2006-12-05 23:16:32 · 10 answers · asked by Brendon B 2 in Cars & Transportation ➔ Rail
The essential job of ballast is drainage. You can't have water around the rails or ties, it'd rot out wood ties, and freezing would make the roadbed heave, knocking the track out of alignment.
It also supports the weight of track and trains.
It also keeps the track from moving around. The ballast shoulder keeps the track from moving sideways, and the stones between ties keep the ties from 'walking' up and down the rail. That's why ballast is jagged, and not round pebbles.
Typically ballast is limestone, traprock or granite, crushed to #2 size (1-2") depending on what's available nearby. The harder the rock the better. Softer rock pulverizes and turns to gooey mush, which inhibits drainage.
Giant mechanical "ballast cleaners" can scoop up ballast on shoulders, or even undercut the track itself -- shake the ballast through sizing screens -- and drop the rocks back down, while throwing the dirt and dust off to the side. If you see a continuous furrow of dirt parallel to a track, that's what did that.
Track tampers compact the ballast underneath ties, using vibrating tongs. They can jack, level and align the track too.
A ballast regulator uses plows, blades and brooms to even out the ballast to the tops of the ties, and shape the shoulders.
2006-12-06 20:09:40 · answer #1 · answered by Wolf Harper 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
The stones are called Ballast and are used to drain water away (otherwise the are in between the tracks would flood), to stop the sleepers (wooden segements holding the tracks at the same distance from on another) from moving , which would move the track and finally, Ballast is also used to restrict plant growth
2006-12-06 01:52:19 · answer #2 · answered by Jean-Paul J 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Basically, as previously mentioned, it holds the track in place. The railhead is held on the sleepers by being clipped into a steel retaining shoe. The shoe is bolted to wooden or concrete sleepers which are not fixed to the ground, but held in place by the ballast. Smaller grade ballast can be used beneath the sleepers to re-level or re-align the track periodically or when needed (Tamping).When the track is in need of a bit of work, you may feel a 'kick' as the wheel sets pass over the un-aligned section (thats when your coffee ends up in your lap)
2006-12-06 10:00:33 · answer #3 · answered by driver455 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
These stones are known collectively as ballast. Ballast forms a bed for the track and keeps it aligned, as well as providing drainage to stop the tracks flooding in inclement weather.
2006-12-05 23:29:09 · answer #4 · answered by Andy M 4 · 5⤊ 0⤋
The stones, called ballast, are used first to distribute the weight of the train over the roadway, second to provide drainage.
2006-12-06 03:24:05 · answer #5 · answered by lifechild228 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Ballast is the name. Tightly packed between the rail ties to keep them in place. Ballast also in sharp-angled shapes to drain off water better. In the railyard where I work I have found a geologists dream. I have picked up samples of smoky and rose quartz, gneiss, mica, and other cool stuff.
2006-12-06 05:08:59 · answer #6 · answered by woofan60 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its called "Ballast" and its there to hold the track in place and stop it sliding from about when a train passes which would obviously cause a de-railment.
2006-12-05 23:24:32 · answer #7 · answered by ? 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
absorbe the vibration, and to keep the track on the wright track, drainage
2006-12-06 00:11:01 · answer #8 · answered by THE WISE MAN 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
hay, they may have been placed over the tie's to slow down erosion & to help eliminate dust. :):)
2006-12-05 23:28:15 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Mr block?
2006-12-05 23:19:18 · answer #10 · answered by Low profile 3 · 0⤊ 5⤋