How to Build Outdoor Railroad Cross-Tie Steps on a Slope

Design your steps. This will depend in large part on your slope --- how long it is, how steep and how deep into the lot. For a steep slope, you will want ties as individual steps, much like the stair treads in a house stairway. For a longer, more gradual slope, you may choose fewer steps with landings or flat areas in between, either filling spaces with ties or with grass, bricks or pavers or small cobblestones. This design also will determine how many ties you will need and what length --- ties generally are 8 feet long and approximately 7 inches by 9 inches.

Get your ties. Once railroads would allow individuals to pick up old ties themselves, but as use of ties has evolved, most now go through companies which pick them up, sort them by quality and then either sell them direct to consumers or wholesale them to landscaping and building supply stores. Prices will vary by quality of tie, region and supply and demand. Many companies will deliver large quantities to a jobsite, but you may load ties into a pickup truck yourself. Make this a two-person job --- ties are heavy and can be hard to handle and move. Wear gloves when handling ties.

Make a base. Basically, this involves digging out steps in your slope. How you do this will depend on your design. For individual tie steps, you'll only have to flatten out the space for the tie, just roughly smoothing the bottom and back. For longer slopes, you will have to dig out space for the tie, then an area behind it if you will be installing bricks or other surfacing; this will have to allow for a sand paver base. How wide you dig your steps will depend on your design --- it's obviously simpler to install full-length ties, but that requires a wider dug-out step.

Lay your ties. This is a two-person job and you should use a wheelbarrow to move them. You don't have to make them perfectly level and straight, since ties themselves will not be perfectly level and straight. If you are making narrow steps, you will have to cut ties to fit with a chain saw or very large circular saw (most ties are about 8 1/2 feet long). You can lay ties right on a dirt base --- they are pressure treated against rot and insects and most will last for many years. For added support, drill some holes through the ties and pound reinforcing bars through the ties and into the dirt (if your tie is 7 inches high, use 14 inches of rebar). You also can drive rebar through ties if a step is more than one tie high.