Ballast tamping tool

An elongated bar and a separate tamper foot and demountable attaching structure for said bar and foot adapted for driving with said foot into and through ballast to be tamped, the improvement comprising:

• said bar having a laterally offset surface and an adjacent longitudinally extending surface and said foot having an upper end and an adjacent longitudinally extending surface forming mating mortise and tenon and interfitting in a mortise and tenon joint;
• said bar having a threaded opening at and extending substantially perpendicular to its said longitudinal surface, and said foot being formed with a bolt-receiving opening at and extending substantially perpendicular to its longitudinally extending surface;
• the spacing between the axis of said bar opening and said joint being less than the spacing between the axis of said foot opening and said joint;
• a bolt mounted in said foot opening and threadably engaged in said bar opening and effecting relative displacement of said tenon into said mortise;
• said foot opening being formed with an enlarged frusto-conical bolt-receiving socket, and said bolt having a head of mating frusto-conical form, said bolt head bearing on the normally upper side of said socket and wedge-driving said mortise and tenon joint into compressive engagement;
• said bar having a bore opening to a side thereof and extending transversely to and intersecting the periphery of said threaded opening;
• and
• a pin mounted in said bore and driven through at least one of the threads of said bolt to key said bolt against rotation.