kids encyclopedia robot

Ballast tamper facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

A ballast tamper is a machine used to make railway tracks level. It is like the railway version of a road roller but instead of only squashing the high parts, it also lifts the track out of dips.

Carillion-73105-01
A tamper at Newport High Street Railway Station.

Before tamping machines were made, tamping was done by lots of people with shovels. The machines make tamping quicker and the track is more level than if tamping is done by hand. Also, some new tracks and sleepers are too heavy to be lifted by hand, so a tamper has to be used.

New tampers can also move the track from side to side to make it smoother.

Images for kids

  • Ballast Tamper

    Jackson 6700 switch tamping machine

  • Carillion-73105-01

    A Plasser & Theurer 09-16 CSM Tamper / Liner

  • Keighley. Matisa B41UE Tamper

    A MATISA tamper at Keighley in February 2017 Customer VolkerRail

  • GTRM at Banbyry 2001

    A GTRM Rail tamping machine

  • Banbury Amey plc train 3

    An Amey tamping machine

  • Complete workhead

    System 7 fully hydraulic tamping head

  • Rail track tamper - DR73238 - Jarvis Fastline livery - Chester railway station - 2005-10-09

    Tamper in Fastline livery

  • Podbijarka torowa Plasser & Theurer MD 07-32

    Polish tamping machine

  • Bourreuse108-475C

    French tamping machine

  • Gleisstopfmaschine 08-32U in Titisee

    German tamping machine

  • CHZ podbijecka

    Czech narrow gauge tamping machine

  • Banbury's Amey Plc track tampers

    Amey tamping machine

  • Banbury Amey plc train 1

    Amey tamping machine

  • Banbury Amey plc train 2

    Amey tamping machine

  • Duddeston Amey plc train

    Amey tamping machine

  • Balfour Beatty track tamper at Banbury 2005

    Balfour Beatty and Carillion tamping machine

  • Multiple-Tie-Tamper

    A Multiple-Tie-Tamper seen at Sagamiko Station in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan

  • Ontrack maintenance Blueskin Bay, Otago, NZ

    Plasser & Theurer DGS 62 N dynamic track stabilizer, followed by SSP 300 Regulator, then a Plasser 09-16 CAT Continuous Action Tamper, in Blueskin Bay, New Zealand.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Bateadora para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Ballast tamper Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.