Abstract: A rail lifter used to lift a set of assembled railroad tracks above the ballast that has been spread on them includes a front loader or the like having a pair of widely spaced front wheels and a pair of similarly widely spaced rear wheels so that the front loader does not ride on the railroad tracks or the railroad ties. An elongated boom attached to the front of the front loader can be raised or lowered. A plow attached to the distal end of the boom scrapes excess ballast from the tracks when the boom is lowered into contact with the tracks and the rail lifter advance. A rail lifter mechanism grips the rails and lifts them up over the ballast and then lowers the rails onto the top of the ballast.

Abstract: An undercutter apparatus for scooping out contaminated gravel from beneath railroad tracks is designed for use off of the rail road tracks. It can be used when the grade of the ground adjacent to the railroad tracks is quite different from the grade of the railroad tracks. The apparatus includes a control head mounted on an excavator with the control head carrying hydraulically operated means for pivoting the undercutter bar 180° about a vertical axis; for pivoting the distal end of the undercutter bar up and down relative to the proximal end of the undercutter bar approximately 60° above or below in normal horizontal position; and for driving a continuous loop undercutter chain around the undercutter frame for dragging out the contaminated gravel. The undercover apparatus can be a locked into any selected position within these ranges of motion controlled by the control head, or additional positions controlled by operation of the excavator boom and used in that position.