Ballast sweeper dust control

A railroad ballast broom vehicle comprising:

• a vehicle frame having front and back pairs of rail-engaging wheels;
• a broom mounted to said vehicle frame and having a housing and a rotary core with broom elements fixed to rotate therewith about a rotation axis, said housing partially enclosing said rotary core and broom elements;
• a fan mounted to said housing and disposed to move air on an air flow path from within said housing to outside said housing;
• a first skirt of flexible material disposed around a lower periphery of said housing;
• and
• a second skirt of flexible material within said first skirt and disposed around said lower periphery of said housing;
• and
• wherein said fan is operable to create a negative pressure within said first skirt and said housing and is operable to create an intermediate pressure between said first and second skirts, said intermediate pressure being intermediate said negative pressure and an ambient pressure outside said housing.

A railroad ballast broom vehicle comprising:

• a vehicle frame having front and back pairs of rail-engaging wheels;
• a broom mounted to said vehicle frame and having a housing and a rotary core with broom elements fixed to rotate therewith about a rotation axis, said housing partially enclosing said rotary core and broom elements;
• a fan mounted to said housing and disposed to move air on an air flow path from within said housing to outside said housing;
• and
• a first skirt disposed around a lower periphery of said housing,
• said first skirt being segmented with segments of adjacent flexible material;
• and
• wherein said fan is operable to create a negative pressure within said first skirt and said housing.

A railroad ballast broom grate for deflecting dust flow and separating air from dust comprising:

• grate elements which are parallel strips defining a plane along top edges thereof, said grate elements inclined relative to said plane and having inclined air passages between adjacent pairs of said grate elements;
• a frame around outer edges of the grate and supporting said grate elements;
• and
• an orientator on said frame operable to mate with a corresponding mating part of a railroad ballast broom such that said grate must be oriented properly to fit in the railroad ballast broom.

A method of ballast regulation comprising the steps of:

• moving a railroad ballast broom vehicle having a vehicle frame with front and back pairs of rail-engaging wheels;
• operating a broom mounted to the vehicle frame to act on ballast of a railroad bed, the broom having a housing and a rotary core with broom elements fixed to rotate therewith about a rotation axis, said housing partially enclosing said rotary core and broom elements, the operating causing rotation of the rotary core and broom elements;
• and
• operating a fan mounted to said housing so as to blow air on an air flow path from within said housing to outside said housing and thereby dry separating some dust from air;
• and redepositing the separated dust on said railroad bed immediately after separation.