British railway term for a hopper car built specifically for track maintenance. These vehicles feature bottom or side discharge doors that allow maintenance crews to control the flow of crushed stone directly onto the ties or along the shoulders of the track as the train moves forward. In North American railroading, crews universally call this equipment a ballast car.
The work train is bringing up ten ballast wagons to dump stone over the new ties before the tamper arrives.
Dumping ballast requires walking alongside the moving car and manually operating the discharge doors with a heavy steel bar, a hazardous job that demands constant communication with the engineer.
Also heard as
- ballast car
Related terms
Ballast
The bed of crushed rock under and around the ties that holds the track in line and drains water away.
Hopper car
A freight car designed for bulk commodities that unloads through doors in its floor.
Work train
A non-revenue train assembled specifically to haul materials, equipment, and crews for track maintenance.
Tamper
A heavy maintenance machine that packs crushed rock under track ties.