Railtrack Stoneblower By Pandrol Jackson Norfolk: UK January 2016

A Stoneblower is a track maintenance vehicle. It is designed to keep the track level. It fills voids under sleepers that have developed over time. The track is lifted and small chippings are blown into the voids to make the track level again.

The original technique to solve this issue was tamping. The track was lifted and the ballast pushed back under the sleepers. The ballast has a memory and this process needed to be done regularly. Stoneblowing actually blows small chips under the sleepers to fill the void so the ballast isn't tampered with and has a longer lasting effect on the track.

This can be a lengthy process as the track can only be lifted within certain temperatures.

I believe this is the 80200 Stoneblower built by Pandrol Jackson in 1995 the first production unit to be received by British Rail. After successful testing during 1996 seven more stoneblowers were ordered from Pandrol Jackson.

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Pandrol Jackson Stoneblower: The cockpit.

Pandrol Jackson Stoneblower: Me in the cockpit.

Pandrol Jackson Stoneblower: In the cockpit again.

Pandrol Jackson Stoneblower: Details of the cockpit.

Pandrol Jackson Stoneblower: Stoneblowing control.

Pandrol Jackson Stoneblower: The mission abort button is the best!!

Pandrol Jackson Stoneblower: A tease of the hardware.

Pandrol Jackson Stoneblower: Close up of the control panel and Panasonic screens.

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