railway sleepers

pro_bono

Tired Mum,
Its only a thought but could you line the inside of the beds with plastic sheeting creating a barrier between the sleepers and the earth in your beds?

Tired_Mummy

Unfortunately our garden is on a slope and all the sleepers are holding back the earth on the slope so it would be impossible to dig it all out - they are also 4 sleepers high. They have also been there so long now I'm not sure whether the worst of it would have seeped in there already, but many thanks for your suggestion.

jamanda

They will be fine - all our raised beds are made with these.

Yategirl

I think they would be fine tbh... we made our beds last year and I took the opportunity to line the sleepers with a tarpauline cut to fit and tucked under - but since yours have been there so long just use them...

1jim

To be honest, I wouldnt risk it, the advice seems to be that they can continue to be used in gardens but should not be used near food/children

"1 MINUTE VERSION ... for those in a hurry to get into their gardens !
From June 30th 2003 EEC and British law ruled that:
Used Creosoted railway sleepers COULD continue to be sold & used safely with some exceptions and guidelines:
**They should NOT be used where there is a risk of frequent skin contact, (e.g.schools, play areas, benches etc..) **They should NOT be used where where they may come into contact with food stuffs, (e.g. picnic tables)
**They should NOT be used inside buildings. (e.g. fireplaces and lintels)
There was NO PROBLEM with USED UNTREATED railway sleepers, NEW untreated or ACQ tannalised sleepers
So, to sum up... Don't use creosoted sleepers around children, food, or inside
Don't sit on them, eat off them, or put them indoors! HANDLE with GLOVESSo there you have it ... Get out there and plant!""

for more detail see below link ..

http://www.railwaysleeper.com/railway%20sleeper%20treatments.htm

Tired_Mummy

Many thanks for your post 1jim

Although that's quite worrying especially as I have two kids running round the garden all the time. I think we made need to replace them then and this could be a mammoth and v.expensive project as there is currently 32 of the things :eek:

Any suggestions on replacements? Preferably a cheap option? Can we clad them?

I've just found this website www.woodblocx.co.uk has anyone had any experience with them?

Sorry for all the questions

Zazen999

Hi

How much is seeping out???? That's quite a job to replace them and there might be a few options...What is on either side of them - you could paint on the side that the kids can get to with a safe paint; and possibly dig out the soil and line where you are going to grow veg and put clean soil in...any chance of a photo of the area you are talking about???

Note: I am an ex-civil engineer and there's loads of carp in most people's soils; there's always options to try and make soil safer. Most people have stuff such as cyanide in small amounts; it's all about minimising the risk so lets look at that before hoisting all your sleepers out!!!

WestonDave

An alternative idea is simply to build raised beds from acceptable timber on top of your "terraces". I see no reason why you couldn't construct the same sort of beds I have (1ft high surrounds - width and length to suit your spaces), and fill them with imported compost etc. That way the soil you use for actually growing is kept well away from any contaminants from the sleepers. Also because its mainly compost based the soil will be rich enough to stop the plants going deep for nutrients.

In practical terms the sleeper at the front of the step could form the walkway along the bed, and I'd leave a foot behind before the next pile of sleepers to enable you to get along the back. With deep beds like that and not walking on them there is no reason to mix the potentially contaminated soil into the soil actually used by the plants for growing. Modern timber treatments are much more acceptable for use near veg and something simple like gravel boards can be used with corner posts for support/construction. I was putting together 6ftx3ftx1ft beds for about £20 in materials.

If this is of interest but I'm not explaining it very well let me know and I'll try to draw and post a diagram!

Tired_Mummy

Many thanks for all your answers, I really appreciate it.

Zazen - Here are a couple of pictures (as you will see our garden is tiny and we haven't done much with i yet (:o )





Behind the dry stone wall you see right at the back is earth, ground level is just below the top of that wall hence the need for that many sleepers to hold the ground back I believe.
Only about 3 are oozing tar, but quite a bit. Would paint work? As I did a quick search since everyone replied and there isn't an effective way to seal it?

Acc72

Hi All,

I have some railway sleepers and was thinking about using them to create raised planteres for either plants or herbs.

However, (these are real ex-railway sleepers) I read somwewhere that plants may not grow due to the sleepers possible having diesel on them.

Is this true - if so, how can I combat this / what plants would work best in this scenario.


Many thanks for any help.