Loco dozer

[bcp]

Found on another forum.

Bruce

 

[ArlyA]

Seems that would be for leveling ballast.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

What are we looking at here? It seems obvious to me that it was designed to clear the track, but of what? And why? I worked for a sand and gravel company, loading sand into RR cars, but never needed anything like that.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Kind of weird that it's not a V blade and doesn't look like it can be angled..

 

[Wagtail]

What are we looking at here? It seems obvious to me that it was designed to clear the track, but of what? And why? I worked for a sand and gravel company, loading sand into RR cars, but never needed anything like that.

I would guess that it's to clear spilled sand & gravel, especially from bottom-leaking cars (rolling stock). My Dad managed an aggregate washing/drying company (foundry quality sand) and that stuff got everywhere.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

I would guess that it's to clear spilled sand & gravel, especially from bottom-leaking cars (rolling stock). My Dad managed an aggregate washing/drying company (foundry quality sand) and that stuff got everywhere.

I suppose that's possible. We were a small operation; as I recall, we could load about 100 tons per hour...and we didn't need a switch engine, we moved all of our stuff by hand. The RR spotted the cars on the upgrade, and all our movement was down hill. We inspected and cleaned all of the cars before loading, but rarely did we load the hopper cars (bottom dump). They were notorious for retaining debris and on some the doors wouldn't close completely. We just sent those back. They had to be tight; our sand was dredged from a lake and it was pumped and loaded into the cars in liquid form. They sat and drained; even a bolt hole in the bottom would allow the sand to run out until the water was all drained. Ah, those were the days. Believe it or not, that old sand pit is now an exclusive residential district known as "Crystal Lakes".