hi

since KTM is changing from wood to concrete railway sleeper track, there must be a lot of them around. i hear rumours that there is a KTM gedung where maybe it might be for sale.

i'm into wood diy at the moment, and these wood pieces are perfect for my needs. very solid, old and i'm trying to recycle them (rather than chop down a tree).

anyone knows where to find / buy or source it?

thank you.

today is train toilet waste still being dumped on the tracks?

so the wood....

there are cases of train hitting animals n people... so ....

What is the usage of your timber ?

Hi,

Are you looking for many pieces..there is one shop among those nursery shops in sungai buloh who had 15-20 pcs but selling quite expensive..the last round i checked the owner asking for RM150 a piece..cant recall the name of the shop but i did get their name card..they specialised on woodcrafts..i was looking for it as well wanting to built fencing pillar but gave the idea due to its pricing..back then its price was something like RM60-70 a piece

There is this shop just opposite the old klang road/kuchai lama traffic junction. They sell stones and garden stuff. They have these sleepers BUT they are made of concrete. They look very much like the real things. I was fooled when i first saw them, only when they told me and i actually touched them, that i realised what they were. Maybe u might like to check them out.

Got. Garden Mart @ Tropicana. Plenty there.

i'm looking to build some simple wooden furniture for my garden.

looking for sleeper wood because (i thought) its cheap, and should be extremely hard and termite proof.

thanks for your input...... still looking for the mythical gedung where KTM keeps them....

Its not Mythical, that Gedung exists, I've seen it with my own eyes.

The contractor for the RM 3.5 Billion Double Tracking & Electrification Seremban-Gemas is one of my customers.

I expressed interest once in those old sleepers and was jokingly offered as many as I could carry from the Gedung to my 4x4. They seriously underestimated my strength and they had to stop me after 5, since they arn't meant to give any away or even sell them. I think they or KTM has a contract to sell them to Gardening wholesaler. They were making a terrible fuss about how to account for the missing 5 out of thousands, so I assume they have some accurate accounting of their qty.

I live in an apartment so they were useless to me and I ended up giving them to a friend to use as Garden Furniture.

Cheers

Can you hint to me where to find this gedung.......thank you so much...

From what I've heard, the removal of these wood or even old wood from old buildings is done by other parties in which they charge a minimal sum for the work but are given the rights to the salvaged material.

In essence the material belongs to these people and not the main con. Chances are the collection of the sleepers in one area is for KTM to account for the work done (just my presumption) hence why accounting for a loss of 5 sleeper rails is a big thing.

These old railway sleepers are getting really hard to come by, especially ones in decent shape.

Interesting to learn. Would really like to find out how to source for these wood pieces. These wood pieces are probably really hard, and time-tested....

Yes railways sleeper is good, durable and stuff but i hope u know tat those wood are treated with creosote ya. creasote is highly poisonous if u come in contact to it.
the very reason y creasote was allow to be use on railway sleeper is becos not much human contact and the neeed durability for the 24 rain and shine.

Thank you for the sharing on creosote. I think you've helped me move on from this search... Better go hang out at timber mill instead now....

Coal-tar creosote is the most widely used wood treatment today; both industrially, processed into wood using pressure methods such as "full-cell process" or "empty-cell process", and more commonly applied to wood through brushing. In addition to toxicity to fungi, insects, and marine borers, it serves as a natural water repellant. It's commonly used to preserve and waterproof cross ties, pilings, telephone poles, power line poles, marine pilings, and fence posts. Although suitable for use in preserving the structural timbers of buildings, it is not generally used that way because it is difficult to apply.
Due to its carcinogenic character, the European Union has regulated the quality of creosote for the EU market [66] and requires that the sale of creosote be limited to professional users.[67][68] The United States Environmental Protection Agency regulates the use of coal tar creosote as a wood preservative under the provisions of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Creosote is considered a restricted-use pesticide and is only available to licensed pesticide applicators[69][70]

PMSL

I wouldn't be so worried about cresote its really not that toxic. Its basically just tar residue from Coal.

its exactly the same compound responsible for the preservation and the flavor of meat in the process of smoking.

