A specialized piece of maintenance-of-way equipment designed to lift the track structure and pack crushed stone ballast tightly underneath the ties. The machine uses vibrating steel tines to consolidate the rock, correcting deviations in track geometry caused by settling and heavy train traffic. Most tamping machines are highly automated and use lasers to ensure precise track alignment.
Maintenance of way requested track time to run the tamping machine through the curve at milepost forty.
Also heard as
- tamper
Do not mix it up with
- Tamper: Tamper is the more common, clipped term for a tamping machine.
Related terms
Ballast
The bed of crushed rock under and around the ties that holds the track in line and drains water away.
MOW
Maintenance of way: the department and crews that build and maintain track, bridges and roadbed.
Tie
One of the crosswise beams that hold the rails to gauge and spread their load into the ballast.