Jam, Syzygium grande (Wt). Wald, railway sleepers were found to air-dry from green condition to a 30 percent moisture content level in 5 to 9 months. The fastest drying was observed in sleepers stacked in September when the climatic conditions are conducive to air drying. The moisture distribution pattern in the sleepers was found to be independent of air drying period and time of stacking. Drying degrades were found in the air dried sleepers which made 10-15 percent of the total sleepers liable to rejection. Anti-check iron clamps helped in retarding the drying degrade in Steaming followed by vacuum conditioning could remove moisture rapidly from Jam sleepers. Three cycles of alternate steaming and vacuum treatment with a total of 9 hours’ steaming and 3 hours’ vacuum was found to be adequate to bring down moisture to a 30 percent level upto the depth of 1.27 cm (0.5 in) from the surface. If air drying becomes difficult, conditioning by steam-vacuum process may be adopted prior to preservative treatment by pressure methods.