what exactly are these cars?

[88gta350]

These are Amtrak ROW cars in the area for the Philly-Harrisburg upgrade. I spotted them on a siding in Middletown, PA. Are they track laying? Ballast?

http://www.railimages.com/gallery/davidmoore/aba

http://www.railimages.com/gallery/davidmoore/abb

http://www.railimages.com/gallery/davidmoore/abc


And here is some of the track they've been working on (Royalton):

http://www.railimages.com/gallery/davidmoore/abd

http://www.railimages.com/gallery/davidmoore/abe

[ericsp]

The first one is a ballast tamper. The view of the second one is not good enough for me to be able to figure out what it is. The third one looks as though it might be one of those ballast cleaners I hear so much about. It also reminds me of a rail grinder, altough I can think of no reason for a conveyor on a rail grinder.

[UPTRAIN]

I've never seen one that color or with the new logo, sweet shots.

[CShaveRR]

I suspect we'll get a positive ID on everything from Mudchicken (who may be hiding out until after Thanksgiving).

First one's a tamper. The second one looks a little like the big machines that remove old wooden ties and install new trackage on concrete ties.

The third looks like a ballast undercutter and cleaner (which would need a conveyor belt to get rid of the dirt).

Those are just guesses, mind you--hope MC ventures out while Mookie's gone for the weekend!

[88gta350]

There are some concrete ties laying around their staging area, although not nearly enough to do a very large area. But if you look at the other 2 pics, you can see that they've placed some concrete ties under the one line. I'm on night shift right now, and by the time I drive by this area on my way to work it's usually getting dark now, but I'll try to get some more shots of the area. There was an Amtrak F45 sitting there with a string of Amtrak hoppers the other day while they were working. Ballast I guess. I wanted to stop and get some shots, but I was running late and had to get to work.

[edblysard]

Tamper,
Inspection car/railgrinder,
and a ballast cleaner/under cutter.
Ed

[adrianspeeder]

THERE IS SOMEONE ELSE IN MIDDLETOWN PA ON THIS BOARD!!!!

I have spent more time down at the M&H tracks then I care to admit!

Adrianspeeder

[SchemerBob]

I figured the first one was a ballast tamper.

[BaltACD]

The 2nd pictrue appears to be a Plasser Production Switch Tamper...because of the diverging nature of switches and crossovers, normal mainline production tampers are found wanting when dealing with switches, especially switches involved with the high speed nature of Amtrak's electrified lines. Switch tampers can tamp the diverging sections of switches to the same level as the main line in the same pass.