A Loram Badger Ditcher Machine, DC-2, heads north past Arklow at Madisonville, Kentucky, as W055-13, on April 12th, 2024, on the CSX Henderson Subdivision.
According to their website: Loram’s Badger Ditcher is a self-propelled ditch cleaner that can move 1,000 tons of material every hour, excavating at up to 22 feet from the center of the track. The Loram ditch cleaner creates a properly sloped ditch that intercepts and diverts water away from the track. The ditcher’s high-speed, high-performance ditching wheel digs in and picks up mud and water. As the wheel digs the ditch, water begins to flow.
The Badger Ditcher helps manage, remedy, and prevent the damaging effects from a host of penetrating water sources, including direct precipitation, groundwater migration, springs and trapped water, saturation, and seepage. Ditch maintenance best practices using the Badger Ditcher lets railroads improve vital drainage for the subgrade, lower the water table, control run-off, and promote free flow from the ballast section that can extend the effective duration of undercutting and ballast cleaning cycles.
Tech Info: DJI Mavic 3 Classic Drone, RAW, 22mm, f/2.8, 1/1600, ISO 150.