I'm home today because I had a rehearsal this morning and a performance coming up in about four hours, so I figured rather than try to go to work for a few hours in between, I'd just take it easy for a day. I was just trying to take a bit of a nap when the windows started rattling. The floor kind of jiggles a bit sometimes when freight trains go by, but rattling windows is new, so I got up to check it out and saw this:
See right below the "CAT" where there's a pair of claw thingies going down into the gravel? The machine sticks those down, grabs a tie, lifts them back up, moves a couple of feet, grabs the next tie, etc. This description doesn't really help me understand what it does, but the drawing is kinda cute.
Ok, this article helps a bit...something to do with "tamping." If anyone does understand this, explain it in the comments. I know ballast is the gravel. I figured that out by some clever googling, after I saw a train made up entirely of cars sporting solar panels. (I couldn't think why a rail car would need electricity - something to do with opening the doors on the bottom so they can dump gravel on the tracks.)
UPDATE: Now there's another bulldozery-like machine out there pushing gravel around. My apartment is fun!
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I like the idea that the solar panels are powering the train so it could carry....the solar panels, which are powering the train so it can carry...
It's like performance art...on railroad tracks! Well-maintained railroad tracks! I love ellipses! Dot dot dot!
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