Railway Tie Association
The Railway Tie Association (RTA) is a trade association in the railroad and rail transit industry. The purpose of the RTA is to promote the economical and environmentally sound use of wood crossties. The RTA is involved in research into crosstie design and ongoing activities dealing with sound forest management, conservation of timber resources, timber processing, wood preservation, environmentally sound used tie disposal, and safety of industry workers. The Association's mission statement is: "Our mission since 1919 has been to ensure that the engineered wood crosstie system continues to evolve and improve in order to remain cost-effective and to meet the ever-changing requirements of track systems around the world." History Early railroads The first railroads in the United States were constructed in the early 1830s. These railroads mounted track made of strips of iron secured to wood stringers onto stone blocks. The first recorded use of wood railroad ties is in 1832 when Robert Stevens, president of the Camden and Amboy Railroad in New Jersey substituted wood ties for stone due to slow deliveries of stone ties from Sing Sing prison in New York. Hewn wood crossties caught on quickly and were cut from trees along the railroad right-of-way. Tie