On Sunday, July 24, 2016 at 5:25:28 PM UTC-5, Dave in SoTex wrote:

To no avail; company policy did not allow employees to acquire company
salvage.

Dave in SoTex

You didn't have a relative (non-employee) to go collect them? Folks look for old glass panes, as that, also, for new cabinets and such.

However, such a waste if they trashed them.

Sonny

Dave in SoTex wrote:

"John McCoy" wrote in message
. ..

Boatbuilders have a word for that, which is escaping me now.
Of course, in their case they're trying to get a piece of
lumber to twist, not to correct it.

Where's Lew Hodgett when you need him?

Dave in SoTex



Lew passed away earlier this year.

On 2016-07-24, Dave in SoTex wrote:

To no avail; company policy did not allow employees to acquire company
salvage.

As it should be.

xcFalse salvage practices have made some "employees" rich. I've seen
this shady practice evolve into a major scandal at one govt weapons
lab. 8|

nb

"Leon" wrote in message
...

Dave in SoTex wrote:

Where's Lew Hodgett when you need him?

Dave in SoTex



Lew passed away earlier this year.

I know, Leon. I was being facetious. ~ )

Dave in SoTex

"Dave in SoTex" wrote in
news
To no avail; company policy did not allow employees to acquire
company salvage.

In that era they probably went to the landfill. Today
companies are more aware of the value in scrap, and will
sell anything that's valuable enough to justify the effort.

John

On 7/25/2016 5:15 PM, John McCoy wrote:
"Dave in SoTex" wrote in
news
To no avail; company policy did not allow employees to acquire
company salvage.

In that era they probably went to the landfill. Today
companies are more aware of the value in scrap, and will
sell anything that's valuable enough to justify the effort.

John


Yes, but they will also destroy defective product so it cannot be sold
at the local flea market for pennies and returned to a legitimate store
for full refund.

"John McCoy" wrote in message
. ..

"Dave in SoTex" wrote in
news
To no avail; company policy did not allow employees to acquire
company salvage.

In that era they probably went to the landfill. Today
companies are more aware of the value in scrap, and will
sell anything that's valuable enough to justify the effort.


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

Dave in SoTex

"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

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.

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

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.

"Leon" wrote in message
...
That probably depends on where you live, in Houston you can often find
RR ties at lumber yards.
Yes, they are pretty much clean to handle with a trace of creosote. They
still last for decades as landscape timbers.

The summer of 1969 I got summer work as a laborer at Southern Pacific's
creosote plant located on the west end of Houston's Englewood Yard,
practically under Lockwood Drive just north of I-10.
Hottest damn summer I can remember often topping 100 degs. Laborer often
meant stickering green ties for air drying, essentially building "towers" of
stickered, cross-stacked ties that involved a fork lift as well as a couple
of us laborers atop the growing stack to position and space those ties with
three-foot long hand hooks.
You sweated constantly which meant you likely were wiping your face with
the back of your gloved hand which meant you couldn't avoid imparting some
of those chemicals on and around your face. My face soon began peeling in
various places and continued to do so all that summer.
And, we handled treated bridge and switch ties using the hand hooks to
drag those along runners then bundling them [usually two over two] and
banding them for shipping readiness.
That facility is long gone now. When I left the railroad in 1994 most
of Southern Pacific's treated ties came from the Kerr McGee plant in
Texarkana. I still haven't figured out why the U.S. rail industry has never
began converting to concrete ties as has most of Europe.

Dave in SoTex

On Monday, July 25, 2016 at 5:15:17 PM UTC-4, John McCoy wrote:
"Dave in SoTex" wrote in
news
To no avail; company policy did not allow employees to acquire
company salvage.

In that era they probably went to the landfill. Today
companies are more aware of the value in scrap, and will
sell anything that's valuable enough to justify the effort.

John

About 8 years ago our offices moved from a downtown building to an
office park in the suburbs.

The "Mahogany Row" furniture (72" glass topped desks, 72" credenzas,
matching bookcases, etc.) was showing its age, so it was announced that
any employee that wanted the furniture from their own office, and had the
means to move it themselves, could take it home.

