Track-lifting and ballast-spreading apparatus

A method for distributing ballast material around tracks of a railway, the method comprising:

• providing a track-lifting and ballast-spreading apparatus coupled to a forward end of a ballast-delivery consist on tracks of a railway in need of ballast material, the apparatus including a track-lifting unit with an arm, a surge bin that receives ballast material from the ballast-delivery consist, and a conveyor that receives the ballast material from the surge bin and conveys the ballast material forwardly along the apparatus;
• engaging one or a plurality of rail clamps disposed at a distal end of the arm with one or both rails of the track, the arm being positioned to extend forwardly along the tracks from the track-lifting unit and the one or a plurality of rail clamps engaging one or both of the rails in front of the apparatus;
• pivoting the arm vertically by the track-lifting unit to lift the track to a desired raised position;
• depositing the ballast material in front of the apparatus by the conveyor while the track is lifted and held in the raised position, the ballast material being distributed onto the now raised track to flow below and around the raised track;
• and
• moving the apparatus forwardly along the tracks while maintaining the track in the raised position, the one or plurality of rail clamps maintaining the engagement with the one or both rails and moving forwardly along the one or both rails, the apparatus moving onto and over the raised track and the ballast material that has been deposited.

A track-lifting and ballast-spreading apparatus comprising:

• a car body supported on a forward truck and a rearward truck configured to travel along a railway;
• a track-lifting unit disposed on the car body near the forward truck, the track-lifting unit including an arm that is extendable beyond a forward end of the car body to an operational position and retractable to a transit position in which the arm extends rearwardly and substantially overlies the car body, the track-lifting unit being rotatable about a vertical axis to move the arm between the operational position and the transit position;
• first and second rail clamps disposed at a distal end of the arm and coupleable to first and second rails respectively of a section of track to be lifted to a raised position and the first and second rail clamps being moveable longitudinally along the rails while maintaining the track in the raised position;
• a surge bin that receives a flow of a ballast material from a ballast-delivery consist;
• and
• a conveyor disposed on the car body that receives the ballast material from the surge bin and distributes the ballast material between the forward end of the car body and the first and second rail clamps while the track is lifted to the raised position.