What to do with old railroad ties?

Just stack the new railroad ties in front of the old ones. Stake the new ones in really with rebar. The old ones will keep rotting in place and hold back the dirt a little. Offset the layers of the new ties though.

Some waste transfer stations and roll-off dumpster companies specifically won't take creosote railroad ties because they consider them hazardous waste. But it depends on location and even which company or station you talk to in the same area. And/or how good you are at hiding them at the bottom of a dumpster.

kazoospec said:

Buddy of mine used a bunch of them to build a shooting backstop.  He made about a 20 by 6 foot box and filled it with dirt.  It's held up pretty well over several years.  Probably need more than a dozen, though.

$hity $hity Bang Bang

I agree with leaving them there... if you don't mind your new wall being 8" further out than the old one.

I would lay new wall with whatever you want, put a few inches of stone between them, and cover with dirt.  Those old ties will slowly decay, but they still have another 5-10 years of additional usefulness at helping retain the dirt behind them.

The new wall will just get pushed over too unless you add some deadmen back into the hill.

The new wall by the driveway is going to be different. Gravel base with a French drain on the inside, 4 courses of block, with rebar going down into the dirt below and every cell filled with cement as it goes up. Solid, functional, half buried. Only maybe a course sticking above grade. More as a curb than an all out wall. I could leave the ties there and build beside, but for as crooked and rotted as they are I'd just rather eliminate them altogether.

In the yard, I'm most likely just going to bring in fill to lighten the slope so I can get my tractor up there, and level and compact enough to put our pool. They're more decoration than support in the yard, and with the pear tree going away, should be much to push on it