Posted by a p bloom in NY on Sunday, December 04, 2005 at 11:05PM :
In Reply to: Very nice truck posted by Gordon Maney on Sunday, December 04, 2005 at 8:58PM :
Gordon, it looks like the sequence of pictures, including the newly-painted engine and well-maintained truck, indicate a test procedure of some kind, to see if the "new" truck will negotiate the rails.
Concrete ties have been around a while, and are being used on many mainlines, such as the Northeast Corridor, between Boston, via NYC, to DC., and most major lines in the West.
Concrete ties are replacing wooden ones, which originally (in the 1850's) replaced cut stone ones.
A new development is recycled plastic ties, which last longer than concrete.
See, for example:
http://facstaff.uindy.edu/~oaks/Articles/RTA.htm
or:
http://www.new-technologies.org/ECT/Civil/recyrail.htm
APB