Shown today on Chicago area TV was a 30 minute segment which included about ten minutes on recycling rubber tires and plastic articles into railroad ties. I only caught the last three minutes. John in Lansing, ILL
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From an environmental view, it sounds like a capital idea.
We have some where I work. They are different colors too. Red, Blue, Black and Yellow. Only a few and very random. I do not know if there is a significance of the color. Unfortunately, I am unable to take pictures.
Ron
I would think that recycled rubber would not be dimensionally stable enough for a railroad tie.
Hmmm, too bad railroad ties couldn't be made from worn out rubber tires.
Dan Weinhold
It all depends on how they recycle them, rubber tires we use on cars and vehicles are generally all synthetic, they aren't natural rubber (would be too expensive) from what I recall, and they spend a lot of time making that rubber where it is bouncy/stretchable. Ever seen solid rubber wheels or a Rubber mallet? They don't compress very much, and when they recycle tires there are likely a variety of things you can put in it where it would be as hard as the wood ties they are replacing, same with plastic. They wouldn't be hollow, these would be solid cast ties, and solid plastic is pretty strong. I don't know how these would fare vis a vis concrete, but would be more durable than wood I am pretty certain.
