Stan Mulder wrote:
I've been asked to help a friend replace some old rotting railroad ties
lining a garden area. This time they want to join the ties together in
some way and since I'm not very knowledgeable about woodworking I thought
you guys could give me some ideas. The ties will be just one layer high.
There are four 90 degree angles since the garden is rectangular. The
straight areas will need several ties joined together and I'm not sure
what type of cuts/splices/dowels to use to fasten these things together.
They are fairly large pieces of wood. Any ideas and/or photos are greatly
appreciated.

I don't know where you are located, but I'll relate what I did in
Northern Ohio, more than 30 years ago.

As far as I know, it is still in service.

As I remember, was able to get a couple of ties that were about 16 ft
long and still full of sticky black creosote in some places.

Cut one of the timbers with a cross cut pruning saw into an 8 ft and two
4 ft pieces.

This allowed a 4 x 24 garden using an existing concrete porch slab as
the 4th side.

Dug out the dirt for a quasi footer under the tie area and replaced with
slag to provide some drainage in hard clay soil.

Set the ties on the slag, then back filled with dirt so the ties were
about 1/2 above grade.

Filled the space with a bunch of pea gravel left over from another
landscaping job after first laying black plastic punched full of holes
to keep the weeds from growing in the area.

Laid a bunch of 8x16 colored concrete patio stones around the outside so
the grass wouldn't grow against the ties so I wouldn't have to trim.

The ties didn't move in the 20+ years I lived there.

It worked for me.

YMMV

Lew