Redundant concrete sleepers

At the South Devon Railway we have many redundant concrete sleepers for disposal as they are no longer usable on running lines.
If there are PW staff from other heritage railways who have found markets for sleepers please let us know.

 

Ploughman will probably be able to tell you how the NYMR go about selling off surplus concrete sleepers but I've always understood that local farmers provide a ready market, to use them for all sorts of purposes such as farm roadways, bridge decks and retaining walls.

 

That is what I would have said.
Lay them upside down, tight together on a level surface for a ready made trackway.
One farmer near the NYMR has laid out over 1/2 a mile of trackway like that.

Also make aggregate or sileage bins.

 

At Northumberland County Council there used to be a facility where farmers could take the waste chippings from a road re-surfacing scheme for their farm tracks etc. It all got a bit complicated when you had to submit forms for Waste Disposal/Treatment Licences so they were authorized to handle this stuff. It was bituminous waste quite often so classed as a hazard. The local environment office or the EA website might be able to give further guidance.

 

Slightly off topic. Road planings make an excellent sub base for miniature railways. In days gone by we got them free and delivered. Now you need to have the correct paperwork to receive them so that put an end to it. On a hot day they were easier to move as the bitumen softened. On a winter’s day it was almost impossible with the Mini digger to break up the heap and we needed the grunt of a JCB 3CX.
I think that the railway at Kingsbury Water Park also used these.

 

Should get £20 plus each

 

I was going to say £16 but, if you can get more, that's good, especially as you cut off the ironwork and weigh that in, as well.

 

We used to take road chippings by the wagon load for making paths, and extending car parks, until the council twigged on that if they retreived the bitumen aspect, they could make money, now have to pay....

 

Yes it helped knowing the contractor on a motorway relay who was keen to get the scrapings out of the way and quickly, being local to the job we had two truckloads for free. The rush was getting the cars out of the way as we had 30 minutes notice.

 

Sounds similar to our time, knew the MD of a company who was doing refurbishment of the A19, and he dropped a couple of loads a day for a week, saved us a fortune in making a new car park.
And once levelled, and compacted, made for a great temporary surface, although funnily enough i have found out this week, no good as a surface for laying a new car park bitumen on.
Live and learn i suppose!!!

 

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