Do they still lay down new timber sleepers in Britain?

[PrincesWinsdor]

Are new timber sleepers still laid in Britain? If yes, are there any reasons to use timber sleepers over concrete sleepers?

I travelled on the Alishan Forest Railway in Taiwan this summer. The timber sleepers of the section running on flat land and lower attitude areas are being actively replaced by concrete sleepers. But the section above 1000 metres attitude still continue to use mostly timber sleepers. And the section above 2000 metres attitude, including the branch lines, uses timber sleepers entirely.


It is due to the higher degree of diurnal temperature variation in high attitude mountain areas, concrete sleepers would crack under thermal expansion and contraction, whereas timber sleepers are more flexible. While in low attitude subtropical areas, concrete sleepers are more durable because timber sleepers rot.

 

[ajwffc]

They still use new timbers. On branch lines with light traffic or on bridges are the main two.

 

[GooseWaffe]

Are new timber sleepers still laid in Britain? If yes, are there any reasons to use timber sleepers over concrete sleepers?

I travelled on the Alishan Forest Railway in Taiwan this summer. The timber sleepers of the section running on flat land and lower attitude areas are being actively replaced by concrete sleepers. But the section above 1000 metres attitude still continue to use mostly timber sleepers. And the section above 2000 metres attitude, including the branch lines, uses timber sleepers entirely.
View attachment 212770View attachment 212766

It is due to the higher degree of diurnal temperature variation in high attitude mountain areas, concrete sleepers would crack under thermal expansion and contraction, whereas timber sleepers are more flexible. While in low attitude subtropical areas, concrete sleepers are more durable because timber sleepers rot.

They’re still used a lot in depots since they’re low speed and cheap to repair

 

[Mugby]

In railway parlance there are wooden sleepers and there are timbers. Wood sleepers are used in plain track and timbers, which are wider, thicker and longer are used under switches and crossings.

A good railwayman will immediately be able to differentiate between sleepers and timbers!

 

[J s]

Are new timber sleepers still laid in Britain? If yes, are there any reasons to use timber sleepers over concrete sleepers?

I travelled on the Alishan Forest Railway in Taiwan this summer. The timber sleepers of the section running on flat land and lower attitude areas are being actively replaced by concrete sleepers. But the section above 1000 metres attitude still continue to use mostly timber sleepers. And the section above 2000 metres attitude, including the branch lines, uses timber sleepers entirely.
View attachment 212770View attachment 212766

It is due to the higher degree of diurnal temperature variation in high attitude mountain areas, concrete sleepers would crack under thermal expansion and contraction, whereas timber sleepers are more flexible. While in low attitude subtropical areas, concrete sleepers are more durable because timber sleepers rot.

Timber suffers far more from expansion and contraction than concrete does under temp and moisture variation, so I feel there may be more to this explanation!

 

[ikari2006]

Timber sleepers are shallower so are used instead of concrete sleepers when minimum ballast depths cannot be achieved. As others pointed out this tends to be over bridges. Normally the approaches to the bridge will all be concrete sleepers with only the bridge itself and run offs being the shallower type.

Even shallower ballast depth can be achieved using steel sleepers which distribute track load in a slightly different way. Also used are polymer composite sleepers and FFU as alternatives. FFU is interesting as NR are starting to replace timber way beams with it too.

 

[ac6000cw]

Info on FFU (for those like me who've not heard the name before) - https://sekisui-rail.com/ffu.html

 

[Bodiam]

Info on FFU (for those like me who've not heard the name before) - https://sekisui-rail.com/ffu.html

Fibre-reinforced Foamed Urethane if like me you were wondering.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Fibre-reinforced Foamed Urethane if like me you were wondering.

And there is a growing amount of worldwide data available to give great confidence using the material.

 

[Tim M]

From the Network Rail website: https://www.networkrail.co.uk/stories/a-greener-railway-environmentally-friendly-sleepers/

Mind the Ffestiniog Railway has been using recycled plastic sleepers as standard for over ten years: https://sicut.com/

 

[Shimbleshanks]

Timber sleepers are shallower so are used instead of concrete sleepers when minimum ballast depths cannot be achieved. As others pointed out this tends to be over bridges. Normally the approaches to the bridge will all be concrete sleepers with only the bridge itself and run offs being the shallower type.

Would the greater resilience and lower weight of timber also be factor in their use on bridges?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Would the greater resilience and lower weight of timber also be factor in their use on bridges?

Yes

 

[Dave S 56F]

Would the carnforth to settle jct ex midland furness joint line through Bentham would N.R. still replace it With wood sleepers as practically the entire upnand down lines are pandrail and bullhead rail and one of the longest sections of N.R. lines in the U.K. consisting of bullhead and pandrol rail unless I'm missing some other very long bullhead lines like the Highland line to kyle of Lochalsh line the west Highland line or oban or thd perth highland line to wick which also must have wooden sleepers replaced also as well were wood sleepers made of oak Elm or pine trees if in Scotland?
Must be quite a tall order of timber needs hueing there when it comes to replacing the sleepers.

 

[D6130]

Wooden sleepers are also still used in certain locations between station platforms where sleepers require to be shortened to fit around concrete drainage catch pits in the 'six foot'.