MoW: Dynamic Stabilizer, Revisited

I've already discussed dynamic stabilizers in general. These notes record some photos and video that I was able to make when a super tie-replacement gang came to the Downers Grove Yard on Oct 23, 2019, and replaced 11,000 ties the following Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. When they unloaded the work train on Oct 24, the dynamic stabilizer stopped by the station platform while it waited for more room to be made for the equipment in the yard. So I took several photos from different angles to take advantage of the daylight because I knew the equipment works only at night on the busy BNSF Racetrack.

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To catch the equipment working at night, I cranked up the cameras ISO to its maximum, 6400, and shot the equipment as it worked past the station platform's lights. Unfortunately, the stabilizer runs only its brooms by the platform. And only one broom was working. Fortunately, I got better clips later so the clip by the platform is on the cutting room floor.

The stabilizer has lights so that you can see the interesting parts in the dark. So I was able to get some useful clips west of Forest Avenue even though there are no platform or village lights over there. In fact, you can see the driveshafts in the nighttime shots, but not in the daylight shots, because the sun is not low enough to illuminate the underside of the stabilizer.

Both ballast regulators have brooms, but they don't use them in gang work because the stabilizer has a double-broom attachment in front. This saves the regulators from having to make an extra pass. They can focus on pushing ballast in place for the tampers. (There were two tampers, each with a drone, and two regulators in the work gang.)

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I've been able to get static shots of dynamic stabilizers when they were parked in the BNSF yard in Downers Grove, IL. But this is the first time I caught one of them in action. The first two clips are in daylight when they unloaded the equipment from the train with a scorpion ramp. They, of course, do their work at night on the busy Racetrack. So I was catching the action from the station platform where there are lights. But I learned that they do not run the stabilizer by the platform. In fact, they don't run it by the parking lot between Main and Forest. The fourth clip is where he was moving the guide wheels in place and starting the stabilization just west of Forest. I could feel the ground vibrate when the drive shaft started turning. But that clip got skunked by a train. So the third clip was made by walking west to a hole in the treeline made by ComEd. Without a train rolling past, the ground vibration was quite distinct. The work gang got track time starting at 2050, but the stabilizer is last so I had to wait until after 4am to get this clip. Note that this model still uses drive shafts. I wonder if the current model uses hydraulic motors. I could not determine the drive mechanism of current models from the photos I found on the web.


I was going to call the third sclip the money shot. But then I realized that neither my YouTube channel nor blogs are monetized. And my content is copyleft: "License: Creative Commons Attribution: Dennis DeBruler (CC BY)" So I'll call the third clip the good clip.

Update:

Willie O. Thigpen posted
I shot this machine sitting on the NS siding in Franklin Co Fla (Valdosta Ga-Lake City Fla line) this machine been sitting here for years!!!
Brendan J Dock Needed when working at warm weather to reduce slow order.
August Francesco Brendan J Dock it's not just for use in warm weather IT'S an all weather with no restrictions needed.
Brendan J Dock August Francesco I know that but they don’t always use them until heat is an issue due to # of machines, operators and track speeds
Some of our lift gangs use the whole season on core track
Not so much on branch lines
I do the training on them so I get the phone call when required.
August Francesco Brendan J Dock not on Amtrak it's used all year long and I was a equipment trainer for 9 years before retirement in 2010.
Brendan J Dock August Francesco passenger track makes sense.
August Francesco It has to done every time you disturb the track for surfacing or you have a speed restriction that was my FIRST HSS piece of equipment.
Brendan J Dock August Francesco branch line Havana take a slow main corridor had too much traffic
We have about 16 tampers on my area 5 stabilizers and three Dynacat switch built in stabs
Passenger tracks and main freight corridors get the stabilizers.
August Francesco Brendan J Dock I worked from Boston to Washington Harrisburg line Albany line we had multiple HSS gangs which had plasser 094s tamper stabilizer BMS 100/200 08 unimat switch tamper all plasser 09 32tool cat tamper and a lot of Jackson 6700 also 6000

Frank Mueseler Had track stablizers on my undercutting gang
JC Walker SCREAMING Detroit 8-92!!!!
Brendan J Dock PTS 62
Brendan J Dock TS 30 is nicer to run but 62 really goes deep when frequency and down pressure are working well.
JC Walker Per machine built in the 1980s,, that was like 35 years ago,,,, and the railroad still runs them. To easy to maintain... they can run forever.

Mario Ayala This machine is a vibrator. It vibrates the rails or track ,behind a production surfacing gang.
Brendan J Dock Mario Ayala sort of, consolidation and stabilization of road bed with cross level correction when properly working reducing tonnage required to remove slow orders after roadbed is disturbed by maintenance activities such as surfacing, tie replacement or undercutting.

Robert Marshall the tamper operators best friend if you know how to run them,1/4 inch over elevated no prob,pound that high rail until you gatta take a leak,lol
Mario Ayala This machine prevent the low speed restriction on the tracks.
Ben Clark Mario Ayala 70degree or above you still have a restriction. Only a 30mph first train.
Larry Gawel Hated that thing They would put it behind me on the regulator.By the time he was down there was no ballast left.Had to pull shoulders again.
Ricky Roubal That's because they break down constantly.

Willie O. Thigpen posted
Mike Carter I ran one past a strip joint one night and set off the motion detectors in most of the cars in the lot. It was great watching the place empty out !