Rooster ’ said:
Mickey Kelley said: Can I replace the existing Aristo ties with another brand of ties?
Yes !
This post has been edited by: ROOSTER
Mickey, I have not had the problem with Aristo Craft ties you have. They have been out in the elements 20 years and still are going strong. I reballast my track each summer and I have not had any to fall apart of fall off.
Has anyone had experience with the ties derived from Veranda decking material sold by Switchcrafters? Given that it’s a composite material extruded from some type of resin/plastic and wood fibers, I’ve always thought it would decompose fairly rapidly under outdoor conditions.
Brian B said:
Has anyone had experience with the ties derived from Veranda decking material sold by Switchcrafters? Given that it’s a composite material extruded from some type of resin/plastic and wood fibers, I’ve always thought it would decompose fairly rapidly under outdoor conditions.
I have. Every one of my Switchcrafters switches has had multiple ties fail, usually from the tie splitting where the spikes are put in. None of them lasted more than about two years for me here in MA. YMMV, of course.
Similarly; I built a bridge deck using ties cut from foamed PVC Board (Sintra, Azec etc.). The ties are holding up well, but the paint faded rapidly. I don’t notice any spikes pulling out, but I haven’t done a close inspection recently. This bridge went outside maybe 6 or 7 years ago. I have since swithced to milling ties from cedar because it takes stain really well and just looks better.
I will make it a second on those ties. tried on one hand laid switch and they needed replacement the following spring. this switch and others outside use PVC decking and trim plank cut to size on the table saw. it grabs spike phenomenally. I do make a solid base to support my turnouts and ties.
AL P.
This topic comes up every so often. I needed a lot more ties for a project so did some research. Some composite boards are simply not designed for this type of use, especially when cut. This is particularly true of any board that is capped.
However I did find one that is designed for ground contact and even when cut maintains its properties.
The Vantage line of MoistureShield products is what I now use for this purpose.
Stan
The question has been asked about Sunset Valley and Llagas Creek ties. I have the old black “G” ties of Llagas Creek and they have been down outside for 10 years. A local friend has the same ties and his have been down outside for over 20 years. Neither one of us has ever had any problem. I have sold Sunset Valley for about 25 years and not one of my customers has had a problem. I also have sold Llagas Creek for about 25 years and again I’ve not had a past customer complain about ties falling apart. A friend in Utah has used Sunset Valley for around 20 years and again he has not had a problem.
Stanley Ames said:
This topic comes up every so often. I needed a lot more ties for a project so did some research. Some composite boards are simply not designed for this type of use, especially when cut. This is particularly true of any board that is capped.
However I did find one that is designed for ground contact and even when cut maintains its properties.
The Vantage line of MoistureShield products is what I now use for this purpose.
Stan
Stan ,
No disrespect but from my experience it has nothing to do with the ground contact but with UV …the UV is what kills plastics.
Dan Pantages said:
The question has been asked about Sunset Valley and Llagas Creek ties. I have the old black “G” ties of Llagas Creek and they have been down outside for 10 years. A local friend has the same ties and his have been down outside for over 20 years. Neither one of us has ever had any problem. I have sold Sunset Valley for about 25 years and not one of my customers has had a problem. I also have sold Llagas Creek for about 25 years and again I’ve not had a past customer complain about ties falling apart. A friend in Utah has used Sunset Valley for around 20 years and again he has not had a problem.
Dan,
Every situation is different but our universal SUN controls all !
Bob McCown said:
Brian B said:
Has anyone had experience with the ties derived from Veranda decking material sold by Switchcrafters? Given that it’s a composite material extruded from some type of resin/plastic and wood fibers, I’ve always thought it would decompose fairly rapidly under outdoor conditions.
I have. Every one of my Switchcrafters switches has had multiple ties fail, usually from the tie splitting where the spikes are put in. None of them lasted more than about two years for me here in MA. YMMV, of course.
Hi Bob,
I had always assumed those ties would decompose with time - two years is actually longer than I would have predicted.
I like the idea of a plastic or resin tie material and found something out of Texas that might fit the bill: Rumber
The stuff is jet black and weighs a ton. According to their data sheets, it appears impervious to water and temperature changes - after all, it’s used for things like horse/livestock trailer floors, heavy equipment trailers and even for US military applications. I ordered several pieces to play with last fall (shipping was almost as expensive as the material - there are no distributors in New England and I’ve yet to find anyone using it to refloor trailers around here _ I live near Gillette Stadium) but have yet to do anything with them. With the need to remain home, I might finally get around to ripping some tie-sized pieces to test. If you can give me the dimensions of the ties you normally use, I can send a batch up to Littleton when I get around to slicing it up.
