BALLAST DISTRIBUTION, REGULATION AND RECLAIMING RAILROAD MAINTENANCE DEVICE

摘要

A railroad maintenance device distributes, regulates and reclaims ballast along a railway road bed. The device includes one or more hopper cars for transporting an depositing ballast, a regulating car (18) including a track regulator (72), a shoulder regulator (76, 78), and an extensible plow arm for reclaiming ballast deposited at a distance from the shoulder of the road bed. The hopper cars include radio controlled gates for the remote control of ballast depositing operations and a computer controlled system for optimizing the distribution of ballast according to predetermined parameters. A bucket elevator (80) is located rearwardly of the track regulator for lifting excess ballast from the road bed, and a belt conveyor transports the lifted ballast to a hopper car.