Eastern Railroad Discussion > C&O Track MOW Question

How often does CSX replace ballast / railroad ties on the C&O division ? I would think often b/c of the amount of grain,oil and coal unit trains .

Posted from iPhone

Most RRs start their major trackwork in the Spring...

611Fan Wrote:
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> How often does CSX replace ballast / railroad ties
> on the C&O division ? I would think often b/c of
> the amount of grain,oil and coal unit trains .
>
> Posted from iPhone


Depends on tangent or curved trackage and degree of curve. Grade also comes into play. Was the previous installation a band aid or heavy maintenance? Lots of factors to consider.

In over 40 years of regularly riding Amtrak, only once have I witnessed ballast being removed and replaced.  That was on the former Milwaukee Road trackage between Chicago and Milwaukee shortly after the SOO line bought them out about 30 years ago.  They dug down to the bare dirt and put in all new 'foundational' stone and then topped it with new ballast, ties, and rail.  It's obvious that's the most expensive option for track maintenance and there would have to be some very serious problems before that is even considered. 

These days, there's various machines available that automatically remove the ballast, shake out everything small, then wash the ballast, and put it back, all in one pass.  That's a substantial savings over physically removing rail, ties, ballast, etc, and starting from scratch.  There's a number of Youtube videos showing these unbelievable machines.  Here's one of them: [url=http://Loram ballast undercutter/cleaner]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxiTqtNi_yo 
 

We don't remove ballast at all...that's why the grade is five feet higher than it was 150 years ago....when it's time for surfacing they just dump fresh ballast and tamp it down. A ballast cleaner will cast some ballast aside along with the spoil, and ballast regulators throw some out to the side as well.