Sleepers used for steps

[fattony]

Hi

I'm looking at rebuilding a retaining wall from railway sleepers laid flat so they are 200mm wide and 100mm high, it will be 2 x U shaped sections 5m long x 300mm deep (small flower bed) but I have some questions.

The steps between the two levels has been built using a pre made step stringer which has 5 steps, I want to increase the top level by 50mm by adding some quality top soil and new turn

1) I was planning on fitting sleepers double height so the steps are 200mm high and my 5 steps would become 4 steps, would that be too big a step?
2) The first row in the ground is the most important row, would you put this on a bed of gravel so its easier to level?

Thanks

 

[foxhole]

200mm would be similar to your stairs , so fine .

 

[CJRatch]

I did my sleeper steps using 8x2 these are infilled with 20mm gravel roughly 180mm rise but the step up feels fine.

 

[fattony]

Ok thanks, would you lay them straight on the ground or on a bed of gravel?

Thanks