Ballast machine ??

At 1;45 pm today a big yellow machine went east thru Holmes on the the Beacon line. On one end of it appeared to have a conveyor that looked long and high enough to fill a hopper car. My question is does Metro North have a ballast cleaner/washer ?? I have never seen or heard of one in there possession. So please quench my thirst of curiosity .

Sounds like you're refering to the rail vac machine which had been tied up at the Hopewell Junction yard over the winter. It had been being used on the Hudson line between Manitou and Garrison during the begining of the week to take out ballast between the concrete ties. I had last seen it two nights ago at Cold Spring station. It had a MTA gondola attached to the rear. I was told it is on lone to MTA and had been being stored at Hopewell Jct but I'm not positive.

I saw it too, i was sitting at home near the Depot Hill Rd crossing and heard horns and thought i was just hearing the train in pawling, but I ran outside and saw a truck driving on the rails first, then i heard what sounded like a train and got all excited but then realized it was just equipment. Nonetheless, it was cool!

Nothing gets loaned to MNCR, the ballast cleaner is leased with operators from a contractor, the car attached is NOT a Gondola but a Difco side dumper.

Thanks for the correction Dutch... Is there a reason why that equipment is being stores in Hopewell Jct and not in another yard? I was also wondering why since it had been working on the Hudson line didn't it access the Beacon line from Beacon instead going around and coming in from Brewster?

Can't help you on that, but could it be, the machine went from Hudson to Harlem for small job and then headed back to Hudson for more work ???

for more info on machine and contractor see:
http://www.loram.com/Services/Default.aspx?id=102

The Loram railvac is now sitting in the parking lot in Southeast. It is not MNR equipment though. Considering the amount of trouble to get things moving on the Beacon Line -getting police to protect crossings due to rust on rails, and the slow speeds -I suppose it's easier just to set the equipment out at Brewster.

I thought the Beacon line was closed a few years ago due to a condemed bridge? I rember when I was younger and I would go upstate to my dads old house there and play with his dog and watch Metro North pass by behind his house. ahhh good times.

The bridge is between Brewster and Danbury, and has been fixed.
The move was on part of Beacon line between Brewster and Beacon.
Techincally the Beacon linwe is out of service since each and every move must get a weeks notification to State or county authorities.

Incase your curious, what appears to be a new Loram rail-vac machine has appeared in the Brewster yard on track 18A yesterday morning. Was still there this morning when I drove through the Southeast station. Does anyone know when and how it arrived on Metro North property, and if it's going to be tied down in Brewster for the remainder of the winter?

photo taken 02/06/10 in Brewster, from the Southeast parking lot.

From an inside source, Metro North bought the machine, Loram happens to make them also.....it was on its way to NWP for acceptance testing. CSX had delivered it to Croton originally.

Delivered to Croton and its sitting in Brewster on it's way to NWP !!!!!!! So chance's are it went over the Beacon line and I missed it!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boo Hoooooo WAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

Kurt wrote:photo taken 02/06/10 in Brewster, from the Southeast parking lot.

This may be a stupid question, but what does that machine do?

Ridgefielder wrote:

Kurt wrote:photo taken 02/06/10 in Brewster, from the Southeast parking lot.

This may be a stupid question, but what does that machine do?

It sucks up small debris out of the RoW. Look at the pictures on the manufacturer's website that DutchRailnut already linked to.

DutchRailnut wrote: for more info on machine and contractor see:
http://www.loram.com/Services/Default.aspx?id=102