RTA offers new educational videos on tie grading

The Railway Tie Association has unveiled a series of educational videos on tie grading, with nine modules containing instructional highlights of the RTA’s most successful training event, its annual Tie Grading Seminar. The modules capture the essence of the classroom instruction and makeevendifficult terms and concepts accessible to every tie producer’s and railroad’s employees, RTA says.

The first six modules condense three days of the most important lectures on Wood Species Identification, Learning Specifications and Tie Defects, Quality Control, Proper Seasoning and Handling of Ties, and Wood Preservation into less than four hours of quality video instruction.

Modules 7 through 9 are designed to place the viewer in the tie grading station at a wood preservation plant. The first ofthese non-narrated, graphically illustrated videos offers the student an opportunity to see how tie graders do their jobs. The remaining videos are tests, some with keys and written narratives.

A 30-day or one-year license to view the series is available for purchase by the public. RTA members receive a significant discount off of non-member rates. As an added bonus, once an order is placed for the series, the purchaser can download RTA’s Visual Guide to Tie Defects and Specifications. This executable file is an interactive guide with many higher resolution example photos illustrating tie defects and how they relate to tie specifications. There are just-for-fun and real tests included as well.

Access to the streaming video modules and bonus Visual Guidecan be found at www.rta.org/Default.aspx?tabid=164.