So unless your scared of smoked salmon or smoked duck or smoked turkey or smoked ham killing you then I doubt you have much to fear from Railway Sleepers.

BTW I assume you are not going to try to eat those railway sleepers, right?

As for the Location of those Gedung, I can say they are nearby the local railyards.


Cheers

"creasote is highly poisonous if u come in contact to it."

That's not really true!

You would need to drink some for it to be toxic, heavy contact to the skin of liquid creasote would at worst be an mild to sever irritant depending on the persons skin sensitivity.

Even before creosote as a chemical compound was discovered, it was the chief active component of medicinal remedies in different cultures around the world and is still largely used in many traditional health remedies.

Eg Pinetarsol


Cheers

This post has been edited by Sydneguy: Dec 10 2013, 01:33 AM

erm... it is not jus tar residue la.. is more like bitumen liquid .. it is carcinoginic plus it will leach out as time pass to the soil if not properly handle... creasote for wood treatment is not as mild as u think la... it is kinda poisonous... my advice if u really wan to use recycled timber... try to savage from old wooden house in kampung rather than railway sleeper... yes u can still use it after some sort of treatment (which is to clean off the creasote) but there will still be residue and some people are sensitive to stuff like this it is not ur normal smoked salmon yoh!!!
but if one insist on using railway sleeper.. they should at least understand the risk 1st and use it appropriately:

http://www.wood-protection.org/newpubs/fil...ersion_0107.pdf

This post has been edited by xavi5567: Dec 10 2013, 09:52 AM

From your pdf link
"Wood treated with creosote prior to 30 June 2003 and placed on the market for second-hand use
(typically old railway sleepers) may be used (by DIY, professional and industrial users) in any
situation apart from those listed below under ‘Restricted uses’ "

The restricted uses being

"1. inside buildings,
2. in toys,
3. in playgrounds,
4. in parks, gardens and outdoor leisure facilities where there is a risk of frequent skin
contact*,
5. in the manufacture of garden furniture such as picnic tables,
6. for the manufacture and use and any re-treatment of:
• containers intended for growing purposes
• packaging that may come into contact with raw materials, intermediate or finished
products destined for human and/or animal consumption,
• other materials which may contaminate the products mentioned above."

So I don't see it as being that dangerous and certainly I still stand by my earlier statement " "creasote is highly poisonous if u come in contact to it." That's not really true! "


In fact there was a 2005 study of 2,179 workers that found there was no adverse health effect to workers that had be applying Creosote in industrial, some of them exposed to it since the 1940s and 1950s. So I would have to say the current warrings and regulations seem to be overkill and panic-merhanting by public policy officals that probably have little or no understanding of the real dangers if any.

"A 2005 mortality study of creosote workers found no evidence supporting an increased risk of cancer death, as a result of exposure to creosote. Based on the findings of the largest mortality study to date of workers employed in creosote wood treating plants, there is no evidence that employment at creosote wood-treating plants or exposure to creosote-based preservatives was associated with any significant mortality increase from either site-specific cancers or non-malignant diseases. The study consisted of 2,179 employees at eleven plants in the United States where wood was treated with creosote preservatives. Some workers began work in the 1940s to 1950s. The observation period of the study covered 1979- 2001. The average length of employment was 12.5 years. One third of the study subjects were employed for over 15 years.[73]"


Yes I do agree people should be aware of the risks and the safe use etc.

risk is there... many people unaware of these risks... then they get sensidized ... skin reaction to creasote varied from men to men.. so better to be safe than sorry. TS initial idea was to use it as garden furniture which i foresee human contact ... everything is safe to use if u understand the risk.. so no hard feeling.. u may have ur way of thinking but i am just stating a fact .. u can choose to take it with a pitch of salt.