Abstract: Apparatus for gathering and processing excavated material which lies in a long pile on the ground adjacent to a ditch, so as to provide padding material which is conveyed onto a pipe lying in the ditch, with the residue from the process being returned to the ground adjacent to the ditch. The apparatus has a gathering head at the forward end thereof and a separator at the rear end thereof. A longitudinally arranged conveyor translocates the gathered material from the gathering head onto the separator. A lateral conveyor underlies the separator and translocates processed material which passes through the screen into the ditch, to thereby cover a pipeline with padding material. The separator apparatus includes means for redepositing the residual material onto the ground along a path parallel to the ditch.