Take a look at the November/December '89 Gazette. There's an article in there that covers rail and ties of many narrow gauge railroads. (Neither the EBT nor ET&WNC are part of the listing, unfortunately.) One thing that is clear from looking at that list--there was no such thing as a "standard" tie. They ranged from 5' 11" to over 7' long, widths anywhere from 6" to 10" wide, depths from 6" to 8", and then some. Spacing was similarly all over the board. Most were in the 20" to 24" center range, but even the photo on the first page of the article (the EBT's trackage at Mt. Union) shows a stretch where the spacing was, well, let's call it "economized."

The EBT did not use treated ties, which was curious since the PRR operated a tie-treatment plant right there in Mt. Union. Must have been cheaper to keep replacing the ones supplied by the local sawmills than to buy them from the PRR.

BTW, for the 1:20.3 crowd, Accucraft's ties measure to 7' long by 10" wide. According to the notice Dave J references, spot on. Who knew???



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/22/2010 12:34AM by Kevin Strong.