The early morning sun reflects off a high tech visitor resting on an old elevator siding in the center of town. Tall prairie grasses, mixed with renegade wheat, oats, barley and even some corn, have grown over the tracks and a casual observer might think that the equipment doesn’t rest on the rails at all. Some rusting lengths of rail, a few ties, piles of ballast litter the area.

Loram’s high-speed ditcher is being used to clean and restore railway ditches for better drainage and track stability. This “Badger” Ditcher DC-1 was built using ex-DRGW GP9 #5914 when it was retired from regular service in 1984. It’s a self-propelled system capable of moving 800 tons of material every hour. Perhaps someone can tell me where that bay window caboose originated?

Find out more about track maintenance . http://www.loram.com/aboutloram.htm