John McCoy wrote:
Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet wrote in
:

On 7/27/2016 9:24 AM, John McCoy wrote:
"Dave in SoTex" wrote in news:hXVlz.59375$Cu5.46358
@fx36.iad:

Working in accounting for much of my tenure I saw many a bill
for truckloads of used rail ties, usually $1.50/each.

Those get incinerated today, they are toxic waste (much to
the annoyance of the railroads, who have to collect them
up and haul them off, instead of selling them where they
happen to be taken up).

John


That probably depends on where you live, in Houston you can often find
RR ties at lumber yards.

Possibly if they've been in the ground long enough for the
creosote to leach out (or they weren't treated to begin with).
Most of Texas is pretty dry, so there's likely a supply of
ancient ties which isn't the case in wetter parts of the
country.

In general, tho, used ties are collected and incinerated.
As I said, this is a great annoyance to the railroads (back
when I worked w/ railroad folk, it was one of the hot button
issues they liked to complain about).

John


Yes, they are pretty much clean to handle with a trace of creosote. They
still last for decades as landscape timbers.