Earl Wrote:
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> Tie centers are 22-24", which works out to about
> 2700 ties/mile. That works out to about 60 years
> per tie. In the dry environment and light loads
> hauled that the C&TS exists in, 50-60 years of tie
> life in not unreasonable.
Back in the early nineties (1990's, not 1890's, Roger) when the Fillmore & Western was fixing up the former Santa Paula Branch of the S.P., I spent several Saturdays helping to replace ties. Most of the older ties had date nails in them from the early twenties - seventy years before - and a lot of them were still in fairly good shape. But the line through Santa Paula and Fillmore had been SP's main line from 1901 'til 1904, and was still in heavy use during the citrus harvest season well into the fifties. The rail was a bit heavier and the ballast much deeper than on the D&RGW narrow gauge
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