Railroad Tie & Bridge Timber

Pendu covers the full tie process. Each solution is built around the material going through it, the rate the line requires, and the yard it's going into.

Sizing and Trimming: Ties come in from the sawmill and get singled out and graded, since better ties go on high-speed freight rails and lower grades go on slower moving track. From there they're trimmed to length. Pendu builds tie trim saws and cutoff saws for that stage, along with a four-side sizer for operations that need dimension held on all four faces. A standard tie runs 8’6”, usually 7x9, down to 6x6 on the smaller end.

Incising and Profiling: The incisor cuts slots in the sides, top, and bottom so chemical treatment penetrates the fiber instead of sitting on the surface. Pendu's incisor runs 10 crossties per minute and can be fed by lugged chain or powered rollcase. For ties and timbers that need more than incising, the lineal dap notcher cuts profiles on the top and bottom for a snug fit to the rail, running up to 40’ per minute, and the kerf saw makes a 3/16” kerf with two carbide blades for track line

Sorting: Sorting decks collect ties off the line and sort them onto multiple levels. A 35’ accumulator chain holds roughly 77 ties at a time with a 12,000-lb. capacity, so the sort keeps running rather than backing the line up behind it.

Plating and Stacking: The end plater deals a tie, finds both ends, squeezes cracks out at 15,000 lbs. in each direction and presses plates onto both ends at 70,000 lbs., running 10 ties per minute. From there, the tie stacker takes over at up to eight ties per minute, picking up two ties at a time. It builds a tight stack with no sticks, or a German stack on angles, with a tilting axis and servo-controlled rotation for the specialty stack.

Crossing Panels: A different product on the same floor. The panel laminating and boring machine laminates timbers together and bores holes with countersinks to produce crossing panels ready for installation, at 200 panels in an eight-hour shift. It handles one to four timbers, 6” to 32” of total width, and material from 7’ to 24’ long.