Building a raised flower bed out of railway sleepers to sit next to our deck. There will be sleepers on 3 sides, one laid on top of the other on the 240mm edge. They are 75mm deep, so not sure how to connect them – Spax nails (have heard of ridge nails, but not used before) from top down; and/or screws with metal brackets on inside to hide.

Don't need to disassemble, just want them to stay together for a long time. Don't particularly want rusty screws or nails showing either, so should they be stainless steel??

I drilled through mine from the top, into the lower one and hammered a metal bar into place, I had the drill bit modified, a metal rod was spot welded onto it, may still have it, I'm in the North West

Chris

Cant you just drill 6" into the top of the lower leeper. Drill 6" into the bottom of the top sleeper then put a 12" bar between the two. Easier than drilling right through a sleeper i would have thought.

You can get hammer-in screws for this kind of thing. Kind of threaded nails.

Drill through, slide in a length of copper pipe to hold together, angle a couple of big 6" nails into them if you feel you need to.

I've just disassembled the exact same thing, that's how it was held together!

Drill through with a reasonable sized drill and then hammer a wooden stake down the hole and into the ground beneath. That way you hold the sleepers together and pin them in place to the ground as well…

Screw them together in pairs down from the top using 120mm or 100mm screws, over lap at the corners and on the length of the sides to give a brick bond type look and there is going to be no way they will move/topple etc.. When you put the screws through the very top one if you countersink it, say 10-20mm you won't see any screw heads.

Dead easy to do and should only take a couple hrs max, cut with a good quality hand saw, no need to go to the extreme of a chainsaw.

Carl

big coach screws should do the job of joining the sides together, like these –
http://www.bolts-nuts-washers.com/coach%20screws.htm
Drill a hole (big enough to get the right sized long reach socket in) half way through one sleeper, hammer in bolt to get it started and then ratchet away
For joining them one on top of other drill a hole all way through each sleeper and hammer a length of steel bar through – Some old reinforcing bar, a road pin or something from a junkyard or a friendly local builder
If you dont want to drill through just drive a wooden peg or stake down inside the corner and bolt that to each sleeper

Ah Ha, just re-read the OP. I thought you meant laid flat as per on the tracks they were taken from so –

If you standing them on the thin edge (going for approx 24" in height)then get a length of tanilised or wooden fence post, sink this at 1m centres into the ground on the inside and screw through it into the sleepers.

I have found Timberlok screws to be good for this – they come in really long sizes as well. The screw is only threaded for the last section of the shank, so it 'drills' through the first piece of wood and then screws into the second, holding it all together when the bolt head engages. You will need a meaty drill to use them (or a socket set) as the friction mounts up with with the long ones…..