Burr,
Your fear of the untreated (not black) end of the tie is unnecessary. It will not bite them later.
You are not knowledged on the subject.
When a tie is treated in a vacumn chamber the water in the wood is sucked out and replaced by other chemicals all the way through. The black creasote shows on the surface and a little way in but that is not the full protection. Just because it was white on the end does not mean it was not treated. A swab of black creasote on the end will not change anything.
Don't knock a new management who has been there and done it all. They have superior backgrounds.
The unanswered queston is why not install the 8'6" tie for better ground contact in the gumbo.
(except near station for photographic reasons)
One reason is it could make it hard to work with track tampers set for one gauge.