Ballast Spreader

a self-unloading railroad hopper car designed to haul ballast and dump it on a railroad roadbed in the required amounts while moving; the dumping process is mechanized. A ballast spreader consists of a body with dumping hatches and a metering device positioned below. The metering and dumping unit has a pneumatic drive fed by an air compressor in the locomotive. The car can carry 60 tons of ballast and has a volume of 32–36 cu m.