Advice on laying railway sleepers

[Steve Bullman]

Upcoming garden project. Want to make a surround for a swing set with railway sleepers and also a few raised beds. I’m pretty crap at this sort of thing so have been reading up. There’s a lot of ways of doing it, some say a cement base is require whilst others don’t. What methods have you used in the past?

[Haironyourchest]

The ground pressure of a sleeper (without a structure on it) is practically nil. Wouldn't be worried about it.

 

if it's pure bog, maybe some piles (fenceposts) drivel down to harder stuff first, the cut off at ground level to support the sleepers.

 

Use strapping to keep the sleepers together.

[Jwoodgardenmaintenance]

I normally use 50x50x600mm pegs to hold the bottom course into the ground then to fix the sleepers together i use 250mm hex head timber screws counter sunk into the sleeper 10mm flat bit usually works for the countersinking as you stack them up on top of each other 3x2 fixed to the inside does or a 3x3 post 

 

Jack

[daveatdave]

a waterproof membrane on the inside will help stop rot especially on the raised beds it will help to keep the soil damp  

[doobin]

20 hours ago, Jwoodgardenmaintenance said:

I normally use 50x50x600mm pegs to hold the bottom course into the ground then to fix the sleepers together i use 250mm hex head timber screws counter sunk into the sleeper 10mm flat bit usually works for the countersinking as you stack them up on top of each other 3x2 fixed to the inside does or a 3x3 post 

 

Jack

Those pegs and posts will rot and rail in under three years. 
 

I use steel supports. 

[Stere]

Don't like the idea of treated wood next to veg beds but it seems to be the norm so maybe its not an issue?

 

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by Stere

[muttley9050]

20 minutes ago, Stere said:

Don't like the idea of treated wood next to veg beds but it seems to be the norm so maybe its not an issue?

 

 

Not ideal I don't think. Oak sleepers can be had for not much more than treated ones.

[Guest Gimlet]

 

21 hours ago, Steve Bullman said:

Upcoming garden project. Want to make a surround for a swing set with railway sleepers and also a few raised beds. I’m pretty crap at this sort of thing so have been reading up. There’s a lot of ways of doing it, some say a cement base is require whilst others don’t. What methods have you used in the past?

With raised beds you're effectively using the sleepers as a retaining wall so they need to be thoroughly anchored into the ground from top to bottom at all corners and junctions or they will be pushed outwards. And they need to be securely bound together as a stack. If you set the first one in concrete you still need to fix them solidly to each other and hold the corners together so it doesn't gain you much. And the bottom sleeper will rot like a pear because it will rarely be dry.

 

You could fabricate some T section posts which can be set in concrete and the sleepers slotted into them. But if you want them to last they will have to be galvanised and obviously they will have to be on the outside face of the sleepers so they will be visible. Another way is to buy some new scaffold tube, which will be galvanised already, cut it into short lengths and set then in concrete in post holes, then and bore holes through the sleepers so they slot over the top of them. You could stop the tubes at the second sleeper down so they don't show on the top one.  

If you do that, I would mark out the shape of you beds, dig a shallow trench till you're on firm ground, dig post holes for the scaffold tubes within that trench and concrete them in, then before you start dropping the sleepers over the tubes, fill the trench to ground level with stone or large shingle so the base sleeper can drain and isn't sitting on concrete or wet soil. 

 

Also, I'd half-lap joint the sleepers at the corners and them either screw each one to the one below with a large stainless screw, or better still, run a length of stainless threaded bar through the lot of them with a recessed nut top and bottom. For maximum life, I'd also line the inner face of the sleepers with damp proof membrane. Tape the joints and tack it on with clout nails.

 

Hope that doesn't sound long-winded or too complicated, but that's the builder in me. careful measuring is required for corner joints and the holes so everything lines up but it would produce something that will be structurally solid and last for donkey's years.

 

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by Gimlet

[Puffingbilly413]

I used larch sleepers from the local sawmill for my raised beds. I just used long decking screws to fix them together and let them sit flat on the ground and backfilled. They're only two sleepers high so wasn't worried about them shifting about - the weight of the soil stops that anyway. The sleepers are staggered in the two layers which also helps tie them in.

 

Rot is an issue. As others have said, a membrane will help. I should have put one in but didn't. My beds will probably need replacing next year - but that will be nearly 8 years so not bad.

 

Next time I'll do exactly the same but will try yakisugi on the inside as I'm not a fan of plastic really.

 

[LGP Eddie]

I did some raised beds, and wanted them a comfortable height, so discounted the sleeper route.

 

I instead went with relatively inexpensive and fairly readily available potato boxes, and did a little trick to ensure they didn’t simply burst.

 

I could have gone false bottom, put all sorts in to fill half the crate, but semi decent topsoil was free and available.

 

Lined first with plastic (holes in bottom) then net bags to retain the soil with virtually no push.

 

kept the bag tops down a bit, some lath to finish off the plastic and topped up with decent compost.

Lasting really well several years on, comfortable height to work and reach perfectly from either side.

Certainly deliver the goods and nothing tastes like homegrown.

 

With regard to sleepers, done absolutely loads over the years, everything from steels to actual vertical sleepers to hold them.

 

For single ground level runs that need to stand a bit of push or knocking, we came up with using sleepers to actually make posts that you can simply concrete in.

Bit of chainsaw skills or butchery required, but these are extremely effective, mean no fixings are required, sleepers just drop in and butt up half and half in the post, and stop any visits back because everything has pushed forward.

Breaks up the look of a long run too, especially if gravelled up or the like.

 

Shite sketch (did my best, you can see the rubber marks!😂) and a picture of a scruffy example hiding in the garden under a wildflower bed.

 

 

Eddie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 27, 2022 by LGP Eddie