I saw that being done for the first time ealier this year over by the Hardey Toll Rd in Houston. They have a lot of specialized equipment that I have never seen before, pretty cool stuff.
It was developed back in the 80's by a company called Canron/Tamper (now Harsco).
I am good friends with one of the main guys who worked all of the bugs out of it, during its testing phase.
I believe Plasser & Thuerer also has one now.
It was designed to replace ties, rail and ballast in one continuous pass. The other machine following it up is a CAT (continuous action tamper). It is leveling the track and putting in elevation in the curves (outer rail higher than inner rail) by lifting it to a predetermined height and then compacting the ballast under the ties.
By doing it this way, it substantially reduces the track time necessary by us 'Maintenance-in-the-Way' (Maintenance of Way) guys.
Although I have never had one on any of my railroads, I have seen it in action as a guest of a railroad about 15 years ago.
They are absolutely amazing! :bowfast: :bowfast: :bowfast:
I love that stuff too! Rick I'd love to see some oics. I work in a rock quarry and we trains coming and going all the time. We load them with mainline ballast and walkway stone. I LOVE trains.
They always replace old ties or old cracked boards on our freight line. Cool to watch. I did see them replace the old short section rail to the continious rail. good while ago.
Haha, never realized how many rail buffs we have one this site. Although ive never seen that piece of machinery in person, i have seen some cool machines from the MOW guys, even done a few work trains where we've dumped ballast and unloaded ties. I have to admit, my job is pretty bitchin'!
My Grandpa worked on the AC&Y Railroad in Ohio. Retired from there. He was in maintenance. He's pretty close to death, so we've been going down memory lane. We found his records from 1965 to 1972, some amazing stuff. We bought a documentary video of his railroad several years back to surprise him with, and he's on the video twice!
Now my plant is on the RR and we have our own spur, so I get to see a bunch of this in action.
I think he spent most of his time on the bridge crews. He was also on the response team that handled all accidents. If there was a derailment, he was on the scene until it was all cleaned up and tracks reopened, sometimes weeks.
Here are some pic's of the equipment that is used by Maintenance of Way on the railroad.
Left to right.
1. Air Dump String - They are charged with the train air and dump the material to either side of the tracks.
2. Air Dump Malfunction - Most of the time they work, that is. :doh:
3. Ballast Regulator - Late 70's model being turned around, while plowing snow in the yard.
4. Gas/Track Car - Until the mid 90's, this was the primary transportation for track crews. It wasn't until the late 80's, that wood doors and a small heater were put in them. Riding in one of these for 75 miles, at -50, with just cloth curtains.....was quite the experience.
3. Cats of course were used a lot also. Top photo is me, while an extra gang foreman, burying our trash.
4. Side Boom - In the late 90's, we finally purchased some side booms so that we had something to lift the new SD70MAC's. We had to do all of our own derailment work. This photo was taken the day after Christmas..... at high noon.
5. Locomotive Crane With Ditcher Front - We were using this to dig ice in the ditches that, if left uncontrolled would cover the rails and derail a train.
Moving snow was, obviously, a big part of maintenance in the winter.
1. Jordan Spreader - Looking out of the cab while plowing snow.
2. Jordan Spreader - Here's what it looks like from the outside.
3. Ballast Regulator - Plowing through a drift.
4. Ballast Regulator - Plowing into a siding that hadn't been used in quite a while. There's about 6' of settled snow in this pic.
5. Ballast Regulator - Punching through a small sluff.
The thing to keep in mind, is how easy it is to derail this equipment if you're not careful. When operating, you need to develop a real 'seat of the pants' feeling, or you will be using a snow shovel to dig your way to the rail and trying to figure out the best way to re-rail it.
It was a black bear and I did share some stew.......... that the guys cooked up.
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