Ballast Cleaning

Caught a crew from Balfour Beaty,with a large ballast cleaning machine today at Hallandale,Florida.The consist was the machine,(which must have been about 70 ft. long,and one eqiptment box car).Several dump trucks to catch the spoil,(They reminded me of my farm boy days,seeing grain trucks running along side combines as they picked the rows,and unloaded at the same time).Ballast regulator was also present.

As of February 14, the ballast cleaner was just north of Boca Raton, at the south end of Villa Rica siding. They were about done -- that was all the money there was in the budget, although FEC's chief engineer said he would like to go another 10 miles with it.

The problem is that "fines" leak out of the rock cars and foul the ballast, and the fine limestone particles turn into cement. The problem is widespread on FEC, and the only real solution is to undercut and clean the ballast.