Burning sleepers from the old Ghan

Sigmund,

Here in Qld a lot of timber infra-stucture was regularly treated with arsenic to stop pests.

If we're going to worry about everything that could kill us we would never leave the house. I've used a Ghan sleeper for firewood and lived to tell the tale. I am sure there are thousands of others as well. I'd worry more about aht is around the next bend first.
OBJ

Hi
I don’t see any reason why would any body put them self’s and family in unnecessary danger for just a having campfire ……
But not many people would know; by mining iron ore very often asbestos is also disturbed, as those two minerals are more than often-in same geological formation. This can be seen in many Pilbara’s Gorges (white or lightly blue vain in formation is asbestos)
Than I would say, “what can I do” This is a risk that is not avoidable, since wind will spread dust everywhere.
Cheers Dana

Interesting stuff.
What about the sleepers laying around near Leigh Creek. Have collected many of these and burnt them without thought so I wonder if the same could apply.

Hi Sigmund,

Thats something to bear in mind.

Being a older mechanic I'm conscious of the asbestosis problem.

A part of regular vehicle servicing was de-dusting the brakes.
Not to forget clutch plate dust as well.

As has been mentioned it may not rear its ugly head until much further down the track.

As for being worried about what is around the next bend, rather than asbestosis, the person saying that has not seen some one suffering from this killer disease.

William

Interesting, after 30 years of working with trains and brake systems in Victoria, all goods wagons , locos and passenger cars had cast iron brake blocks. Have only seen a few fibre blocks that were used on some special wheels. Commonwealth railways of the old narrow have been different, but I doubt it.
Lindsay.

I bet the train's brakes weren't use too much out there.
Don't think they were interested in stopping for camels, cattle etc.
Everything is relative.
Bob

On the effects of asbestos and the time it can take to show up.

My cousin was a painter for the Qld housing commission, painting or repainting their fibro houses. He died form the asbestos inhaled when he sanded back the houses. This happened in a relatively short time frame.

My dad had a chest x ray when he was 79. The doctor said I don't want to alarm you as this will not change your life. Have you ever worked with asbestos and Dad replied yes during the war on naval ships. The doctors reply was you have it but you will be long gone before it can have any bad effects on you. That diagnose was over 40 years later.

I see fibreglass mentioned but it is an entirely different fibre. It also has a couple of redeeming features in that it can be seen in the air with light and it irritates your skin,eyes and throat warning of it's presence.

You know, as a bushwalker of 25 years, and more recent 4WDr the past few, I was always hesitant about disturbing such things.
For all those walks we did, we never had a fire at all at bush camps, only in the Alpine cattlemen huts when we walked those regions in Vic / NSW.

While others say you can pick up a few sleepers on the way up for a comfort fire in the desert, I would brief my group to bring a small bag of hardwood each for burning instead.
One popular camp on the Ood Tk sells sleepers for $10 ea to burn there in the fire drums, they just go out and load them up from the Ghan.

Coming back down the Ood form Mt Dare the other week, we came out from a Peake visit, and picked up 3 partial rotting sleepers to take to Coward Springs with us for the night.
Not sure who is piling them up along the route down, but there seems to be an effort to get them into piles along the way.

I know they will be gone soon, rotting down quite quickly, still felt a bit odd taking them to burn.
A bit like leaving nothing but footprints, taking nothing but memories / photos type of thing.
Even the temptation to grab a rail spike form the Ghan as a souvenir is resisted, even though they can be a tyre hazard for those driving off the track for a look see here and there.

Wonder if Coward Springs is aware of the potential issues with asbestos ?

Mesothelioma is a horrible death and the only cause is asbestos in the lungs. Yes, everyone's going to die but who would knowingly run this risk?

Lincoln Hall conquered Everest inc. a night sitting on a ridge in the death zone only to die of the asbestos sheets he played with as a kid.

The incidence of asbestos-related diseases is only going to increase as more baby boomers go beyond the latency period.

Bit of a related news story here, very sad to see kids in the 60's playing in blue asbestos :(

Wittenoom

If the old sleepers were only used to provide heat for cooking, there would be plenty out there still to go around. But some people don't realise they are actually a limited resource and try and heat up 100km2 of air around them.

The timber sleepers were soaked in arsenic to stop pests eating them. the arsenic is released into the air when burned. Hold your breath around the camp fire.....

I think the horse has bolted for anyone over a certain age. I can't see how anyone in the 70's couldn't have had some sort of contact with asbestos. The stuff was everywhere, particularly brake linings and houses. My neighbour's roof was corrugated asbestos sheeting, pity the guys who installed that. In reality, I think it's a bit like sun exposure causing melanoma, yes it can cause a bad disease but not everyone gets it even after a lot of exposure and some get it after minimal exposure. I had a smoker plumber in his late 70's tell me they used to cut it with power tools doing bathrooms where they couldn't see the other end of the room for dust, no masks of cause. Life's a health hazard and a lottery.

Don't take this warning lightly. You can be very easily poisoned by breathing in poisonous toxins contained in wood being burnt.

Asbestos was used in railway workshops by the truckload. It was used for pipe lagging, for rail truck or carriage insulation, for brakes, even in protective paint which contained bitumen AND asbestos.

Lead paint on timber being burnt is a classic source of lead poisoning. That's why demolition timber is no longer sold for firewood.

Here's another one I wager none of you thought about. In W.A., we have the Box Poison bush (Gastrolobium - that lovely "orange lucerne" that has killed hundreds of thousands of stock animals by poisoning via ingestion).
There are about 100 species of Box Poison, with only about 2 not endemic to the SW of W.A.
Box poison contains Monofluoroacetic Acid - a particularly toxic poison that is more commonly known as 1080.
In its commercial form it's used to poison vermin. It will poison all mammals - in relatively low concentrations.

I knew a Shire Foreman who was an old hand from the SW of W.A. There wasn't much he didn't know.
However, he didn't know about the potential poisoning effects of using Box Poison to start a fire, to toast his sandwiches on.
He did just this - and ended up very, very crook within a few hours, and had to be rushed to hospital for treatment.

He not only breathed in the MA, his sandwiches also absorbed the MA from the smoke.
The doc was on the ball and questioned him closely on what he'd been doing during the day, suspecting some kind of neurological poisoning.
He soon figured out that the foreman had ingested a goodly dose of MA from using Box Poison to start his lunchtime fire on a cold day.

Many toxic products that are very harmful to your health can be released by burning, and travel in the vaporisation and smoke particles.
You are well advised to heed any official or well-based advice about the potential absorption of those toxins.

Cheers, Ron.

What a shame they are being destroyed.
Are you sure that they were Redgum? There were a number of reasonably intact Jarrah sleepers from the old line turned in to various furniture and other items in about 1984 under the name of "Ghan Sleeper Craft". Absolutely beautiful from the ones I saw and were made in the Top End region around then. I believe that there was one special set of chairs and table made for the NT Govt. I'm visiting some relatives soon in Adelaide and must check if they still have the breadboard made from some of it. With how expensive it was it was all I could afford at the time.