Treated and Untreated Sleepers

Treated and Untreated Sleepers

Wooden sleepers are also sometimes classified as hard wood and soft wood sleepers depending upon the origin or species of the wood of which these are made. Broadly speaking, timber produced from trees with broad leaves is known as hard wood and that obtained from trees bearing long leaves is considered soft wood. Some of the hard wood varieties also require treatment before being used in the track. As per the recommendations of the committee, the use of the terms 'durable' and 'non-durable' as well as 'hard' and 'soft' should be done away with to avoid confusion. The committee recommended that for simplification and rationalization, wooden sleepers should be classified in two categories:

(a)  'U' or Untreated sleepers comprising of all the sleepers made of wood from naturally durable species.

(b) 'T' or Treated sleepers consisting of the rest of the sleepers.

Treatment of sleepers

Indian Railways has set up four sleeper treatment plants at the locations given below for treating non-durable sleepers:

Dhilwan (Punjab) in Northern Railways    1923

Naharkatia (Assam) in North Frontier       1928

Clutterbuckganj (UP) in North East  1955

Olvakot (Kerala) in Southern Railways      1957

All these plants utilize the pressure treatment process and the preservative is forced into the wood under pressure using any one of the following three methods.

Full cell (Bethell) process In the Bethell process, a cylinder loaded with the charge for about 300-400 sleepers is first subjected to a vacuum of 55-60 cm of mercury for 20-30 minutes by means of a vacuum pump. Hot creosote oil is then forced into the cylinder at a pressure of 150-180 psi at a temperature of 180 o F. This pressure is maintained for a period of 50-70 minutes till the desired amount of absorption is obtained. Thereafter, the pressure is reduced and the cylinder is drained off the creosote oil. A final vacuum of 55 cm of mercury is applied to free the timber of excess preservative. The whole process takes about 2-3 hours. This process is normally used when maximum retention of creosote oil is required for a particular type of sleeper such as that made of kail, deodar, fir, etc. At present this method is in use in Olvakot, Clutterbuckganj, and Dhilwan plants for various types of wood.

Empty cell (Rueping) process In the Rueping process, wooden sleepers loaded into the cylinder are first subjected to an initial air pressure of 3.5 to 5.25 kg/cm² for about 20-30 minutes. Afterwards, without reducing the pressure, hot creosote oil is forced into the cylinder at a temperature of 180 o C to 210 o C. The pressure is then raised to a value of 10.5-19.6 kg/cm ² and maintained for a period of 20-30 minutes till the desired absorption is achieved. Finally, the pressure is released, the cylinder is drained off the creosote, and a final vacuum of 55 cm of mercury is created to drain off the excess preservative. The whole process of treatment takes about 2-3 hours per charge. This process is generally employed for treating porous timbers and is used in Dhilwan and Clutterbuckganj depots for chir sleepers. In this process, air in the cell is entrapped, thereby limiting the preservative to be absorbed by the sleeper to a certain extent.

Empty cell (Lowry) process In the Lowry process, the cylinder loaded with timber charge is filled and then subjected to a pressure of 180 lb, which is sufficient to ensure proper impregnation. The cylinder is then drained off and the timber subjected to a final vacuum of 55 cm of mercury for a period of 45 minutes or so. The air entrapped in the timber cells forces the excess preservative out. Preservative recovery is greater in this case than in the full cell process but is less than in the Rueping process. This process is used in the Naharkatia plant for very green species of timber.

Prophylactic treatment of sleepers Prophylactic treatment is given to the sleepers by using patent chemicals such as arsenic pentaoxide, copper sulphate, and potassium dichromate solution in water 1:3:4 wt (60%) to prevent infection at the forest head and in the treatment plant. This is necessary an as appreciable amount of time elapses in transferring the sleepers from the forest depots to the treatment plant.

Seasoning of sleepers

Wooden sleepers are seasoned to reduce the moisture content so that their treatment is effective. The Indian Standard code of practice for preservation of timber lays down that the moisture content in the case of sleepers to be treated by pressure treatment should not be more than 25%.

The seasoning of sleepers can be done by any one of the following processes.

Artificial seasoning in kiln This is a controlled method of seasoning the timber, normally used in the USA and other advanced countries, under conditions of temperature and relative humidity, which are in the range of natural air seasoning.

Boulton or boiling under vacuum process This is a process in which unseasoned wood is treated with hot preservative to remove the moisture content. This is adopted in the Naharkatia depot.

Air seasoning This is the method adopted extensively for the seasoning of wooden sleepers in India. The sleepers are stacked in the timber yard and a provision is made for enough space for the circulation of air in between the sleepers. The sleepers are stacked in any one of the following ways:

(a)  One and nine method (Fig. 7.2)

(b) Close crib method

(c)  Open crib method (Fig. 7.3)

Normally, the one and nine method is adopted on Indian Railways for stacking the sleepers. About 6 months are required to air season the timber fully by this method.