The 1953 renaissance of the american railroads. A look at the $8 billion program that modernized the rail across the United States.

The 1953 renaissance of the american railroads. A look at the $8 billion program that modernized the rail across the United States, it involved devices like giant ditch reamers, tie yankers, automatic ballast cleaners, electronic humps, clickless tracks.

When a roadbed's ballast fails to drain properly because debris has collected in it, hills and valleys form under the track. Ballast cleaners tour a line at 1 1/4 mph, lifting and sifting 700 tons of ballast an hour and dropping it back.

When rail is replaced, part of the tie on which old rial rested has to be resurfaced. This is done by three adzers which cut, scrape and smooth the ties. Leather skirt, around knife wheel and his leg armor protect man against splinters.

As it moves along New York Central track, this machine's giant fingers probe vibrantly into crushed rock ballast that has been dispersed or shifted by rains and passage of trains, settling it into hard, smooth - and thus economic - roadbed.

Worn or defective ties are yanked out with Paul Bunyan strength by the tie puller. A crew first jacks up the rails, removes tie plates. The the puller's tongs clutch the end of the 200-pound, 8-foot tie, the boom telescopes out and the machine plucks the tie out.

Santa Fe simplified it's freight handling system with an endless sub-floor chain, resembling San Francisco cable cars. Once loaded, the dolly trucks are hooked to moving chain and pulled by it to a loading point.