Tie plates

In an earlier post regarding locomotives weights, I described the C&TS as have 70 lb rail without tie plates. I did not mean to imply that it has no plates, only that the worst spots had no plates. Osier to Chama is mostly 85 lb rail with tie plates. Osier to Antonito is mostly 70 lb rail with tie plates on curves and no plates on some of the tangents. All (or at least most) ties installed in recent years have had plates. The major reason for using plates is to extend tie life, although there may be some rail stability benefits as well. Somebody mentioned C&TS's ties as being close together....I'm not convinced that's correct, but would readily defer to anyone with some facts.