A railroad tie, sleeper, or crosstie is a versatile, beautiful item to utilize in landscaping, with multitudes of applications limited only by the imagination. Used railroad ties are delightfully affordable as landscaping products. They are priced according to how many “good” sides they have, between one and four. They are marketed by the piece in shorter than nine-foot lengths and by the foot in nine to seventeen foot sizes, all at very reasonable costs by railroad materials salvage businesses.

I imagine that recycled railroad ties have likely been in use by landscapers and gardeners since the first-ever leftover or reclaimed railroad tie. The natural and raw beauty of railroad ties can improve any project. They can be strictly decorative and accentuating, functional, or both. They can readily be combined with various other materials or used separately in creating textures, patterns, and designs that are truly unique and limited only, again, by the imagination.

One of the most typical, and perfect, uses in landscaping for railroad ties is the retaining wall. Ties are sturdy and big, and they certainly aren’t going to go anywhere once they’ve been put into place. They can hold however much dirt needs to be held back. The railroad ties can be arranged in a multitude of configurations, including one tie used horizontally as a very low retaining wall; multiple ties used on top of each other in alternating layers; and ties placed on their ends vertically so as to look like yard dividers or fences of various heights, similar heights, or alternating heights and placed apart, together, straight, angled, or curved in circles. Another common, perfect use for railroad ties is raised vegetable or flower beds. Ties can be used on top of any surface, offset and stacked on top of each other for very deep walls, cut in quite short lengths to allow the wall to “curve” along a winding path, or climb increasingly higher up a terraced or hilly incline.

Railroad ties make some of the easiest and most beautiful stairs that can ever be made: stairs that go up to a deck; up a hillside, even a winding one; up to a house’s front door, with wrought-iron handrails; and stairs that are bordered by railroad tie raised flower beds, fences, or retaining walls. Ties look beautiful as patio and deck edging and also as patios and decks, in all sorts of patterns, even circular. They also look great as stepping stones, used individually with spaces in between them, or grouped in complicated patterns, even circular.

There are multitudes of other landscaping uses for railroad ties: garden and park benches, bridges, handrails, tables with benches, hammock poles, raised tree planters, benches suspended between tree planters, pavilions, gazebos, trellises and arbors, pond edges that are ground-level or raised, soft-foam play-area edging, sandpit edging, outdoor swings, cabin foundations, tree houses, barns, sculptures, fireplace mantels, and household furniture. People have long been enjoying the wonders of railroad-tie landscaping. Maybe it’s your prime time to bring along your imagination and your ideas to swap at your local railroad materials suppliers.

Learn more about railroad materials salvage. Stop by AK Railroad’s site for the best railroad materials suppliers and what they have for you.