Some of you may be wondering what and why I am doing what I am attempting to do. When spreading ballast from the flat car to the space between the rail and the end of the ties, one usually doesn't have to bend over. When spreading ballast from the flat car to between the rails one has to bend over and fling the ballast to between the rails. Bending over is hard on backs for us old guys and gals. Hence the brain storm, or other gaseous release, of how to make spreading ballast between the rails easier and faster.
As many of you now know, the result is the ballast chutes, a picture of the final painted version is attached. Like most projects, the result is a compromise between conflicting goals and limitations. I have added a rear brace so the operator can place an adjustable foot under the handle end of the chute to reduce operator fatigue. The limiting factors are the space between the rail head and the truss rods which limits the amount of slide angle. I hope I have it correct. I also had to guess as to the angle between the rails and the truss rods and hope that the flanges of the rail wheels aren't going to slip off if the chute is raised to high. I also had to guess at a compromise location of the wheel barrow wheel so it wouldn't drag when rolling from side to side on the rail head and having to bend down to low (can't seem to get away from bending) to relocate the chute when the flat car moves.
Finally, the rear brace makes some assumptions as to the fall of the drainage ditches off to the edge of the road bed.
All of this is to humbly say, this is my brain storm (see above mention of gaseous emissions) and I hope it works. If, when put to use in a week and a few days it works, I will be happy. If it doesn't work, or is a pain to use, feel free to put it on the Christmas Santa pyre. If it could use some improvements, I would love to hear the ideas and will rework it when I am up there this summer.
B2
