Key Post: Railway Sleepers

Re: >>Railway Sleepers

I was thinking about making a raised bed in my garden, using sleepers, however, after reading the above points of view have decided against. Has anyone any creative ideas for a raised bed that would be cheap, have about 20m to do.
 
Re: >>Railway Sleepers

Where could you get very large smooth rocks to make a raised bed for the garden from ? ( on the cheap of course) Any other creative cheap suggestions welcome?
 
Re: >>Railway Sleepers

Your local authority might be able to point you to a place/company that is maintaining the center barriers on public roads. These steel planks are exchanged after accidents and can be reused after cleaning for your job in the garden. For safety reasons they can't be reused at the roads so they are scrap, propably not expensive to get.
 
Re: >>Railway Sleepers

Remember the foot-and-mouth problem in 2001? Here's how they dealt with the carcases:
They were doused in oil and diesel and placed on top of 250 railway sleepers, 75 tonnes of coal and lorry-loads of straw, then ignited.
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Taken from:[broken link removed]

Which is quite frightening, considering heinbloed's post
Railway sleepers are treated with chemicals .The preservatives are toxic,and the weed killers sprayed over them for decades are related to "agent orange",nothing to be put into your garden.
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I remember that there was meant to be a bit of a shortage of railway sleepers around the time of the foot-and-mouth.


www.payback.ie
 
Re: >>Railway Sleepers

heinbloed said:
Your local authority might be able to point you to a place/company that is maintaining the center barriers on public roads. These steel planks are exchanged after accidents and can be reused after cleaning for your job in the garden. For safety reasons they can't be reused at the roads so they are scrap, propably not expensive to get.
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I'm quite sure the steel is sent for recycling, given the high price of steel now it is unlikely that such substantial steel sections would be "given away" for nowt. As an aside I did some work on a (terrible) pub in Rathmines about 10 years ago- it was a pub called the Station (not sure what it's called now). The bar joinery that went in at the time was made from recycled railway sleepers- as most sleepers were sawn from baulks of Pinus Sylvestris which is impossible to get now. From memory it was quite common for this timber to be recycled for use in pubs. The timber supplier/ mill would rip the sleepers down to get at the undamaged heartwood. This was then ripped into planks and thicknessed down to size. It did produce a timber with a beautiful grain and colour but I'm sure new regulations regarding Creosote have seen the an end to this practice. Next time you're in a pub with "Olde Worlde" (fake) beams etc. look for the tell tale holes which once held the railway spikes!
 
Re: >>Railway Sleepers

Thank you very much heinbload for your interesting suggestion, I will contact my local authority and see what the situation is there, and will report back with my findings.
 
Re: >>Railway Sleepers

"Galvanised" - or to be more correct- zink plated steel is not very welcome in the average steel killn, only a certain amount can be added to the mixture if at all. The problem is of two natures: first the oxidation is hindered due to the zink cover (scrap mills prefer the rusty quality) and secondly there are more and tighter emission laws limiting the zink fumes which are extreme toxic. Welding a piece of zink coated steel demands a good mechanical ventilation, many workshops simply won't touch the job. But left in peace it's considered harmless, steel pipes designed to transport drinking water are equipped with it.
Here in Cork I know of two county council yards where these barriers are simply dumped/dugged in.The reward for the scrap doesn't seem to be very atractive, not even the travellers (who are frequently engaged in the scrap metall trade) camping next to one site I know seem to be interested in it.
 
Re: >>Railway Sleepers

heinbloed said:
"Galvanised" - or to be more correct- zink plated steel is not very welcome in the average steel killn, only a certain amount can be added to the mixture if at all. The problem is of two natures: first the oxidation is hindered due to the zink cover (scrap mills prefer the rusty quality) and secondly there are more and tighter emission laws limiting the zink fumes which are extreme toxic. Welding a piece of zink coated steel demands a good mechanical ventilation, many workshops simply won't touch the job. But left in peace it's considered harmless, steel pipes designed to transport drinking water are equipped with it.
Here in Cork I know of two county council yards where these barriers are simply dumped/dugged in.The reward for the scrap doesn't seem to be very atractive, not even the travellers (who are frequently engaged in the scrap metall trade) camping next to one site I know seem to be interested in it.
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The travellers are probably more interested in copper, lead, zinc etc- higher value to weight ratio.
 
Re: >>Railway Sleepers

That's actually quite scary, I never thought of sleepers as hazardous! They have had all sorts of waste dumped on them over the years, it's disgusting really.
 
Re: >>Railway Sleepers

pricilla said:
That's actually quite scary, I never thought of sleepers as hazardous! They have had all sorts of waste dumped on them over the years, it's disgusting really.
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Of course most people forget that (on older trains anyway) the toilet waste was simply macerated before before being emptied onto the lines, thus the "Please do not use the toilet whilst train is at a station" signage!
 
Re: >>Railway Sleepers

This is the response I got from South Dublin Co. Council regarding the crash barriers as promised.

try Holgate Fencing on the Greenhills Road 01-4569888, they might be able to help as they carry out repairs on crash barriers. No damaged barriers which are repaired are returned to the Council.
 
Re: >>Railway Sleepers

Thanks Maura, let us know what they charge, what are their conditions etc.. Delivery? Cutting? One only has to ask of course....
 
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