Raised beds and patio using wood/concrete sleepers

[ZenNudist]

How easy is it to landscape using railways sleepers? Anyone got any tips and tricks for a DIY patio and raised bed area? Thinking of using concrete sleepers but need it to be a DIY job because every landscaper around here is busy until October and costs tens of thousands.

Was thinking of making a patio area topped with gravel inside single or double height sleepers but thought I'd ask the collective wisdom of mumsnet:

how hard it would be

how long it would it take to make a 4/5m by 4/5m patio and 2 extra raised beds 1mx2m

Is is long lasting?

Dh in his wisdom ripped out decking from the end of our garden and now I have a sloping area of weeds and bricks/ earth. Slope is due to tree roots and entire garden is full of roots as there are established trees and shrubs on both sides of a long thin typical Victorian garden.

I think it would be absolutely fine, but sleepers are quite expensive to buy at the moment. If cost not an issue, I can’t imagine it would take more than a weekend to do.

They are exceptionally heavy, do you have help to move them? And as PP said, very expensive

double sleepers filled with gravel is a LOT of gravel. you'd need to have it delivered in 1ton bags and then be able to haul it to the right location. why do you need the extra height for a patio?

also, if the site you want to build on is a slope, you'll need to think a bit about how to make your arrangement of sleepers into something stable. you can't just put them on a slope, you might have to cut them to fit or something.

My sleepers are disintegrating after 9 years. I'm going to have to pay for a proper dry stone wall to replace them....