A mechanical tie gang comprises a train of open top railroad cars, a power-driven crane for loading and unloading ties and having an undercarriage arranged for mobility in the direction of the railroad track, and a track supporting the undercarriage of the crane for mobility above the top edges of the side walls of the railroad cars in this direction, the track comprising two parallel guide rails mounted on the top edges of the railroad cars and being spaced apart a distance corresponding to the gage of the crane undercarriage, the guide rails extending beyond the end walls of the railroad cars into the gaps between adjacent cars. This train is used in combination with a mobile apparatus for sequentially exchanging consecutive groups of old ties for groups of new ties while retaining groups of old ties therebetween, which comprises an elongated bridge-like work vehicle having two undercarriages supporting respective opposite ends of the work vehicle on the railroad track, and a succession of different individual devices mounted on the work vehicle between the undercarriages for exchanging the ties.
A machine for exchanging old ties of a railroad track for new ties comprises a machine frame supported by undercarriages for mobility along the track, a longitudinally, vertically and transversely displaceable tie exchange device connected to the machine frame for laterally pulling the old ties out of the track and laterally inserting the new ties in the track at a tie exchange position, and a ballast scarifying device for clearing ballast at the tie exchange position. According to the invention, a mobile tie transporting crane is mounted on the machine for movement along the track towards and away from the tie exchange device, and a device is arranged below the machine frame for depositing the old ties pulled out of the track by the tie exchange device and the new ties transported by the crane, the tie exchange device having a side facing the tie depositing device and the tie transporting crane comprising a vertically adjustable boom and tie gripper affixed to the boom.
A railway maintenance vehicle exchanges worn crossties for new ones. Worn ties are collected and stored in open-top gondola cars, preferably progressing longitudinally. New ties are simultaneously unloaded from the gondola cars for distribution along the-track. Flange-wheeled tie transport vehicles such as a mobile crane and a bundle clasping transport travel on rails atop the gondola cars to move worn and new ties between collection and distribution devices and the respective storage and unloading locations. Gaps between the cars are bridged by hinged telescoping rail sections. The travel distance between the storage or unloading location and the collection or distribution points change over time. To improve efficiency, at least one intermediate temporary storage basket is moved along the cars and can be passed over by the transport vehicles. The basket is used, preferably with a third tie transport vehicle, to assist in handling bundles and to shorten the trip of the first or second transport for collection or delivery. The basket is particularly useful for accumulating a bundle of new ties for pickup by a bundle grappling transport vehicle. The vehicle can be limited to collecting and storing worn ties left on the rails by a preceding tie extractor, and dropping off new ties, or can incorporate tie extraction and/or tie insertion devices as well.
An access and support apparatus for loading and unloading gondola railroad cars using a crane-type crawler, which system includes a trailer-mounted ramp for disposition in close proximity to a gondola railroad car and multiple pallets adapted for spanning the top width of the gondola railroad car and supporting the crane-type crawler. The crane-type crawler is unloaded from the trailer and traverses the ramp to the pallets. In a first preferred embodiment the pallets are characterized by fixed pallets having no adjustable feature. In a second preferred embodiment the pallets are adjustable to accommodate a characteristic bulge in the center of the gondola railroad cars for a higher degree of safety. The pallets are typically sequentially moved from the rear to the front of the crane-type crawler as the crawler loads or unloads the gondola railroad cars and traverses the length of the cars.
A crane carrying vehicle for transporting track ties comprises an elongated machine frame supported on undercarriages for movement on rails in an operating direction, the machine frame comprising a storage section for temporarily storing track ties and having two side walls extending in this direction, the side walls being spaced from each other in a transverse direction extending perpendicularly to the operating direction by a distance corresponding at least to the length of the track ties. A track tie supporting platform in the storage section may be tilted between a horizontally extending loading position and an unloading position extending at an angle to the loading position, and the vehicle carries a power-adjustable pivotal crane outrigger with a gripping device for gripping track ties.
A gantry adapted for operation along rails attached to the top of a railroad car includes two pairs of wheels, each pair operating on a respective rail. A base support member is positioned above the rail and between the wheels on each side of the gantry. Should one end of the gantry be inadvertently driven off of the rails, the base support members engage the rails to prevent the gantry from toppling off of the railroad car. In addition, a safety rail is positioned inside of and above each rail and a plurality of J-hooks are attached to the inside of each base support member to engage the safety rails and prevent the gantry from tipping from side-to-side. All four wheels are independently driven and the gantry is adapted to support a commercially available crane, the position of which can be vertically adjusted via spacers. A number of other safety features are included.
