Tie
Tie turns up in 2 fields: railroad, surveying. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Tie in railroad
One of the crosswise beams that hold the rails to gauge and spread their load into the ballast.
Main line ties are usually creosote-treated hardwood about 7 by 9 inches and 8 feet 6 inches long, set roughly 20 inches apart, or prestressed concrete at about 24 inches on heavy-haul lines. They keep the two rails the right distance apart and pass wheel loads down into the ballast. Rotten or split ties lose their grip on the spikes and let the rails spread, so tie gangs replace them by the thousands every season.
"Five bad ties in a row right there, that's why she's running wide on gauge, get a slow order on it."
Tie in surveying
A measurement connecting a surveyed point to an established reference monument.
A measured bearing and distance that links a property corner, boundary line, or local survey network to a known external reference point, such as a section corner or benchmark. Ties anchor a local survey to the broader cadastral grid, ensuring the boundary can be retraced if local markers are destroyed.
"We need to pull a tie to the section corner iron across the highway before we finalize this plat."