I'll show you how our Ballast Car operates, then we'll dump some Ballast out on the Track.
Before we got this car it was owned by ITG Transportation. It was a
former hopper car which was converted into a ballast car. This ballast
car came to us sometime in the mid 1990's. No one remembers the
exact date of arrival.
Load limit on car is 169,200 pounds or almost 85 tons. If we stack it to
the gills we can get around 95 tons on it. We use #3 Limestone as ballast
here and get it from a local quarry. The #3 designation is the size of the stone.
It is about the size of a tennis ball. At this quarry the limestone is mined underground
and is not washed rock when it comes from the quarry.
Typical for us here is to buy 4 to 500 tons per month, except in the winter when ballast
on the track becomes frozen. Ballast gets delivered to our Mapletown stock yard for
right around $18 a ton. From there it is loaded into the ballast car with our
Case 521 high lift.
Here's a video where we changed a big tire on that Case high lift you may enjoy watching:
https://youtu.be/XV0EwMIasgA
Made August 26, 2022 and December 21, 2022
Disclaimer: I am an employee of Iron Synergy at Cumberland
Mine. My job is railroad track maintenance. I am very fortunate to
have this job and everyone at the mine is very fortunate to have
Iron Synergy as it's current owner. Our past owners had every
intention of shutting this mine down, but Iron Synergy took
over and have kept this mine alive.
Please understand: I am NOT in any way an official or unofficial
spokes person for Iron Synergy or Cumberland Mine. Any viewpoints,
opinions or anything that I show in the videos, or write in the video
descriptions or any answer to any comment, should NEVER be
misconstrued or interpreted as being in any way shape or form,
any kind of official or unofficial statement from Iron Synergy,
Cumberland Mine, any of the mine's management, any of the
contractors that may be shown in any video, nor of any of
my fellow co-wokers.
Any viewpoints or opinions I may make in the videos, in the descriptions,
or in any answer to a comment is strictly that of my own and NOT an
official or unofficial statement or viewpoint that Iron Synergy or
any one at Iron Synergy or Cumberland Mine necessarily has or makes.
Again, we are very fortunate to have Iron Synergy as our current owners.
Please, when making a comment be respectful of Iron Synergy, Cumberland
Mine, my fellow coworkers and also any contractors that may be
shown. Thank You, Dave
#Ballast#BallastCar#DumpingBallast#RailroadTrack