The train is running happily with a "clang clang clang" sound, do you think it's because the railway tracks are soaring high? Wake up, the ones who truly carry everything are those sleepers lying in the rocks, looking unremarkable. Nowadays, cement sleepers are everywhere in the world, hard and cold, and skilled at work. But if you ask who the railway tracks like to partner with the most, it must be old-fashioned wooden sleepers. Why? Wood understands railway tracks better than cement, so we have to talk about it from the root.
Wood is sensible, it is born with such a 'elasticity'. The wheels of the train are made of iron, and the rails are also made of iron. If the two iron bumps hit hard, can the noise be reduced? Cement sleepers are solid eyed masters, carrying them hard and shaking them when they come up? Pass it on! Noise? Reflection! The train that runs over it every day probably curses me in my heart: it's killing me! Wooden sleepers are different. They are like knowledgeable old buddies. When the train arrives, they tremble slightly and release half of their momentum. The train runs steadily, with minimal rail wear, and even the roadbed feels much easier. This elasticity is not laziness, it is just the right amount of tenderness. The cement guy also wants to learn, but due to his innate hardness, he can't learn.
Of course, someone is going to say that wood is afraid of rotting! This brings us to our ultimate skill of sealing the bottom of the box. Do you think the sleepers are just saws for cutting down trees and throwing them under the tracks? That's too naive. A qualified anti-corrosion sleeper requires a period of "cultivation" to undergo a complete transformation. Especially the pine wood we often talk about, this guy has good material and sufficient strength, the only drawback is that he is cunning and easy to attract insects and absorb water. So we need to give it a set of 'medicinal bath SPA'. Put the processed pine sleepers into a huge sealed jar, vacuum it, and then press the hot anti-corrosion oil all at once. How much pressure is this? Can allow oil to penetrate into the wooden core. We have a hard indicator here, the depth of anti-corrosion oil immersion often exceeds 13 millimeters! What concept is this? It's like putting a layer of armor over ten millimeters thick on wood, from the outside to the inside, it's all made of anti-corrosion ingredients, bugs? Walk around! rain Can't seep in! Wow, after all this fuss, a pine sleeper can be laid down on the roadbed and serve comfortably for decades without any problem. What is this called? This is called 'internal and external application', which completely cures the delicate disease of wood.
The cement sleepers were so heavy that even two men had to grimace when lifting them. Wooden sleepers are much more flexible, and a few road maintenance workers can easily handle them with a laugh. If there is a minor problem with any section of the railway track that needs to be fine tuned, the good temper of the wood allows the master worker to "negotiate" with it using road studs and pads. Cement? Try moving it? Too much effort!
So you see, cement sleepers are the "standard components" of the industrial era, standardized and of high quality. But wooden anti-corrosion sleepers, with their natural temperature, know how to move forward and backward, and know the weight. They can be gentle and affectionate with railway tracks, as well as friendly brothers with gravel roadbeds. It carries the steel rails and watches generation after generation of trains rushing towards the distance, silently, but turns all the bumps and vibrations into stories in its own body.
The railway tracks are pressed on the sleepers, the sleepers sleep on the ballast, and the ballast lies on the ground. The layer by layer that understands the heavy trust of the railway track the most is the breathable, elastic, and time soaked wood underneath. Cement pipes are called sleepers, but railway tracks know, that's what brothers are.
