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What is it?

Friday, September 21, 2007 12:16:01 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)

Please weigh in on what this railroad-related item is. Clues: it is parked on the inactive train tracks on the south side of town. It has long "arms" that reach out in front and behind with extra train-track-type wheels on it.

IMG_1133-1.JPG

We see it every time we go south on Eighth Street and Mark always asks, "What is it?" or "What does THAT do?" and I am NO HELP.

Thank you.

 

Posted in Travel |Comments [2]     

Friday, September 21, 2007 10:05:05 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
It looks like a tie tamper to me. The red hydraulics pound on the ties to level the tracks. It might also do rail alignment. cf: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=103820

Jay
Tuesday, October 02, 2007 8:37:03 AM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
From my friend's father-in-law who is a train man (for real):
To answer your question: It is not actually a railroad car. It is a piece of "maintaince of way equipment", which means it is a machine to keep the track in shape. The piece of equipment is called a tie-tamper.

It's job is to tamp the ballast (rocks) around the ties to create a smooth track structure.
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