Concrete vs wooden sleepers

[Philip]

Wooden sleepers tend to lead to noisier rails don't they, because they increase the risk of rail corrugation?

 

[Ploughman]

All I am after is the actual cost to me of buying one complete new sleeper.
I do realise the other factors come to play but that was not my question.

 

[Bletchleyite]

All I am after is the actual cost to me of buying one complete new sleeper.
I do realise the other factors come to play but that was not my question.

Suregreen | Green Treated Railway Sleeper | 2.4m x 200mm x 100mm

Buy Green Treated 2.4m Railway Sleepers from Suregreen! Available individually and in bulk pallet quantities. Fast nationwide delivery. Click & collect from Essex.

www.sure-green.com

£18.25 from that supplier.

Edit: Ah, a concrete one. Doubt they are sold to the public TBH, they aren't exactly what you'd want in your garden!

20 quid for a used one:

Timber Merchants | Fencing Products, Gardening Products, Railway Sleepers, Timber Haulage | Fox Timber, Lancashire

Fox Timber manufacture and supply quality timber products for a wide range of end uses. Products include sawn timber, fencing and garden products and bollards and barriers.

www.foxtimber.co.uk

 

[Ken H]

Further to the above discussion of the Newark flat crossing, the thread in the "Speculative Ideas" subforum about grade separation of the crossing has been reopened at my request, because of proposals to dual the A46 which may affect any future rail flyover proposal.

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/ideas-to-replace-the-newark-flat-crossing.187295/post-4989809

in a sensible world, they would put the rail line on the same bridge as the new road. They need to fix the roundabout a bit to the west, as the queue for the level crossing backs up onto the A46.

 

[furnessvale]

Pedantically, ‘bearers’ is a term for sleepers that are under S&C, or where there is longitudinal support, usually on bridges or viaducts.

For a relatively easy to understand explanation of steel sleepers, the linked presentation is excellent, albeit in my view a little too ‘steel sleeper happy’. It’s way too large to quote (sorry).

https://www.thepwi.org/technical_hub/technical_hub_files/section_meeting_presentations/16_september_2020_-_steel_sleepers_-_why_wouldnt_you_-_tom_wilson_jim_watson

In the old days, we called wood under S & C "timbers", then someone invented concrete "timbers" so the name was changed. Longitudinal wood across bridges etc, we called "waybeams".

 

[snowball]

in a sensible world, they would put the rail line on the same bridge as the new road.

That appears to have been the plan at some stage in history, according to the post by najaB in the linked thread.

 

[ac6000cw]

The wood versus concrete debate is an interesting one (as an amateur observer).

I've been on a couple of train-watching trips to western Canada over the last decade, and I don't remember seeing any concrete-sleepered track on the CP and CN mainlines - a lot of their track is CWR laid on wood sleepers, busy with 32+ tonne axleload freight trains (I'd estimate between 50 and 100 million gross tonnes per annum on the routes to the west coast).

The US railroads tend to be more mixed - some seem to favour concrete for new/renewed track, others seem to have a preference for wood.

Of course the US and Canada have large forest reserves, so I assume suitable high quality timber is somewhat cheaper than it is in Europe, which doubtless influences the sleeper material choices...

 

[billh]

Suregreen | Green Treated Railway Sleeper | 2.4m x 200mm x 100mm

Buy Green Treated 2.4m Railway Sleepers from Suregreen! Available individually and in bulk pallet quantities. Fast nationwide delivery. Click & collect from Essex.

www.sure-green.com

£18.25 from that supplier.

Edit: Ah, a concrete one. Doubt they are sold to the public TBH, they aren't exactly what you'd want in your garden!

20 quid for a used one:

Timber Merchants | Fencing Products, Gardening Products, Railway Sleepers, Timber Haulage | Fox Timber, Lancashire

Fox Timber manufacture and supply quality timber products for a wide range of end uses. Products include sawn timber, fencing and garden products and bollards and barriers.

www.foxtimber.co.uk

We bought 200 concrete sleepers from BR, 40 years ago. 60p a go,shift them yourself....
The logistics of shifting them from a derelict railway to our premises, less than half a mile, not on a public road was daunting. It was also problematic lifting them into position for their intended use (mostly not underneath rails). These sleepers had been used with bullhead rail and fairly conventional chairs,there were 4 7/8in through bolts firmly rusted into the concrete in each unit which we didn't need, that had to be driven out. All those sleepers are still in use and have not deterorated in any way, probably c80 years old by now. Used wooden sleepers last about 15 years before rotting to bits.

 

[DarloRich]

I do realise the other factors come to play but that was not my question.

Is this website any use to you? https://railwayrecycling.co.uk/

 

[Ploughman]

Is this website any use to you? https://railwayrecycling.co.uk/

No

I just want to know the unit cost of 1 new fully fitted Steel Sleeper and an equivalent new G44.
I do not want to buy used material.

I seem to recall about 10 year back a Steel sleeper as specified was approx £56 - has that changed?

 

[Bald Rick]

No

I just want to know the unit cost of 1 new fully fitted Steel Sleeper and an equivalent new G44.
I do not want to buy used material.

I seem to recall about 10 year back a Steel sleeper as specified was approx £56 - has that changed?

When you say ‘fully fitted’ do you mean pads / clips / nylons? (As opposed to ‘fully installed’).

And the cost being the bulk cost, delivered, per sleeper, as charged by the NR supply chain? (Which is what that approx £56 would have been). As opposed to the cost of trying to buy just one sleeper. Which would be a lot more.

 

[Ploughman]

That's what I am after.
Fully fited is complete with Pads, clips and insultators.

 

[furnessvale]

That's what I am after.
Fully fited is complete with Pads, clips and insultators.

In which case your only chance is to contact the manufacturer directly and ask them for precisely what you want.

Anyone on here can only guess or possibly be privvy to NR bulk buying prices which, if divided down to one sleeper, would give a hopelessly low price.