Many of us ended up with some pretty decent looking home offices. In some
cases, the employees didn't want their furniture, but "deals were made".
They came in on the moving day and with help from other employees, took
their furniture "home". Once the furniture left the building, management
didn't care who actually ended up with it, it just had to be removed by the
employee that it was assigned to. One guy furnished home offices for himself
and 2 of his sons.

On Fri, 29 Jul 2016 08:40:46 -0500, "Dave in SoTex"
wrote:


"Leon" wrote in message
...
That probably depends on where you live, in Houston you can often find
RR ties at lumber yards.
Yes, they are pretty much clean to handle with a trace of creosote. They
still last for decades as landscape timbers.

The summer of 1969 I got summer work as a laborer at Southern Pacific's
creosote plant located on the west end of Houston's Englewood Yard,
practically under Lockwood Drive just north of I-10.
Hottest damn summer I can remember often topping 100 degs. Laborer often
meant stickering green ties for air drying, essentially building "towers" of
stickered, cross-stacked ties that involved a fork lift as well as a couple
of us laborers atop the growing stack to position and space those ties with
three-foot long hand hooks.
You sweated constantly which meant you likely were wiping your face with
the back of your gloved hand which meant you couldn't avoid imparting some
of those chemicals on and around your face. My face soon began peeling in
various places and continued to do so all that summer.
And, we handled treated bridge and switch ties using the hand hooks to
drag those along runners then bundling them [usually two over two] and
banding them for shipping readiness.
That facility is long gone now. When I left the railroad in 1994 most
of Southern Pacific's treated ties came from the Kerr McGee plant in
Texarkana. I still haven't figured out why the U.S. rail industry has never
began converting to concrete ties as has most of Europe.

They have a cheaper alternative, plastic ties from recycled plastic
waste.

On 7/29/2016 8:40 AM, Dave in SoTex wrote:

"Leon" wrote in message
...
That probably depends on where you live, in Houston you can often find
RR ties at lumber yards.
Yes, they are pretty much clean to handle with a trace of creosote. They
still last for decades as landscape timbers.

The summer of 1969 I got summer work as a laborer at Southern
Pacific's creosote plant located on the west end of Houston's Englewood
Yard, practically under Lockwood Drive just north of I-10.

YEAH! I spent most of the summer of 1969 in Harrah OK. I recall as
kids sitting under the patio cover and watching the thermometer reach
110 degrees F. We spent a lot of time in the cellar to stay cool.



Hottest damn summer I can remember often topping 100 degs. Laborer
often meant stickering green ties for air drying, essentially building
"towers" of stickered, cross-stacked ties that involved a fork lift as
well as a couple of us laborers atop the growing stack to position and
space those ties with three-foot long hand hooks.
You sweated constantly which meant you likely were wiping your face
with the back of your gloved hand which meant you couldn't avoid
imparting some of those chemicals on and around your face. My face soon
began peeling in various places and continued to do so all that summer.
And, we handled treated bridge and switch ties using the hand hooks
to drag those along runners then bundling them [usually two over two]
and banding them for shipping readiness.
That facility is long gone now. When I left the railroad in 1994
most of Southern Pacific's treated ties came from the Kerr McGee plant
in Texarkana. I still haven't figured out why the U.S. rail industry has
never began converting to concrete ties as has most of Europe.

Dave in SoTex

Actually somewhere near Wharton TX there are concrete RR ties being used.

"John McCoy" wrote in message
.. .

"Dave in SoTex" wrote in news:hXVlz.59375$Cu5.46358
:

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).

In New York ties (and telephone poles) can only be reused for industrial
purposes... i.e., as ties or telephone poles. These items cannot be
repurposed for landscaping, bulkheads, parking lot posts, or anything else.

Markem wrote in
:

On Fri, 29 Jul 2016 08:40:46 -0500, "Dave in SoTex"
wrote:

I still haven't figured out why the U.S. rail industry has
never began converting to concrete ties as has most of Europe.

You haven't looked at a railroad recently. Most mainline
trackage is concrete ties now, and has been for probably 20
years. Lightly used tracks are still wood because it's
cheaper to install than concrete.

They have a cheaper alternative, plastic ties from recycled plastic
waste.

Recycled plastic ties have been tried. They've had problems
with fastners creeping and other issues. They're also more
expensive than wood. Mostly they're used in wet places where
wood ties don't last as long (especially places were replacing
ties is difficult, like in tunnels).

John