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Creosote – Preservative of Choice by American Railroads
2014 - IRG/WP 14-30658
The combination of wood treated with creosote has for well over 100 years been the very foundation on which the American railroads have been established. This paper will describe the use of a renewable resource – wood – and its treatment with creosote, the undeniable performance of the product’s service life, including weather-ability of creosote treated wood railroad crossties....
D A Webb


Laboratory tests on artificial weathering of Quercus rubra crossties
1986 - IRG/WP 2252
Clear red oak (Quercus rubra) blocks were used to evaluate various types of accelerated aging tests including boil, steaming, and cyclic weathering. It was found that the repeated vacuum and pressure treatment of wood in water, steaming, oven-dry, and freezing appeared to be most effective in reducing the MOE in compression and hardness modules of wood specimens. Red oak crossties which were press...
P Chow, A J Reinschmidt, E J Barenberg, S L Lewis


Ambient-temperature borate dip-diffusion treatment of green railroad crossties
2011 - IRG/WP 11-40556
In the USA, borates are increasingly being applied prior to air seasoning and creosote treatment of railroad ties (railway sleepers). Borates are typically applied to green ties by vacuum pressure application at 1 to 10% disodium octaborate tetrahydrate (DOT) concentration or by traditional dip-diffusion treatments at elevated temperatures. Higher temperatures are used to maintain the 30 to 50% so...
Jae-Woo Kim, A M Taylor, C Köse


Laboratory investigation of fire protection coatings for creosote-treated timber railroad bridges
2014 - IRG/WP 14-30639
As the incidence of timber railroad bridge fires increases, so has the need to develop protective measures to reduce the risk from accidental ignitions primarily caused by hot metal objects. Of the six barrier treatments evaluated in the laboratory for their ability to protect timbers from fires sourced with ignition from hot metal objects only one intumescent coating provided adequate fire prote...
C A Clausen, R H White, J P Wacker, S T Lebow, M A Dietenberger, S L Zelinka, N M Stark


Copper naphthenate treatment for wood crossties and timbers
2014 - IRG/WP 14-30647
Copper naphthenate (CuN) has a long history in wood preservation and is recently finding increased usage as a treatment for wooden crossties and timbers. One of the principal reasons that CuN has gained market acceptance, in addition to its efficacy against decay fungi and wood-destroying insects, is its low mammalian toxicity and environmental impact. CuN is a well proven non-restricted use pres...
J Brient


Comparison of gauge and assay retention in crossties treated with copper naphthenate
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40667
Creosote has been the most widely used preservative for wooden railroad crossties or sleepers for over 100 years. Alternative preservatives such as copper naphthenate (CuN) have been shown to provide equivalent performance against decay fungi and wood destroying insects; however, the use and specification of CuN involves an education process for treaters and railroad customers alike. One differe...
J Brient, H Tomlinson, J Hughes


Encapsulation Systems Combined with DOT Borate Treatments – The Future of Treated Crossties
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40670
Borates have been utilized in wood protection systems for many decades but only recently have been used in North America to treat crossties. This colorless, ordorless and very effective wood protection chemical has the ability to arrest and prevent the colonization of wood by both basidiomycete decay fungi and insects such as beetles and termites while ties are air seasoning or in service. Since ...
S C Kitchens, T L Amburgey


New Method for Pretreatment of Railroad Crossties
2014 - IRG/WP 14-40675
Creosote has been successfully utilized for nearly 150 years for the protection of railroad crossties (sleepers) in the USA and remains today as the most widely used wood preservative for this application. One of the few shortcomings of creosote as a preservative is its inability to penetrate many of the refractory hardwood species which make up the majority of crossties in the USA. Lack of full...
A S Ross, R W Clawson Jr


Steam accelerated borate diffusion: Optimizing dry tie treatment
2015 - IRG/WP 15-40713
A small laboratory study was carried out which demonstrated that dry wood dip treated in a high concentration borate solution could not be subsequently treated properly with oil borne copper naphthenate unless it was subsequently steam treated to accelerate borate penetration into the wood and re-dry the wood beforehand. A larger study with commercial sized cross ties (railway sleepers) was carri...
J-W Kim, J D Lloyd


Best handling practices for wood crossties (sleepers)
2015 - IRG/WP 15-40714
Wooden crossties (sleepers) dominate the rail industry in the USA. Most ties are hardwood treated with oil-borne preservatives using pressure treatment. Incipient decay (called ‘stack burn’) commonly develops during the pre-treatment drying process and reduces tie performance and longevity. Practices to minimize stack burn and enhance wooden tie performance are discussed as an aid to non-wood ...
N Irby, J Lloyd, A Taylor, J Watt