DR 80200 - Pandrol Jackson Stoneblower
Photo of DR 80200 at Swindon - 2005. Mark Holmes.
Your comments
All comments are the opinions of their respective authors, and do not reflect the opinions of ontrackplant.com
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Don McKittrick
5 November 2009, 14:40:08
Can you explain to me how the stoneblower actually works? Does it bow chippings into the ballast?
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Bryan Blundell
5 November 2009, 17:50:15
A bit like a tamper in that clamps lift and line the track but instead of tools plunging into the ballast then vibrating and squeezing the ballast to secure the sleeper in place. Tubes are plunged into the ballast then small chippings are blown into the void under the sleeper.
Not a lot of use on ash ballast though as when ash is dry the chips just blow straight through.(Yes Ash Ballast still exists in places)
Some people swear by them others swear at them. I will stay out of that argument.
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Midnight Cowboy
5 November 2009, 18:57:51
What happens is thus.....
When the machine carries out it's measuring run, it measures the usual things and works out what it needs to do (lift's and slues), but whilst it calculates the lifts it also calculates the amount of stone that will be needed to fill the void underneath the sleeper once the track is lifted.
Putting it in a very crude statement, they are actually MSP (measured shovel packing) machines.
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