Brian
Bob McCown said:
Brian B said:
Has anyone had experience with the ties derived from Veranda decking material sold by Switchcrafters? Given that it’s a composite material extruded from some type of resin/plastic and wood fibers, I’ve always thought it would decompose fairly rapidly under outdoor conditions.
I have. Every one of my Switchcrafters switches has had multiple ties fail, usually from the tie splitting where the spikes are put in. None of them lasted more than about two years for me here in MA. YMMV, of course.
Yeah, my Switchcrafter ties have pretty much gone as well; they lasted a couple of years. My cedar ties are probably good for 6-8 years. Haven’t had any issues with Llagas Creek or Sunset Valley ties on my switches and have since decided I’m out of the tie business…I’ll stick with the plastic ones.
Bruce Chandler said:
Bob McCown said:
Brian B said:
Has anyone had experience with the ties derived from Veranda decking material sold by Switchcrafters? Given that it’s a composite material extruded from some type of resin/plastic and wood fibers, I’ve always thought it would decompose fairly rapidly under outdoor conditions.
I have. Every one of my Switchcrafters switches has had multiple ties fail, usually from the tie splitting where the spikes are put in. None of them lasted more than about two years for me here in MA. YMMV, of course.
Yeah, my Switchcrafter ties have pretty much gone as well; they lasted a couple of years. My cedar ties are probably good for 6-8 years. Haven’t had any issues with Llagas Creek or Sunset Valley ties on my switches and have since decided I’m out of the tie business…I’ll stick with the plastic ones.
I thought when you retired you didn’t need to were a tie anymore …(https://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
99% of my railroad is USA Trains and most of which I bought new. Initial track was laid down in May of 2017, with expansion in the fall, and then some smaller expansions later.
The only thing I have noticed so far is that some pieces will randomly start to turn grey. Every time I find them, I coat the sections in ArmorAll. I immediately wipe off the rails and clean the rails after the ArmorAll has dried on the ties. If the ArmorAll isn’t wiped off the tracks the engines will slip. The sections that turn grey turn darker again, though maybe not quite as dark as they were new. I also, at least once a year, try to coat all the rails in Amorall for longevity. Here is hoping these efforts keep my ties in good shape.
Following up on my distain for AMS track, here’s what I’ve replaced in bad ties this year. You can see how bleached they get. And when they bleach, they get brittle. I’m just about out of good ties to ‘fix’ track with (you can see a bunch of questionable track in the back benchwork of this photo).
We had to replace quite a feet of those track ties also… Same reason, whited out, got brittle and wouldn’t hold the track anymore…
Andy Clarke said:
We had to replace quite a feet of those track ties also… Same reason, whited out, got brittle and wouldn’t hold the track anymore…
No dad, “they hold the track” but they don’t,do not keep for the proper spacing and gauging a few seem to be concerned with. My ties look like what BD is gonna trash in his pic. However they look like good ties to me ? BD I’ll take your trash ties if you do not want them ?
Dad ,
How many “operational” issues have you had because of the ties not holding the track? Or perhaps it’s something different? Amtrak traded Santa Fe back in the day because of ( ) but Santa Fe won on that deal.
Just sayin
Know one has commented on the Piko Ties? I have one R5 turnout and it has not seen the light yet.
Several years ago my favorite train store had 3 boxes of Engineering ties for 332 track. Went is one day and the three boxes where is the discount clearance area. Bought all there boxes and now have started to replace the Aristo ties with the ME ties, they are snug but still fairly easy to slide on.
Dennis
Rooster said:
SNIP
Dad ,
How many “operational” issues have you had because of the ties not holding the track?
Snip
Just sayin
Son, we’ve had a few operational issues because of it… You don’t notice the damage until you run a train over it
and all of a sudden you get derailments… On examination, you notice that there are no tabs on the ties to
hold the track in place or gauge… I started collecting spare ties, so during operations we can make a fix in about
5 minutes… Split-jaw connectors make that possible…
Bob McCown said:
Following up on my distain for AMS track, here’s what I’ve replaced in bad ties this year. You can see how bleached they get. And when they bleach, they get brittle. I’m just about out of good ties to ‘fix’ track with (you can see a bunch of questionable track in the back benchwork of this photo).
Rather interesting. I never had any problem with those ties AT ALL - maybe I was more in the shade, or something? Perhaps the humidity here (dismal!) is actually a plus when it comes to these ties?