic. For in grounding
ties, matter of frequent removals and
requirements, due to early decay, in
volved an enormous outlay for labor
account. Now, however, all of the
woods named can be, and are being,
successfully and economically used
by the Baltimore & Ohio
The treatment given ties at Green
Spring is what is known as the Card
process, named after the inventor.
The ingredients of the composition
in which the wood is saturated are
zinc chloride and coal tar creosote.
The average quantity absorbed is
half pound of zinc chloride and
three pounds of creosote per cubic
foot of timber. The cost of treatment
is about twenty-five cents a tie, in.
elusive of labor, composition, de.
probation of plant and interest on
the investment. The average life of
a red oak tie is about eight years
and its initial cost is in the peighbor.
hood OF sixty cents. The treated tie
costing 85 cents complete will last
from fifteen to twenty years.
The Green Spring plant has a ca
pacity of 100000 treated ties pei
month, working "a hours a day. It's
principal feature consists of two huge
cylindrical retorts, each 1872 feet long
and seven feet in diameter. They are
equipped with heating coils and per
forated pipes, and are built of stee
plates three-quarters Of an inch thick
with a working pressure of liz
pounds to the square inch In these
retorts Is accomplished the actual worl
of tie preservation. The ties are load
ed on steel tram cars, which are rur
into the retorts, In the bottom Of
which are laid permanent tracks Of
30-inch gauge Each retort will con
tain eight trans bearing 325 ties
When placed and the retorts sealed
the zinc-creosote solution at a tenn
perature Of 100 degrees is passed int
the cylinders by gravity from two
steel tanks with a holding capacit,
of $4,000 gallons each, through ten
inch supply pipe.
Centrifugal pumps are then set II
motion to keep the solution in a con
slant state Of agitation in order {,
effect a uniform absorption by pro
portion Of each chemical by the tim
Der. A gauge on the solution tanl
indicates when the desired amount O
absorption has been attained. which
is accomplished in about six hours
The solution remaining In the retort,