Crosstie Use During WWI & WWII

From original publications and source material:

“It is estimated that there are at present throughout the world about 1,250,000 kilometres of railway track for which approximately 3,000 million railway sleepers (cross-ties) are used, 95 percent of them made of wood. Since railway sleepers are heavy, bulky, and relatively cheap, they do not ordinarily comprise a large portion of the international trade in wood.

Types of railway sleepers – The term railway sleepers refers to the rectangular or approximately rectangular cross section supports laid transversely on the railway roadbed to support the rails. Railway sleepers used in Europe are almost exclusively of wood and are manufactured either in sawmills or in the forest. Production at the felling site in the forest is gradually declining in importance as a result of the disappearance of skilled labour. Axe-hewn, squared railway sleepers, which are frequently used in the Americas and other parts of the world, are not produced in Europe. 

Railway sleepers may be made of hardwoods or softwoods, these being used for different purposes and under different conditions. Hardwood railway sleepers are made chiefly from Oak, Beech, and Hornbeam; softwood railway sleepers from Scots Pine, Maritime Pine (Pinus pinaster), and Larch. In Spain, Eucalyptus is also used to make railway sleepers. Railway sleepers are usually cut from trees of 80 to 120 centimetres in circumference at a height of 1.30 meters from the ground, or from the tops and branches of large trees found in high forest or coppice with standards. 

Standard gauge railway sleepers (1.46 meters) used in Europe may be classified into three different categories:

• German railway sleepers measure 16 cm. x 26 cm. x 2.6 m. or 2.7 m.
• French, 14 cm. x 26 cm., x 2.6 m. or 2.7 m.
  
• English, 12.5 cm. x 25 cm.

These figures apply to railway sleepers sawn on all four sides. However, a certain amount of latitude is allowed for wane and curvature, there being three or four specifications. There are also the so-called “Swedish” or “Saxon” sleepers, where the upper and lower surfaces are sawn but the sides follow the natural contour of the rough log. 

Switch or crossing railway sleepers vary in length from 2.60 m. to 5 m. or more; industrial railway sleepers are 1.80 m. to 2 m., and crossings generally 1.30 m. to 2 m. 

The useful life of a railway sleeper depends upon its resistance to fungi, insects, and mechanical pressure. Protection against decay is obtained by impregnating with chemicals. The most widely used impregnating material is creosote, but solutions of copper or zinc salts are also used. By impregnation, the useful life of a railway sleeper can be increased from 5-8 years to 25-30 years. Sleepers must have certain required mechanical properties. Damage to railway sleepers due to mechanical defects has become more frequent because both the weight of the loads carried and the speed of trains has increased. Such mechanical damage consists mainly of crushing, splitting, becoming embedded, etc. “

The railway sleeper market from 1918 to 1939.
Data on international trade in railway sleepers between World Wars I and II can be found in the yearbooks of the Comité International du Bois, published first at Vienna and later at Brussels; in the publications of the International Institute of Agriculture, and in Silvae Orbis, referred to in Tables below.

IMPORTS OF RAILWAY SLEEPERS BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS 

SOURCE: Walter Grottian, “Die Umsatzmengen im Weltholzhandel 1925-1938” Silvae Orbit, Berlin: C.I.S., 1942, pp. 140-141. Computed from yearly figures. 

EXPORTS OF RAILWAY SLEEPERS BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS 

SOURCE: Walter Grottian, “Die Umsatzmengen im Weltholzhandel 1925-1938,” Silvae Orbis, Berlin: C.I.S. 1942, pp. 140-141. Computed from yearly figures.

The principal exporting countries were Poland, Yugoslavia, the Baltic countries, Rumania, and Soviet Russia. The U.S.S.R. exported as much as 579,000 m³ (s) of railway sleepers in 1930. The United States of America exported large quantities to the European market. France had some exports but was a net importing country. Its exports of hardwood railway sleepers went mainly to Belgium, with lesser quantities to the Netherlands and the French colonies; softwood railway sleepers were shipped principally to the United Kingdom and in small quantities to Spain, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. 

European imports attained a maximum figure of 1,653,000 m³ (s) in 1930 and decreased thereafter. This drop in trade corresponds to a general worldwide trend. Railway sleepers constituted 2.5 percent of all timber exports in 1929 but only 1.9 percent in 1937.

International Crosstie Market after World War II

During the War, most European countries were unable to carry out much track maintenance or lay new railway sleepers. Consequently, the railway sleeper market was quiet and countries attempted to supply their own needs from domestic production. Owing to shortages of chemical products, few impregnated sleepers were used. 

After the end of World War 2, there was a great demand for railway sleepers, due not only to deferred maintenance requirements and the need for replacement of non-treated railway sleepers which had deteriorated rapidly but also to the vast amount of destruction caused in the last year of the war by military action. Such destruction particularly affected France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Soviet Russia, but there was also a considerable amount of damage in Africa, from Morocco to Egypt.  

REQUIREMENTS OF WOODEN RAILWAY SLEEPERS AFTER THE 2ND WORLD WAR 

EXPORTS OF RAILWAY SLEEPERS AFTER THE 2ND WORLD WAR

SOURCE: FAO/ECE, Timber Statistics for the Years 1946-1947, Geneva, March 1948, and Timber Statistics, Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. I, No. 2, Geneva, October 1948. 

IMPORTS OF RAILWAY SLEEPERS AFTER THE 2ND WORLD WAR 

SOURCE: FAO/ECE, Timber Statistics for the Years 1946-1947, Geneva, March 1948, and Timber Statistics, Quarterly Bulletin, Vol. I, No. 2, Geneva, October 1948.

United States exports started expanding in April 1947, particularly when non-treated railway sleepers were eliminated from the list of controlled export commodities and were placed on the list of commodities requiring only a license.

Treated railway sleepers remained on the controlled list, and in 1947 only one million treated sleepers were exported. 

In the first quarter of 1948, United States exports of treated and non-treated railway sleepers amounted to 23.6 million board feet – a monthly average of approximately half of that for the year 1947.

UNITED STATES EXPORTS OF RAILWAY SLEEPERS – ANNUAL AVERAGE 1935-1939