Railway Sleepers

Railway Sleepers used to only be reclaimed after years of holding up railway tracks and covered in creosote which isn’t ideal in cases where raised beds are built for growing vegetables due to chemicals or in gardens where people are going to spend time due to the smell or even allergies! For this reason we’ve chosen to stock only new sleepers in oak or softwood.

Railway sleepers are a great and cost effective way of retaining soil, building raised beds, borders, edging and even to build decks for walking or supporting small sheds etc. New sleepers are also much easier to work with given that you can cut them without needing power tools (although it is much quicker and easier to use power tools still). They are much lighter and less back breaking to handle in the garden.

Because new sleepers have been cut from fresh timbers they will all feature four straight edges giving nice square finished corners to achieve a much nicer finish, to achieve this with reclaimed sleepers they would cost a lot more as they have to be graded depending on the amount of straight edges and corners that they have. You also don’t need to wear gloves with new sleepers, although it is recommended to protect yourself from splinters, compared to reclaimed ones which will stain your hands or clothes if you touch them, it is also a highly toxic substance.

Oak

Oak sleepers from RGH Supplies are 2.4m long x 200mm wide x 100mm tall, these are all extremely uniform and very fresh with a new load coming every few months. Our oak railway sleepers are ideal for creating planters, beds or even small bridges over streams to create a classic garden look. Our Oak sleepers are a great way of bringing character to any garden, after just a short period of time they will begin to weather and change from the fresh yellow in colour Oak look to a beautiful classic grey.

The durability of our Oak sleepers makes them ideal for putting underneath sheds, retaining soil or even making compost bins. The oak sleepers we sell come from a sawmill in the Baltic States where the oak trees have been growing for many years. When buying oak sleepers it is important to make sure that they haven't been cut from turkey oak as this is no good for using in contact with the ground and is normally used to make ply boards, mdf and pallets.

Oak sleepers generally are graded to having at least 2 good adjoining faces, we are proud to say that a majority of ours have a minimum of 3 good faces but mostly have all 4 good faces. We have seen our Oak sleepers used for creating a mantelpiece for a fireplace, ornate steps leading to a stunning bespoke oak gate, garden tables and even internal coffee tables. Such is the quality that with the right tools our Oak sleepers really can be used for many internal and external projects.  

Softwood 

Softwood sleepers are a slightly more cost effective option to oak, they are also lighter and easier to work with when it comes to cutting or drilling into them. Softwood Sleepers are widely available as a standard treated spruce timber, these are usually very cheap but are not treated for ground contact this is why our softwood sleepers are a fully DOT spec incised redwood sleeper.

We keep two sizes of softwood sleepers, the 3m x 125 x 250mm and the more popular 2.4m x 100 x 200mm. These sleepers are ideal for taking on your own landscaping projects or for contractors carrying out work in peoples gardens. We are able to source other sizes upon request. 

Fixings

Fixings for sleepers, decking and all parts of landscaping are available in our shop, we have thousands of different sizes of screws, pegs, angle irons and more to help you secure your retaining wall to the ground or to get your decking built solidly. Carpenters mate carbon steel hex head screws are a favourite when using softwood sleepers while timberlok hex head screws are perfect for use in oak sleepers. These screws require no pre drilling and always come with free drill bits in the box. Alternatively if you have some other ideas for fixings methods we are happy to discuss your requirements.

Landscaping

Landscaping products are a large part of the timber and other items that we keep in our yard. We have lots of 150x22mm and 100x22mm treated boards here in various lengths with 50x50mm and 38x38mm pegs to combine with the boards to create path or lawn edging. All of the boards are DOT spec as per all of our ground contact timbers.

Composite and softwood decking boards are also available to order at very keen prices along with hardwood species of deck boards made from balau, iroko, sapele, oak and accoya.

Decking subframes are catered for by large stocks of 150x48mm, 100x48mm and 100x100mm DOT treated posts and joists.

Carpenters mate square drive exterior woodscrews are perfect for installing decking, these come in 50mm, 63mm, 75mm and 90mm and are constructed from the same carbon steel as the hex head screws. These are perfect for outdoor applications with stainless steel screws as an option for fixing hardwood decking boards to protect from marks on the expensive timbers. Advice is always available in store or over the phone on decking and we are happy to work out what you need based on measurements to provide a quote.