# Maintenance Of Way



## Trackjockey05 (Jun 30, 2020)

I've created this thread to share pics of MoW equipment, I have access to alot of cool and interesting equipment, and I have a ton of pics, some are railroad company owned, and some belong to contractors

GREX "slot machine", this is owned and operated by Georgetown Rail Equipment company, it is a long train of short articulated gons with a trackhoe in the bed, they use these on washouts and heavy erosion areas to place large riprap, basically the trackhoe starts at the head of the train and works its way to the rear until the train has been unloaded, the train has its own power unit, when we had a concrete tie renewal a few years ago they used one of these to pick up the discarded ties








Head on of the power unit
















Not sure what the lineage is on this unit, many of these contractor power units are rebuilt from retired locomotives








































I've thought about trying to build one of these, the power unit would be fairly straightforward, just start with a GP chassis or even a switcher chassis like an MP15, the articulated cars would be a challenge, the entire train is semi permanently connected via drawbars like above


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## Trackjockey05 (Jun 30, 2020)

This is the train it pulls
















There are several attachments for the trackhoe including a magnet, and brush mower
















Heres the trackhoe tied down in the travel position, these trackhoes have their buckets mounted backwards, as its easier to place the riprap dumping forward








Theres a shanty on the rear to protect long reverse moves


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Shanty is complete with AC? TV too?


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## SF Gal (11 mo ago)

So the sides of the cars do NOT ungate. Only the Cat trakhoe is used to grab and place riprap, that I can see.
So why....the special cab and power unit? Seems like a lot of trouble when you can use a rebuilt MP15?????...then again, swapping out the engine for a ready built generator and adding new electric motors IS the cheapest solution. 
Very interesting. Maybe you can show us the parts of your MOW truck that makes it able to run on rails?


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## Trackjockey05 (Jun 30, 2020)

SF Gal said:


> So the sides of the cars do NOT ungate. Only the Cat trakhoe is used to grab and place riprap, that I can see.
> So why....the special cab and power unit? Seems like a lot of trouble when you can use a rebuilt MP15?????...then again, swapping out the engine for a ready built generator and adding new electric motors IS the cheapest solution.
> Very interesting. Maybe you can show us the parts of your MOW truck that makes it able to run on rails?


Given the length of that chassis, that could very well be an MP15, Herzog has a similar piece of equipment that is a rebuilt EMD switcher many of these contract firms have special built equipment, some of it is based on retired locomotives, and some of it is built from the ground up using only trucks and prime movers from a locomotive, Loram builds their power units for the ditchers like that, Harsco had several reconfigured exAmtrak F40's that powered their grinder trains, but they were cobbled together and had a tendency to break down, HyRail stuff will have to wait as I'm off work until June6


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## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

Does that power unit serve as a locomotive or some other power purpose?
I ask because not only are the windows covered, there’s no real headlight to speak of, no anti-climber, etc.


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## Trackjockey05 (Jun 30, 2020)

Yes it is used as motive power, the window covers are removable, they’re in place because it’s stored, it also has ditch lights, if you look close there are two square doors, one on each side below the folded up walkway, these things have many anti vandalism features, the lights are concealed behind those doors


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## bigdodgetrain (Jun 12, 2015)

this is an enteresting thread
hope to see videos too


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