I found this sitting on a siding in front of the Mt Clemens Depot this past weekend. It was there all weekend so I decided to take a few shots of it.
It is a Loram Ballast Cleaner. Very interesting machine! Didn't know that ballast needed cleaning but I guess if you wanted a clean railroad!
Since it is hard to get the whole train in one shot I walked along it and took a 10 photo pano.
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Kent in SD
Very impressive! I would imagine that after awhile the ballast gets full of dirt and can't drain water like it is supposed to.
It was called an undercutter by the SP folks. Drainage is the goal.
It's not a new concept, Pentrex's New York Central Odyssey shows a ballast cleaning operation during the early 1950's.
Rusty
Well "cleaning" isn't the purpose of the Undercutter, but it sure looks nice and neat after they're done. It's routine maintenance.
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retty neat machine.