Ballast cleaner BC-17, built by Athey Manufacturing Corporation. N. Jackson (left), laborer, and W. T. White, operator. (Top right) BC-IB, built by Railway Maintenance Corporation. Operator A. L. Williamson is at the controls. (Center) The original "Gravel Gertie"-BC-16, the Southern's experimental model.

TWO NEW off-track ballast cleaners, built to the Southern's specifications by Athey Products corporation and Railway Maintenance Corporation, have been proving their usefulness for the past ten weeks by giving track ballast on the Asheville division a thorough "face-lifting." Designs for both of these machines were developed from an experimental model of track ballast cleaner BC 16-planned and constructed by the Southern several years ago.

BC 17 takes up ballast with its force loader.

D. W. Brosnan, now general manager, Central Lines, was chief engineer of Western Lines when he hit on the idea of adapting an Athey loader to the business of ballast cleaning, by fitting the force feed loader and conveyor with a vibrating screen to shake dirt out of ballast and another conveyor to drop this dirt away from the track. The resulting machine won the affectionate nickname "Gravel Gertie;"

BC-16 scoops up ballast with claw-like movements of its metal paws and sets clean ballast in place at the tie ends, drops dirt away from the track.

"Gravel Gertie" and her two daughters represent a working compromise between the Speno ballast cleaner (an efficient on track machine that requires a work train and crew) and the "mole" (a diminutive ballast cleaner that works in a position clear of the track but doesn't get much ballast cleaned in a day). BC-16, BC.17 and BC-18 operate on the shoulder of the track, not on the rails. Consequently, they can clear the track for an approaching train in a matter of minutes and shift back into working stride just as quickly. They are bigger and faster than the "moles," smaller and slower than the Speno and more maneuverable than the Speno or other on-track machines.

Standing beside the machine are L. C. Case (left} and J. C. Johnson.

But the method of cleaning is much the same. Ballast scooped up by metal paws or the blades of a force loader is carried back on a conveyor to a vibrating screen that shakes dirt and fragments out of the rock ballast and places the clean ballast back against the tie ends from which it was removed. (Preparing the ballast for treatment by these off-track cleaning machines requires the attentions of a bulldozer fitted with a special plow to scrape the ballast away from the tie ends where the machines can get at it more efficiently.)

Operator W. T. White eases BC-17 across a turnout with the aid of (left to right} N. Jackson, Will Collins, George Barton and Jake Hawthorne. (Top above} A. V. Keyes, operator, uses bulldozer BD-5, equipped with a special plow, to remove ballast from the tie ends in preparation for the ballast cleaners. (Above) BC-17i screens ballast, dropping clean ballast against the tie ends and spewing dirt off to the side.

BC.17, the machine manufactured for the Southern by the Athey Products Corporation and delivered to the railway at Arden, N. C., on June 12, is the larger of the two. Based on a D-4 long-track Caterpillar tractor, BC.17 has a special transmission and is equipped with the Athey Force-Feed Loader for scooping up ballast. (The loader in action resembles a cross between the paddle wheel of a steamboat and the blades of a garden lawn mower.)

A. V. Keyes, operator, uses bulldozer BD-5, equipped with a special plow, to remove ballast from the tie ends in preparation for the ballast cleaners.

In manufacturing BC-18 for the Southern, the Railway Maintenance Corporation started with an International TD-6 tractor, to which was then added a variation of the "mole"-type loader (which rakes the ballast in with claw-like sweeps of metal paws) , a ballast conveyor, vibrating screen and swing dirt conveyor. This machine first tasted Southern ballast near Inman, S. C., where it was unloaded on June 1.

BC-17i screens ballast, dropping clean ballast against the tie ends and spewing dirt off to the side.

For the first few weeks of the trial runs there was just about as much trouble with the operation of the machines as there was clean ballast in their wake. But with each problem solved the Southern knew more about off-track ballast cleaners and what makes them work. Now the "bugs" in the machinery have all but disappeared and from division engineer and section hand-there's only praise for "Gravel Gertie's" daughters.