Raw steel intermediate post for railway sleeper walls, in 117.6 x 64mm RSJ section. Sleepers slot in each side. Paint it, or weather it down to a rusted patina.

An intermediate post is the one that does the work along the length of a wall. Sleepers slot in from both sides, so one post joins two runs and keeps the whole line straight as the timber settles.

Key points

• RSJ 117.6mm x 64mm at 8.6kg per metre — web 4.5mm, flange 5mm.
• Raw steel — supplied untreated and the cheapest of the three, ready to paint yourself or leave to weather to a rusted finish.
• Ten lengths — 600mm, 900mm, 1m, 1.2m, 1.5m, 1.6m, 1.8m, 2m, 2.4m and 3m, so the post suits anything from a single course border to a wall several sleepers high.
• No fixings required — nothing to bolt, screw or drill.
• For 100mm wide sleepers only. Our railway sleepers are 195mm x 95mm, so they suit.

How it goes in

Nothing to bolt or drill. Set the post and drop the sleepers into the steel from above, one run each side. The shape leaves the timber a little room to move, so the sleepers can swell and shrink with the weather rather than binding in the post or splitting.

Why this finish

Raw steel is supplied untreated, so it is the cheapest way into a sleeper wall and the most flexible: paint it whatever colour the garden wants, or leave it to weather down to a rust brown that sits well against timber. If you want it left bare, be aware it will mark whatever it stands on as it weathers.

Where it is used

Along the length of raised beds, terraces, borders and retaining walls — the more of these in a long run, the straighter it stays.

Choosing lengths and quantities

The post has to go into the ground as well as stand above it, so order longer than the finished height of the wall — how much longer depends on your ground and the height you are retaining. Along a run you want an intermediate post between each pair of sleepers, an end post where the run stops and a corner post at each change of direction, all in the same raw steel finish.

What else you might need

Railway sleepers themselves in tanalised green or brown, sleeper pins to anchor the bottom course, and post mix for setting the posts. See the full sleepers and posts range.

Delivery and trade pricing

Delivered nationwide, or collect from our Liverpool yard. Building a full garden scheme? Trade accounts get bulk pricing across the range.